William “Bill” Ayers is a terrorist. Just ask him.

In his memoir Fugitive Days, he admits planting bombs in federal buildings such as the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol (“Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,” he writes). He was one of the founders of the radical terrorist group the Weather Underground. Escaping justice because of prosecutorial misconduct, he transformed himself into a respected academic, a distinguished professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. There is perhaps no better symbol of the 1960s moral relativist than he.

It is not every day that a self-described terrorist and fugitive-from-justice-turned- professor is invited as an honored guest of one’s alma mater.

So, seeking some clarification on the recent invitation to William Ayers to be a part of a forum at Purdue University, I sent e-mails to various Purdue officials wondering who was underwriting this appearance.

Interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Irwin H. Weiser, responded. Ayers has been invited, wrote he, because “he is a distinguished professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Illinois-Chicago.” The forum at which Ayers will speak “is funded by a private endowment. The Cummings-Perrucci lecture fund was created to bring in experts who focus on issues of race and gender. This event was not intended for the general public. No state money is being used.”

In his message, which I have since discovered is a form letter sent to other inquisitive alumni, Dean Weiser added:

“I’m sorry if you think we should be selecting or censoring speakers based on their past. Purdue faculty and university groups are encouraged to organize lectures and talks because part of the educational experience at a university is to hear a variety of perspectives and discuss ideas, even if they are controversial.”

Many academics such as the dean are quick to draw upon the phrases “academic freedom” or “censoring speakers” to justify giving a hearing to people like William Ayers. As it is with all freedoms, there is a limit to academic freedom. It is the depth of intellectual laziness to cower behind the relativist’s default position, shouting “academic freedom” or “free speech” to blanket anyone and anything no matter the past. Since when does so-called academic freedom supersede academic integrity?

In the last, it is of no consequence that the appearance of Ayers is underwritten by a private endowment, that it is not intended for the public-at-large, or students. It is, furthermore, of no consequence that Ayers may or may not be an expert on education, gender, race, and class. William Ayers of the Weather Underground, however, William Ayers avoiding a prison cell only because of a prosecutorial misstep, William Ayers quoted on 9/11 regretting not doing more to violently disrupt American institutions setting foot in an academic forum of any kind in any building on campus bears the sanctioned imprimatur of Purdue University. This is dishonorable.

Why should the past matter? Following the dean’s line of thinking, perhaps Purdue should next invite Sirhan Sirhan (Ayers, in part, dedicated a book to him, by the way) to deliver a remote lecture from prison on Palestinian grievances. Michael Vick is ineligible to play for the Philadelphia Eagles for the first two weeks of the upcoming National Football League season. Fly him out to campus to address the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine on the perils and pitfalls of caring for and feeding multiple dog breeds simultaneously. After all, these people have a unique perspective, certain insights, and expertise others lack. If you think the notion of Sirhan and Vick lecturing at Purdue ridiculous, consider that the deeds to which Sirhan, Vick, and Ayers have admitted are separated in their violent severity by mere fractions of degrees.

It is imperative that alumni who think it is wrong to allow a being such as William Ayers the privilege of the sanction of Purdue University immediately cease financial contributions and/or withhold future contributions to the university.

For all the platitudes, euphemisms, and bromides about free speech, diversity of perspectives, egalitarianism, and social justice which spew forth from American colleges and universities, financial stability is the language best understood by the academy. If the faculty and administration of Purdue wish to hide behind a grotesque application of the principle of free speech and confer upon Ayers the honor of invitation and influence, so be it. There are thousands upon thousands more who can apply principles as well.

Those with the power of influence and decision on campus must be reminded explicitly by the alumni that Purdue is our university. William Ayers will not defile the integrity of our university without penalty.

Matthew May, a guest Liberty Features Syndicated writer and contributor for NetRight Nation, is a 1995 graduate of Purdue University. As an undergraduate, he served as a Dean’s Ambassador, student representative on the Dean’s Advisory Council, was president of the Liberal Arts Student Council, and was nominated as Outstanding Senior in Political Science in 1994-95.

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