Univ of Colorado prez: Fire Churchill Updated: with Brown’s report
posted at 8:00 am on May 30, 2007 by Bryan
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I think this is the third time someone or some group has recommended that nutty professor Ward Churchill — fake Indian, fake artist, smear artist, plagiarist, and fragging advocate — be fired from his tenured perch in Boulder. What it will take to actually get him fired is anyone’s guess.
The president of the University of Colorado has recommended that a professor who likened some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi should be fired, according to the professor and the school.
Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, has denied the allegations and threatened a lawsuit if he is dismissed.
CU President Hank Brown made the recommendation in a 10-page letter sent to the chair of the committee that handles tenure issues. University spokeswoman Michele McKinney confirmed published reports about the recommendation Monday but said the school would not make the letter public.
The university’s governing Board of Regents would have the final say on whether Churchill is fired or disciplined. It could be several weeks before the case ends up in its hands; the tenure panel must review it first.
The Nazi to whom Churchill compared the victims of 9-11 was Adolf Eichmann. Or Ricardo Klement, as he was known in Argentina.
If the University has any academic and behavioral standards at all, Churchill will eventually be fired for real. And then he’ll sue.
Update: Univ of Colorado President Hank Brown issued a memo recommending that Churchill be dismissed. It’s linked in this story about Brown’s decision, and asking whether Churchill is a poster-boy for academic freedom. Puh-lease, the man’s a fake on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start. Brown’s memo is thorough and leaves no doubt that Churchill is a fraud and a whole lot else. Here are a couple of passages from the report.
After reading the devastating Brown report, I’m struck by how schlerotic the process of dismissal for a tenured professor is in the U of CO system. I suppose the point of tenure is job security with academic freedom, but in clear cases of fraud and deception like this one it ought to be easier to bounce someone like Churchill out.
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How many months did it take him to make up his mind that Ward is an idiot? How many polls did he read before this epiphany? How many donors to the college did he ask before he “understood” the problem?
Spineless.
right2bright on May 30, 2007 at 8:11 AM
The only way education will improve in this country is if we get rid of tenure. Tenure allows the bad, lazy and inept educator to keep a job where in any other profession, they would have been given the boot. Teachers should have to be held to account just like any other person who has a job.
katieanne on May 30, 2007 at 8:12 AM
None. Unfortunately, the issue had to go through a number of review boards and committees before it got to his desk. Considering how long it’s taken to this point, he made a decision rather quickly.
Hank Brown is doing the right thing here and is going to have enough to contend with from the faculty and education establishment. I think we should cut him a break on the timing, since it was out of his control.
Slublog on May 30, 2007 at 8:26 AM
I partially agree about tenure. Yes, it allows useless people to bunker in a job for which they completely incompetent. But it also has some redeeming value. I think a good compromise solution would be a graduated form of tenure, with each step requiring an independent merit review. If there were no tenure, the whim of the board could toss a good professor because they don’t share the same ideology.
Churchill lied to get his job, he lied about his work, he lied in his writing, he lied about his ethnicity in seeking grants/scholarships toward his graduate degree. Ethics violations trump tenure in any reputable school.
Suggesting that military members would be most patriotic by killing their own officers, I don’t even have the words for that.
Freelancer on May 30, 2007 at 8:29 AM
Freelancer…your “reputable school” description covers it all.
DoctorDentons on May 30, 2007 at 8:57 AM
Who care what it said about 9/11 — as an academic insitution he should be terminated for fraud
jimwesty on May 30, 2007 at 9:06 AM
Didn’t he misrepresent his education also?
Wade on May 30, 2007 at 9:14 AM
Move him to a reservation. Better yet, make him walk.
Buck Turgidson on May 30, 2007 at 9:19 AM
If anybody else had peformed the egregious academic frauds that this clown has, they would have been booted the next day.
Why the long goodbye?
The school afraid that imaginary Indians will be upset?
