Former radical to speak at UMass after all

AMHERST, Mass. - A convicted domestic terrorist whose scheduled speech at the University of Massachusetts was canceled has been reinvited to campus by a faculty group against the objections of school administration.

Raymond Levasseur of Waldo, Maine, a former leader of the United Freedom Front, is scheduled to speak at the university on Thursday night. The group was linked to 20 domestic bombings, and Levasseur spent 18 years in prison.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries had originally invited Levasseur to speak as part of a forum on social unrest. But the speech was canceled by the administration following objections from victims' families, and Gov. Deval Patrick.

The university administration said Tuesday it will allow the rescheduled speech in the interest of academic freedom, even though it finds the invitation "repugnant."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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