University of Wyoming
William Ayers was invited to speak at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, in 2010 by the Social Justice Research Center. Ayers was invited to speak about education reform, however many Wyoming residents objected to the invitation because of Ayers' previous activities with Weather Underground. Weather Underground was a group of anti-Vietnam War activists who used bombs and advocated violence in their protests. Ayers' invitation was rescinded. However Ayers and University of Wyoming graduate student Meg Lanker sued the university. William Ayers eventually spoke at the university on April 28, 2010.
The collection contains printouts of emails from the Social Justice Resource Center about the William Ayers speaking engagement and the protests that accompanied it. The emails include both interdepartmental communications and messages from citizens, many of them alumni. Also included are messages from university students. The emails express both support and opposition for the original invitation, the cancellation, and the eventual resolution of the controversy. In addition the collection contains video of Ayers' appearance at the University of Wyoming on April 28, 2010.
The collection is open to the public. Materials in Box 4 are marked as "Restricted" as they contain sensitive personally identifiable information. There are no access restrictions on the other materials, and they may be used for research purposes.
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There are no known other archival collections created by the William Ayers controversy (Laramie, Wyo.) at the date of processing.
This material was received from the University of Wyoming, Department of Communication and Journalism in December 2010 and Shawn J. Davis in July 2011.
The collection was processed by Kayci Kruhmin in March 2023.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.