That said, the best comparison to the Ayers case is that of disgraced ex-Colorado professor Ward Churchill. After Churchill's "little Eichmanns" comment, the university launched an inquiry into his scholarship, and discovered myriad instances of dubious (or much worse) academic behavior. The university pointed to the findings of this inquiry to fire Churchill. I disagreed at the time with the decision to terminate Churchill, since it seemed to me impossible to separate the decision to investigate his academic misconduct from his offensive essays; and also because Colorado, which hired Churchill under a "diversity" hiring initiative that seemed tailored to hire underqualified faculty with extremist views, knew or should have known what it was getting when it hired Churchill.

The same applies to Ayers. The University of Illinois knew or should have known what it was getting when it hired Ayers---and yet the Trustees signed off on his hire, and whatever promotions or pay increases he received while employed at the university. It seems a little late in the game to be ruling his previous actions disqualifying for appointment.

The real Ayers scandal isn't his (incidental and basically irrelevant) connection to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. Or whether or not Ayers should receive emeritus status at Illinois-Chicago. It's that, as Inside Higher Ed's Scott Jaschik correctly points out, Ayers' "numerous books and articles" have earned him considerable respect among education scholars." If Chairman Kennedy wants to perform a lasting service to his institution, he and his colleagues should do more to ensure that actual merit---rather than politically correct pablum of the type that characterized Ayers' career---serves as a precursor for employment in UIC's Education program. Ayers' career is done. But the harm that Ayers' approach has done to American schoolchildren will continue, without more aggressive oversight by boards of trustees around the country.