Outrage is being expressed over a speech invitation extended by a major university to a convicted terrorist. Officials at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have extended a speech invitation to Ray Luc Levasseur, former head of the United Freedom Front which carried out several bank robberies and bombings in the 1970s. One bombing of a federal court building left dozens injured and another resulted in the death of a New Jersey state trooper. However, Levasseur was caught and convicted in the 1980s and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was released after 18 years and remains on parole.

Levasseur has been asked to speak on the topic of social change, and the convict’s speech invitation has angered many, but officials say the request for his address stands due to “academic freedom.”

“Well I guess my question is how long we’re going to continue to suffer the idiocy of left-wing academia that pretends it’s somehow sophisticated to allow radicals and terrorists and America haters to have access to young people’s minds under the name of tolerance, under the name of opening dialogue, [and] under the name of the free exchange of ideas,” argues Peter Heck, an Indiana-based conservative talk radio host and public school teacher.

“It’s none of that,” he summarizes. “In my estimation it’s giving legitimacy to…radical folks who have either been in prison or should be, and lending credibility to evil and dangerous ideas.”