A retired professor with connections to former President Barack Obama and a history of involvement in far-left militant activism spoke at an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Chicago.
An anti-Israel encampment formed on the Main Quadrangle or “Quad” of the University of Chicago Monday was visited by Bill Ayers roughly seven hours into the demonstration, according to reporting from the Chicago Maroon and the Hyde Park Herald.
Ayers, listed on the University of Chicago’s website as a creative writing lecturer in the school’s Division of the Humanities, is best known for his co-founding of the far-left Weather Underground, a militant organization classified as a Domestic terrorist organization by the FBI that operated throughout the 1960s and ’70s and sought to overthrow the U.S. government.
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Left-wing agitator Bill Ayers, seen in photo inset, spoke recently at an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson/Xinhua via Getty Images/ Michael Roman/Getty Images)
Ayers was hunted by the FBI for his alleged involvement in the 1970 bombing of the New York City Police Department headquarters, 1971 bombing of the United States Capitol building and the 1972 bombing of the Pentagon. The bombings caused no fatalities aside from three members of the group that were accidentally killed in one of the blasts, while charges against Ayers were later dropped due to the alleged illegal tactics the FBI used to pursue him. When asked over the years about the bombings, Ayers has defended them.
The retired professor’s relationship with former President Barack Obama became a controversial element of Obama’s 2008 campaign after reports circulated that the then-candidate was a guest at Ayers’ home in 1995. The former president and Ayers also had overlapping service on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago between 1999 and 2002, though allegations of a close relationship between the two were disputed by Obama as well as several media outlets.
Former President Barack Obama. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Ayers did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
The encampment at the University of Chicago was part of a wave of anti-Israel protests that have swept across U.S. campuses over the last week. Schools have been attempting to crack down on the demonstrations, including reports of law enforcement involvement in clearing the camps at Columbia, Harvard and Yale.
A protester holds a Palestinian flag as anti-Israel agitators rally on the Columbia University campus at a protest encampment despite a 2 p.m. deadline issued by university officials to disband or face suspension, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 29, 2024. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)
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Administrators at Columbia began suspending students who refused to abandon the encampments on Monday, resulting in a riot inside an academic building used by the dean and other top university officials.