Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, has launched a petition drive to persuade the University of Florida (Gainesville) to rescind its invitation to convicted killer Jack Kevorkian to speak on campus Oct. 11.
“It is unacceptable for the University of Florida to give a platform to Jack Kevorkian, a man who willfully helped take people’s lives, some of whose only ailment was depression, and pay him $50,000 to spread his violent message of ‘mercy killing’ to the students of the University of Florida,” Schindler’s petition states.
Schindler heads a nonprofit group called the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, named for his sister, who died of dehydration and starvation after her feeding tube was removed by court order in 2005. Pinellas County Judge George Greer, who issued the order, is a University of Florida alumnus, having received his law degree there in 1966.
Kevorkian, 79, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1998 and sentenced to 10 to 25 years for the death of Thomas Youk, which was shown on CBS News. He was granted parole in December 2006, after promising not to assist in any more suicides. Book and movie deals about Kevorkian’s life are reportedly in the works.