(And he didn’t just call “some” of the 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns”, but the slandered the majority of them with this monstrous label. Since the majority of all who died were in the WTC Towers.)
profitsbeard on May 30, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Since before 2001 he (Ward) has been spouting out his garbage. So the boards have taken 6 years to review this guy? And the president can’t make a recommendation for six years (albiet that Brown was not president 6 yrs. ago, he did know about Churchill when he took the Pres.)? I thought the President was a leader, that he could have come out and made a statement to remove this liar. Brown waited till he thought the public was on his side…some leader, typical hack.
right2bright on May 30, 2007 at 9:49 AM
so he will sue..big deal….this will allow all his fraudelent issues to be brought out in court….U of C should countersue for false claims on his application.
robo on May 30, 2007 at 9:50 AM
From further down in the article, a quote from Churchill:
I think the “myself included” was edited for space. In any case, I’m sick of Pretend Native Americans disparaging the homeless.
saint kansas on May 30, 2007 at 9:50 AM
Churchill is going to sue. Following the correct processes to the letter will help guarantee that his lawsuit will be laughed out of court.
If you want to continue insulting Brown for doing the right thing, fine. But in following this process, he’s ensuring that when Churchill is eventually fired, he’ll stay fired and that when he sues, he won’t get a dime.
As for the timetable, these committees have read every line of every essay under question and compared it to the original sources Churchill used. That’s how you determine academic fraud, and it takes time – especially when you consider everyone on those committees have full-time teaching and research jobs.
Slublog on May 30, 2007 at 9:55 AM
Churchill should have been fired long ago– never hired, in fact. Once fired, he should be dispatched to reside among some of the downtrodden and oppressed folks whose causes he has so enthusiastically espoused.
morganfrost on May 30, 2007 at 10:03 AM
I’ll believe it when I see it.
tickleddragon on May 30, 2007 at 10:06 AM
He should be fired just for that stupid hair do.
bloggless on May 30, 2007 at 10:08 AM
Key here is the review comitees are all made up of faculty, who don’t want him gone… thus the foot dragging.
They keep hopeing that if they drap it out long enough, the public will be distracted by the latest Hollywood Poptart scandal.
Romeo13 on May 30, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Too little to late, UoC has zero creditability, F#$k em they deserve Churchill.
doriangrey on May 30, 2007 at 10:15 AM
I am not saying convict him, I am saying take the lead. Brown has been hiding under his desk, this was an easy call…a simple “he has made apparent false statements on his application, and other serious ehtical questions need to be answered” type of statement could have been made months ago, as any strong leader would have. The educational leaders are weak and political hacks, Brown included. The old, “charge up the hill and I will be backing you up” doesn’t cut it. Leaders lead, by definition they are out in front (hence the word lead) taking the heat.
right2bright on May 30, 2007 at 10:24 AM
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that before the results of the review committee were released. Legally, he would have been in hot water for doing such a thing.
In his letter to the Board of Regents, Brown does make a point to go above and beyond what the review committee said and in doing so, makes a very strong case for dismissal.
Slublog on May 30, 2007 at 10:28 AM
I’m with Slublog on this. I read more about this whole process and I’m left with the conclusion that the powers-that-be at that university have decided Churchill has to go. To get rid of him and have it legally upheld, they have to dot every i and cross every t. That appears to be what they’re doing, which takes a lot of time.
However, in the big picture, it’s ridiculous that it should take years to get rid of an academic poseur with tenure, who has committed systematic plaigarism.
His loathsome, vile 9/11 remarks unfortunately come under freedom of speech. They stretch that freedom to the edge of making decent peoples’ blood boil, but that is freedom of speech, not merely for that with which we agree.
DavePa on May 30, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Things move slowly in giant liberal beaurocracies (of which CU is one), especially with the legal implications of him being tenured. It’s time to take some action and dump this loser though.
