William Ayers is coming to Nebraska.

The radical-turned-scholar, disinvited by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last fall following a public outcry over his planned visit, is scheduled to speak Nov. 14 at the annual meeting of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska.

Members of the public are invited to the event, to be held at the Holiday Inn at 72nd and Grover streets in Omaha.

The event is not associated with the University of Nebraska.

"Not a cent" of public money will be used to bring Ayers here, said Dwayne Ball, president of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska, a statewide group whose members include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Nebraska State Education Association and the faculty senates at UNL and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

"We're very happy that we could get him to come," said Ball, also a UNL associate professor of marketing.

"We'll be making, we feel, a strong point about academic freedom."

That point, Ball said: Once UNL decided to invite Ayers to campus, it should not have rescinded the invitation even in the face of fiscal or physical threats.

"If a university speaker can be canceled due to threats, that gives a heckler's veto to the content of what is said on campus and who says it," Ball said.

"When threats are applied, that is exactly the time for a university to stand up and defend the rights of students and faculty to hear controversial people and ideas."

Ayers' speech is called "The Right to Think at All: Academic Freedom and Free Speech in Troubled Times."

Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, had been invited to UNL last year to deliver the keynote address during the centennial celebration for the College of Education and Human Sciences. His address was to take place Nov. 15, 2008.

A faculty committee had selected Ayers months earlier based on his well-regarded research in the education field.

But by the time UNL announced his visit Oct. 16, his limited ties to then-candidate Barack Obama had made him a controversial figure in the presidential campaign.

Ayers was a co-founder of Weather Underground, a group that claimed responsibility for bombings of public buildings in protest of the Vietnam War. Years later, he and Obama briefly served together on the board of a Chicago nonprofit.

Public furor erupted following UNL's announcement. NU offices were flooded with calls and e-mails, and bloggers filled the Web with angry posts.

Some people threatened to withhold financial contributions to the university.

Public critics included NU President J.B. Milliken and several NU regents, who deemed the invitation "poor judgment." Gov. Dave Heineman, state Auditor Mike Foley and other political leaders also panned the invitation.

With Chancellor Harvey Perlman in China at the time, UNL called on its nationally known threat assessment team to review the messages pouring in, some of which contained explicit threats on Ayers' life.

The team determined Ayers' visit posed a security risk to Ayers and the campus. Late Oct. 17, UNL announced Perlman had canceled the speech.

New critics surfaced: faculty and others who accused Perlman of caving to political pressure. Perlman has repeatedly denied that charge, saying even though he felt the Ayers invitation was appropriate, he needed to put the safety of the campus first.

This time around, Ball said he's hopeful news of Ayers' visit won't spark such a reaction, since the event won't be publicly funded.

But, he said: "We're certainly prepared to deal with (a reaction). If someone wants to argue about it, we'll argue about it."

The academic freedom coalition is prepared to provide security for Ayers, though Ball wouldn't discuss details.

All expenses will be paid for through the coalition's fundraising, plus receipts from the event.

The program costs $35 and includes Ayers' speech, a book sale and autograph session with Ayers and lunch.

For details, or to register, visit www.nebafcon.org. Registration ends Oct. 30.

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.