More Than 3,000 Academics Sign Pro-Ayers Petition

Is college neccessarily the best place to send your 18 yr. old?

More than 3,200 supporters -- most of them educators -- have signed a petition protesting what they say is the "demonization of Professor William Ayers," asserting that his violent actions as the co-founder of the Weather Underground were just "history."

Barack Obama's ties to Ayers have been questioned during the presidential campaign by critics who call the professor a "domestic terrorist."

Among the people who signed the petition are No. 5, Columbia University professor of Arab studies Rashid Khalidi, and No. 814, former University of Colorado at Boulder professor Ward Churchill.