All this may seem like so much administrative hair-splitting, but the technical changes enabled BC to cancel the event without violating its pledge to faculty. At the very least, distancing faculty names from Ayers's lecture conveniently provided the administration with plausible deniability.
"The event was sponsored by students," explained Dunn, "and therefore the academic freedom that is extended to faculty without question was not present in this case."
Students, attempting to appease a risk-averse administration, proposed a novel compromise: telecast the live speech to campus via satellite. One student organizer proudly proclaimed that the telecast exemplified "academic freedom for the 21st century."
But again, BC higher-ups pulled the plug. Upset but undeterred, students persisted. They wrote op-eds, formed action groups, and staged a protest demonstration. On Thursday, students finally got to hear Ayers speak, thanks to student radio station WZBC, which aired a phone interview with the University of Illinois at Chicago professor. Call it academic freedom for the mid 20th century.
The WZBC interview, conducted by BC seniors Bill Sadd and Steve Wagner, focused on education-reform issues — funding inequalities between urban and suburban education, the failures of No Child Left Behind — though Ayers did touch on what he called the "shameful thing" at BC.
Modified freedom
As a private institution, BC is not required to uphold the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free assembly. Further, BC's threshold for canceling speakers is provided wider latitude than is afforded most private colleges because of the school's Catholic affiliation. BC is, however, bound to the promises made in its student guidebook.
Relative to other Catholic colleges in the US, BC guarantees significant protection for free expression. But recent history suggests a tentative retreat from that pledge when it comes to welcoming certain guest lecturers. Two years ago, BC rewrote the section of the guide pertaining to campus speakers. A once-bold commitment (at least for religious-affiliated schools) to "the free exchange of ideas" as "a principal objective of the University" was significantly curtailed: "Such freedom of inquiry is not absolute, and must be balanced by the University's obligation to adhere to the principles and values inherent in Boston College's identity as a Catholic and Jesuit institution." The revised text went on to codify the college's "right to review presentations funded by student-activity monies."
But fear not, faculty and administrators responded at the time. "Lest the scope of this unfortunate policy be exaggerated, it is important to note that the policy covers only speakers or events brought to campus by recognized student groups using student-activity money," Dale Herbeck, a BC communication professor, wrote in the September 2007 edition of the higher-education magazine Academe. Herbeck went on to explain that the policy did not apply to "events organized by academic departments."
That distinction became central to the clamor around Ayers. At a faculty/administrator meeting held March 30 (the day Ayers was scheduled to speak), BC President William P. Leahy asserted that a withdrawal of faculty support enabled the event to be canceled. Kersch corrected him, saying he continued to support the lecture.
"It's possible that Leahy believed we withdrew sponsorship," Kersch recently told the Phoenix. "But it would be convenient for him to jump to that conclusion. It would allow him to cancel the event without getting into trouble with the faculty."
