In response to the recent increased frequency with which McCain has been criticizing Obama's friendship with Weather Underground co-founder and TC '87 Bill Ayers, over 1600 professors and academics have signed a statement of support for Ayers.
"It seems that the character assassination and slander of Bill Ayers and other people who have known Obama is not about to let up. While an important concern is the dishonesty of this campaign and the slanderous McCarthyism they are using to attack Obama, we also feel an obligation to support our friend and colleague Bill Ayers," states the petition.
Columbia professors who signed include Rashid Khalidi (he of his own troubles with the McCain campaign), John Coatsworth, Mahmood Mamdani, light of Bwog's loins Bruce Robbins, Gil Anidjar, Neni Panourgia, Paul Strohm, Mona Khalidi, Kenneth Frampton, Maxine Greene (who signed twice, actually), Thai Jones (son of Weather Underground cofounder Jeff Jones and current CU Ph.D. candidate), Victoria de Grazia, Saskia Sassen and others. And that's just the first sheet.
And speaking of Obama, the National Review's blog the Corner has a theory about why Obama tends to avoiding mentioned your University. (Hint: this too has to do with Bill Ayers.)
According to the Corner, Obama studied under Edward Said (that's them to the left, above the caption that says "Obama in conversation with Edward Said.") Said was in contact with Ayers when the latter was at TC and both had a mutual respect for each other's work.
The Corner suggests that Obama did not meet Ayers in 1995 as he has previously attested, but instead knew him through Edward Said during his time at Columbia. Of course, there is no evidence for such a thing, only the Corner's bizarre implication that because Ayers and Obama both knew Said, they must have known eachother. Anyway, this is why Obama will not be your Class Day speaker. The end.
RNC grasping at straws...