BOULDER, Colo., July 25, 2007
Scorned Colorado Professor Vows Lawsuit
Ward Churchill, Known For Remarks Linking 9/11 Victims With Nazi Figure, Says He Will Fight Plagiarism Firing
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Former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, center, plans to sue the University of Colorado after the state's board of regents voted to remove him as ethics studies chairman. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
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"New game, new game," said a defiant Ward Churchill, referring to his intent to sue the university after the state Board of Regents voted 8-1 Tuesday to remove him as ethnic studies chairman.
Three faculty committees had accused Churchill of plagiarism, falsification and other misconduct in portions of his research. The allegations were unrelated to an essay he wrote that likened some victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks to a Nazi leader.
David Lane, Churchill's attorney, said his client's dismissal simply marks a change in venue for the dispute.
"We're out of kangaroo court and going into real court," he said.
Lane plans to file a lawsuit in Denver on Wednesday alleging Churchill's First Amendment rights were violated. He says Churchill was targeted because of his views.
University President Hank Brown said the school had little choice but to fire Churchill to protect the integrity of the university's research.
"I think from all the discussion I've heard, the focus on this question solely related to his research and the efforts to falsify research, and specifically, both the charges and the discussion did not relate to 9/11," Brown said.
Churchill had vowed to file a lawsuit if he was fired, a threat Brown said had no bearing on the decision.
The university's allegations against Churchill included misrepresenting the effects of federal laws on American Indians, fabricating evidence that the Army deliberately spread smallpox to Mandan Indians in 1837 and claiming the work of a Canadian environmental group as his own.
The essay that gained Churchill widespread scorn, "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens," was not part of the investigation.
The essay and a follow-up book argued that the 2001 terrorist attacks were a response to a long history of U.S. abuses. Churchill said those killed in the World Trade Center collapse were "a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire." He called them "little Eichmanns," referring to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
Churchill wrote the piece shortly after the attacks, but it drew little notice until 2005, when a professor at Hamilton College in upstate New York called attention to it when Churchill was invited to speak there.
The Regents subsequently apologized to "all Americans" for the essay and the Colorado Legislature labeled Churchill's remarks "evil and inflammatory."
Bill Owens, then governor of Colorado, said Churchill should be fired, and George Pataki, then governor of New York, called Churchill a "bigoted terrorist supporter."
School officials concluded Churchill couldn't be dismissed because he was exercising his First Amendment rights. But they launched the investigation into his research in other work.
A faculty committee and an interim chancellor had recommended Churchill be fired. When a second committee reviewed the case, three of its five members recommended suspension. The other two said he should be fired.
Churchill remained on the university payroll but has been out of the classroom since the spring of 2006. The school relieved him of teaching duties after the interim chancellor recommended he be fired.
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See all 61 Comments&***quot***;***If*** ***you*** ***don***'***t*** ***have*** ***the*** ***balls*** ***to*** ***commit*** ***suicide***, ***at*** ***least*** ***get*** ***the*** ***hell*** ***out*** ***of*** ***the*** ***USA***! ***We*** ***don***'***t*** ***want*** ***you*** ***here***.
***Posted*** ***by*** ***S_Temper***&***quot***;
***And*** ***Mr***. ***Temper*** ***presumes*** ***to*** ***speak*** ***for*** ***all*** ***Americans***? ***Nah***, ***just*** ***the*** ***Nazi*** ***faction***.
***ToolMangler***, ***Eichmann*** ***did*** ***a*** ***dirty*** ***job***, ***that*** ***is*** ***indisputable***, ***but*** ***how*** ***could*** ***he*** ***feed*** ***his*** ***family*** ***had*** ***he*** ***refused***? ***Would*** ***he*** ***even*** ***have*** ***a*** ***family*** ***after*** ***refusing***? ***In*** ***fact***, ***the*** ***same*** ***could*** ***be*** ***asked*** ***of*** ***those*** ***who*** ***aided*** ***Bush*** ***in*** ***his*** ***commission*** ***of*** ***war*** ***crimes***, ***I*** ***think*** ***this*** ***should*** ***have*** ***been*** ***Churchill***'***s*** ***badly*** ***stated*** ***point***, ***but*** ***he*** ***chose*** ***instead*** ***to*** ***focus*** ***on*** ***those*** ***who*** ***were*** ***employees*** ***of*** ***unethical*** ***businesses***, ***rather*** ***than*** ***employees*** ***of*** ***the*** ***Bush*** ***group***.
Should read:
"How long before the official line- that the ridiculous "war on terror" is "not" a war against Islam- morphs into an open witch hunt, claiming that (TWOT) has "always" been a war against Muslims/brown people?
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www.zeitgeistmovie.com
You appear to have ruffled some feathers here.
Well done.
I've noticed that Mr. Dershowitz is also behind a fear and hatred campaign against Muslims, that some posters here have relentlessly promoted on this site.
How long before the official line that the ridiculous "war on terror", morphs from "not" being a war against Islam, into an open witch hunt, claiming that it has "always" been a war against Muslims/brown people?
"We have always been at war with Oceana....."
http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/dershowitz.html
Posted by SharnCedar at 10:11 PM : Jul 25, 2007
I vehemently disagree. As a young man I saw the pictures brought home by my Uncle Ernest from Buchenwald where he had participated in the liberation and rescue. That was caused by Adolph Eichmann.
"he was charged by Obergruppenf|hrer Reinhard Heydrich with the task of facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann
So, obviously, the pool of teachers for these programs isn't exactly excellent.
No problem with this statement I somewhat agree.
"Churchill said those killed in the World Trade Center collapse were "a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire." He called them "little Eichmanns," referring to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann."
Here is where he crossed the line, I had family there and know them to be guilty only of trying to feed their families and nothing else. He put himself in the judgement seat slandered them and called all that were killed in the buildings criminals of the worst sort and worthy of death. If anyone was worthy of death that day, it would be the ones flying the planes.
Ward Churchill is looking better and better. We got a whole lot of little Eichmanns here in the USA, so odds would be that at least a few of them got snuffed in WTC.
Too bad it wasn't a few more.
We have too many 'kooks on the right' who get to keep their jobs. We call them 'Mr. CEO', 'Mr. President', or 'Mr. Hannity'.
This country is too nice to its 'kooks on the right' and spends too much time prosecuting its 'kooks on the left'. The result is $1 trillion down a sh*thole called Iraq, at a time when the Fed debt is reaching for $9 trillion and the Boomers are about to tax SocSec/Medicare to the tune of $20 trillion. (BTW, PRIVATE debt in America is reaching $10 trillion). By an accountants terms: the U.S. is functionally bankrupt, thanks to its 'kooks on the right'...
All the Bush admin has to be proud of, for its 6+ years in office, is an economic juggernaut called China. Yes... thats where your tax cuts went. Last time I checked, they were a communist country that seriously challenges American preeminence in the Far East. Meanwhile, y'all are baying at the moon cuz ya 'got' Ward Churchill...
Fvcking ripe...
Posted by speakinup
Your sheets are ready for your Klan meeting, all nice and toasty from the drier!
Pretty funny to hear the white man all so concerned about racism--when it's whites getting slammed. I expect your Fuhrer felt the same way when all those nasty subhuman Slavs were pouring into Berlin.
You raise a good point. I work in academia and have heard comments from professors that made me scratch my head wondering where they got that information, and others were spot on and backed everything up they said with facts. It is critical for professors to understand that students do listen and take copious notes about the information presented them by professors. This where academic honesty is crucial. Professors do have their own interpretations, but they must unmistakeably distinguish interpretation from fact to students. I agree that it is only fair for students.
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