MICHAEL MOORE LECTURE Probe: Professor did not commit fraud with visit

AKRON (AP) -- A University of Akron professor investigated for bringing controversial filmmaker Michael Moore to campus days before the presidential election did not commit fraud, a university committee has ruled.
The university received about 20 complaints from faculty members, alumni, parents and community members over theater professor Susan Speers' use of a campus auditorium at no cost for a political speech by Moore.
Indoor campus facilities are available for political events, but sponsors must pay a rental fee.
Speers reserved Knight Auditorium on Oct. 30 so that Moore could talk to her class, Introduction to Theatre through Film, and the public.
Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" harshly criticized the Bush administration and became a rallying point for anti-Bush forces.
The Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee said in a recent letter to Speers that "there was no fraudulent intent" on her part.
Speers, who is on sabbatical this semester and in her 16th year of teaching at Akron, said university officials should have known that Moore would express a political point of view.