Money well spent?Early this spring, University of Wyoming trustees and wealthy donors — along with alumni, parents and others — pressured UW president Tom Buchanan to deny controversial figure William Ayers' right to speak at the school. The former 1960s radical and founder of the anti-Vietnam War group The Weather Underground was slated to speak about education reform on campus in April, but a torrent of angry e-mails and phone calls and donors' threats to withhold money led the privately-endowed UW Social Justice Research Center to rescind the invitation.When a student re-extended the invitation, university officials barred Ayers from speaking on campus. The brief legal battle that ensued when that student, Meghan Lanker, and Ayers sued UW in U.S. District Court subsequently cost the school $86,000 in settlement money, legal fees and other expenses.The choice by UW officials to deny free speech on campus was a poor one from the get-go, and the $86,000 price tag makes it even more difficult for many university supporters to swallow. What amounted to a “heckler's veto” of free speech, according to Wyoming Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes when he ruled on the case in April, came with a hefty price tag.Taxpayers and other UW supporters and donors shouldn't have to pay the legal tab for a few who insisted UW officials quell free speech. It's time for the hecklers to stand behind what they believe in — to put their money where their mouths are — and foot the bill.

Money well spent?

Early this spring, University of Wyoming trustees and wealthy donors — along with alumni, parents and others — pressured UW president Tom Buchanan to deny controversial figure William Ayers' right to speak at the school.

The former 1960s radical and founder of the anti-Vietnam War group The Weather Underground was slated to speak about education reform on campus in April, but a torrent of angry e-mails and phone calls and donors' threats to withhold money led the privately-endowed UW Social Justice Research Center to rescind the invitation.

When a student re-extended the invitation, university officials barred Ayers from speaking on campus. The brief legal battle that ensued when that student, Meghan Lanker, and Ayers sued UW in U.S. District Court subsequently cost the school $86,000 in settlement money, legal fees and other expenses.

The choice by UW officials to deny free speech on campus was a poor one from the get-go, and the $86,000 price tag makes it even more difficult for many university supporters to swallow.

What amounted to a “heckler's veto” of free speech, according to Wyoming Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes when he ruled on the case in April, came with a hefty price tag.

Taxpayers and other UW supporters and donors shouldn't have to pay the legal tab for a few who insisted UW officials quell free speech. It's time for the hecklers to stand behind what they believe in — to put their money where their mouths are — and foot the bill.