WisCon on May 30, 2007 at 10:47 AM
After reading Brown’s report, I’m with Slublog as well. The process of getting rid of phonies like Churchill is Galactic Republic-level schlerosis. Brown’s report leaves absolutely no doubt that Churchill doesn’t belong at any university, anywhere, anytime. It’s going to be useful when Churchill sues to get his job back, because it’s so strong on the reasons for firing him, and those reasons have nothing to do with freedom of speech.
Bryan on May 30, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Only lousy teachers hide behind tenure. What a bunch of wusses, just fire the b*stard then send him to Iraq to spew his bullcrap opinions!!
ChrisIansNana on May 30, 2007 at 11:08 AM
Why would ANYONE want to pay big money to send their child to an “institute of higher learning” that is incapable of firing human refuse like Ward Churchill? Or that hired him in the first place (for that matter)?
Wasn’t the rape of football team’s place-kicker enough of a scandal for these people? Weren’t the Rick Neuheisel episodes enough (former football coach that went on to get fired at the University of Washington, as well)? If I was a student, I’d be ashamed to admit that I was enrolled at UC.
I’d like to see the enrollment statistics at UC. Are they falling precipitously? They should be. Maybe someone needs to organize a “buffalo boycott”. Besides, there’s no need to attend CU when both the Rams of CSU and the Air Force academy are close-by (in Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs).
Let’s be honest. Boulder is a modern-day Sodom/Gomorrah. I understand that the high school officials encourage the children in the public schools to use illegal drugs and to experiment freely with all manners of deviant sexual behavior. Apparently, NOTHING is too foul for the people of Boulder, Colorado. I “pity the po’ fools” that have to live there.
CyberCipher on May 30, 2007 at 11:18 AM
Ann Coulter said it best when she called him “Sitting Bullsh*t”
SillyRyno on May 30, 2007 at 12:13 PM
I am Tsalagi… this man is no Native American… he’s a Traitor to his country and my people…
Native Amerikan Bush Supporter…
Kaptain Amerika on May 30, 2007 at 12:40 PM
so he will sue..big deal….this will allow all his fraudelent issues to be brought out in court….U of C should countersue for false claims on his application.
robo on May 30, 2007 at 9:50 AM
Zactly!
sonnyspats1 on May 30, 2007 at 1:16 PM
It is going to court for sure. Idiot. What is wrong with Colorado. Now the HS has speakers telling students to have sex, don’t use condoms or birth control, explore gay sex and do drugs. I will give Bill-Oh and Fox news credit for bringing this BS out. Yea for Fox!
gmcjetpilot on May 30, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Forget firing him.
Can’t we just tar and feather him instead? Give him a ride on a rail? Put a “Kick me” sign on his back? Shave his head the way the French resistance did to the collaborators? Put him on a plane to Teheran with a one-way ticket during a public ceremony.
How about the old fashoned stocks? You know, head, arms, and legs in a frame on the town square so that the people can throw rotten vegies at him?
Firing is so unsatisfying. Traitors like him deserve SO MUCH more.
;^)
georgej on May 30, 2007 at 4:03 PM
gmcjetpilot, have you considered and enema?
You’re SO FULL of it.
Thank you.
georgej on May 30, 2007 at 4:05 PM
Guess who gets to pay for his lawsuit? I seriously doubt this guy will ever be fired, and if by some miracle he is, he is just the tip of the iceburg. There are thousands more of these fraudulent, useless, America-hating, propaganda mongers, indoctrinating our young adults as we speak. Also, if this jackass is fired, he’ll be paid plenty for speaking engagements at universities, either way, he wins.
bmac on May 30, 2007 at 4:57 PM
Makes you wonder how he got tenure in the first place.
Oh wait, I know, he spouted the usual leftist claptrap and he was a shoe-in.
Or the taxpayers of CO should for the same thing, and demand repayment of his fraudulently obtained salary.
91Veteran on May 30, 2007 at 11:35 PM
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