A judge has ruled that the University of Colorado had the right to fire Ward Churchill, the professor of Native American studies who called 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns” who deserved what they got. What much of the coverage has skimmed over is that Churchill was fired not for expressing his political beliefs but for an egregious pattern of plagiarism in his scholarly writings, something that is simply not tolerated even in postmodern academia:
After several weeks of reviews, the university announced that the 9/11 essay could not be grounds for dismissal, given Churchill’s rights to free expression and academic freedom and the lack of any evidence that his political views interfered with his teaching. But at the same time, Colorado announced that Churchill could be investigated and possibly fired for scholarly misconduct. That was because — once the controversy broke — scholars, journalists and others checked out Churchill’s scholarship and quickly heard from researchers who said that Churchill had plagiarized or distorted their work.
Colorado then started a series of investigations in which various faculty panels examined the charges and considered potential punishments. While the panels were far from united in urging Churchill to be fired, there was consensus that he was guilty of repeated, intentional academic misconduct — plagiarism, fabrication, falsification and more. That was May 2006. After still more reviews, the University of Colorado Board of Regents fired him in July 2007. Churchill maintained throughout that he was a victim of his politics — although at least some of those who accused him of inappropriately using their academic work are scholars of Native American history who share his belief that those they studied were treated in horrific ways.
I worked on this story back when I was working with WORLD, to the point of joining the media hordes following him on the college lecture circuit shortly after he became notorious for his 9/11 remarks. His views were not that unusual on college campuses, certainly not enough to get him fired.
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Certainly Churchhill should have been fired, but then again, I would also suggest that the entire committee that hired him and then gave him tenure ought to be given the “freedom to pursue new opportunities” as well. Is it too much to ask that universities actually check the professional credentials of job applicants? This doesn’t exactly make “Ski U” look very smart, to put it mildly.
I went to CU and had Ward Churchill for a class. THe only texts for the class were 2 books he authored. He is a joke as a professor bc the ONLY outside work was to write 1 paper about what you were going to do w/ the information you learned in the class. SO we all wrote how we would become radicals and fight for his cause.
Of course everyone wanted to take his class bc it was an easy “A”.
And you’re right, his views are not outside the mainstream for CU Boulder!
It is my understanding that a Native American student challenged the authenticity of his NA lineage. Apprently, he fabricated his background as well.
Thanks, Ruthie, for this inside report! This is very telling. What gets me with professors like this, among other things, is how they turn students into cynics, making them ape their ideas, though they really don’t believe in them (which, however, speaks well of the students).
But does it really speak well of the students that they write a term paper which is essentially a lie?
Agreed, ceterus parabus, that it’s better for students not to believe some professors than to believe them. However, we ought to be very concerned that students are learning that the way to success is to game the system by deception.
Speaking of Judge Sotomayor….