NEWBURYPORT — A terrorist connected to the 1976 bombings of the Newburyport Superior Court House and Seabrook post office has been asked to speak at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, spurring an angry Gov. Deval Patrick to call for a protest of the event.
UMass Amherst faculty extended the invitation to Ray Luc Levasseur, the founder and former leader of a radical revolutionary group called the United Freedom Front, as part of a talk on social change.
Levasseur, a self-described "revolutionary resistance movement" organizer, led a group known as the United Freedom Front in the 1970s. The group was linked to a spree of bombings in protest of various U.S. policies, including the July 2, 1976, bombing of the Seabrook post office.
Levasseur was also connected to a group known as the Fred Hampton Unit, which was linked to a bombing at the Newburyport Superior Court House that coincided with the Seabrook bombing.
The bomb did substantial damage to the historic High Street building.
Levasseur spent 18 years in prison for a string of bombings and was released in 2004.
Yesterday, Patrick expressed his disgust at Levasseur's invitation.
"I am more than a little disappointed about the invitation having been extended. Now, I did speak with President Wilson, who assured me it's not a university invitation," Patrick said. "I fully get and respect the idea of free speech, but I think it is a reflection of profound insensitivity to continue to try to have this former terrorist on a campus, and I'm encouraging them to oppose this. Assuming it actually happens, and I think there is still some question that it will, to express themselves, show up on the campus and express themselves with their own free speech and opposition, and in support of the sensitivities of the families."
The administration at UMass Amherst has sought to distance itself from the Levasseur talk.
Yesterday, the university released a statement making clear the university's administration does not endorse the engagement.
"Originally, the event was to be sponsored by the university library and called a colloquium of social change, which included Lavasseur," said UMass administration spokesman Patrick Callahan. "That event was canceled by the library in part because of the response to it."
Callahan said after the cancellation, faculty took it upon themselves to re-invite Levasseur.
"We found a group of faculty re-invited him to come to campus on November 12 at a different place. We believe (it was) the school of management," Callahan said.
An official statement from UMass Amherst released yesterday says the university administration does not support the talk.
"The university administration did not invite this speaker and would not invite him," the statement read.
"A group of faculty members has decided to invite him. Although the university administration questions the wisdom and common sense of this judgment, the institution must respect academic freedom. As repugnant as we find this invitation, the administration's commitment to academic freedom must be honored."
"We expressed our opinion, and we don't like it. But faculty can invite who they want," Callahan said. "The notion of academic freedom is just that, those that teach and research here can follow any path they wish as long as it's not illegal or unethical. Inviting an unpopular person is none of those things."
The bombings
The 1976 bombings shocked Greater Newburyport. On July Fourth weekend during the National Bicentennial Year of 1976, a bomb was placed on the second floor office in the northeast corner of the Superior Courthouse on High Street.
At 3:38 a.m. the bomb detonated, causing extensive damage to the then 171-year-old building.
The explosion was one of three that same night statewide. Other bombings included the National Guard armory in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood and at Logan International Airport. The Seabrook post office was also damaged by a blast a few hours earlier the same night.
According to Daily News articles the morning after the bombing, police and FBI officials did not believe the Newburyport bombing was related to those in Boston.
After an investigation, Newbuyport police issued warrants for Joseph Acelo of Portland, Maine; Richard Picariello of Portland, Maine; and Edward Gullion, Jr., of Dorchester.
Weeks after the bombings, police found 611 pounds of dynamite in 900 sticks hidden in steel drums in a wooded section of Boxford. It was determined the dynamite was stolen, but police had a hard time connecting the bombings happening throughout the state to one group.
According to articles at the time, police believed Acelo dropped Picariello and Gullion Jr., off to complete the bombing.
Later, Picariello served as an FBI informant and helped prosecute Levasseur.
Levasseur was released from federal prison in 2004 after serving 18 years for his involvement in the bombings.
In 1989, after the longest criminal trial in Massachusetts history, Levasseur avoided additional jail time when he was acquitted by a federal jury of attempting to overthrow the government by force.
The United Freedom Front's followers were also convicted in the murder of a New Jersey state trooper, Phil Lamonaco, and linked to a 1982 shoot-out with Massachusetts state troopers. State police groups yesterday pledged to protest Levasseur's speech.
