A Maine man, considered by some to be a former "domestic terrorist," and a "political prisoner" by others, is generating a storm of controversy at the University of Massachusetts, where his planned speech was canceled by one department and then re-sponsored by a faculty group over the objections of some school administrators and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Ray Levasseur, a former leader of the United Freedom Front is still planning to speak at the university on Thursday night. He spoke with Susan Sharon this afternoon following a talk at the University of Southern Maine.

In the early 1980's Ray Levasseur was wanted by the FBI for a series of bombings of corporate offices and military installations. Levasseur was tried and convicted in 1986 and spent nearly 20 years in federal prison for his crimes. Recently, he was invited by the University of Massashusetts Amherst Libraries to speak at a forum on social unrest and to talk about his acquittal in a controversial sedition trial in Springfield, Mass in 1989.

Ray Levasseur of Waldo, Maine says he plans to speak at the University of Massachusetts Thursday night, now that several other departments have offered to sponsor his appearance after the Library and Archives department invited him to speak and then withdrew the invitation under pressure.