Source: Democracy Now! Headlines for July 8, 2009

Ward Churchill Denied Bid to Return to University of Colorado

In Denver, a judge has denied former University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill’s bid to return to his old job despite a jury’s finding he was wrongfully dismissed. Churchill sued the school after he was fired from a tenured position on charges of research misconduct. But Churchill maintains that the allegations were a pretext to remove him for his political beliefs. In April, a jury ruled in Churchill’s favor and ordered the school to pay his attorney fees. But on Tuesday, Chief Judge Larry Naves of Denver District Court said university officials are legally protected from Churchill’s bid to reverse his firing because they were acting as judicial officers. Churchill says he plans to appeal. His lawyer, David Lane said: “This is judicial activism in its worst form… a jury said Ward Churchill’s free speech was violated, and yet Judge Naves goes on for almost 50 pages, saying in so many words, ‘Too bad.’”

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“What was asked for and what was delivered was justice.” - Ward Churchill

On April 2, 2009 the jury returned a verdict for Professor Ward Churchill in his case against the University of Colorado.

The jury found unanimously that Ward’s 9/11 essay was a significant factor in the Regents’ decision to fire him, and that he would not have been fired but for his exercise of his First Amendment rights.

In comments made to the lawyers and on KHOW radio, jurors stated that they concluded that Ward Churchill had NOT engaged in research misconduct, and that the University’s accusations against him were essentially trivial.

They also reported having spent several hours debating damages, as five jurors wanted to give a substantial award but one did not. Because Ward Churchill had made it clear that this case was not about money, they agreed on the nominal award of $1...

Read more at the Ward Churchill Solidarity Network

For more background on this case, including the essay that started the controversy, see our archive's Ward Churchill section.

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Open Letter to the University of Colorado Board of Regents Concerning the Firing of Professor Ward Churchill:

As scholars, activists, and concerned citizens, we protest your decision of July 24, 2007, to fire tenured American Indian Studies Professor Ward Churchill. To us, it is clear that:

* Ward Churchill was fired in retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment-protected speech and in violation of the doctrine of Academic Freedom.

* The investigation into Professor Churchill's scholarship was initiated and pursued in response to the political outcry over his statements linking U.S. policy to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

* The pretextual nature of the investigation is illustrated by the University's refusal to investigate charges of misrepresentation and falsification of evidence, as well as plagiarism, which have been brought against the Investigative Report on which you have relied to dismiss Ward Churchill.

* Disciplines such as ethnic and gender studies were created in response to the failure of the "mainstream" academy to accurately portray our collective histories and realities, and professors like Ward Churchill brought in to ensure that students are exposed to a diversity of perspectives.

* The investigation and firing of Ward Churchill has had, and will continue to have, a chilling effect on all scholars and teachers who challenge the status quo, present alternative historical interpretations, or encourage critical thinking.

We realize that you are elected officials and have been under tremendous political and financial pressure to fire Professor Churchill. However, we urge you to take your responsibilities to the Constitution and to the education of future generations seriously, and to reinstate Ward Churchill.

sign here:
www.ipetitions.com/pet...churchill/

www.wardchurchill.net/

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Source: Democracy Now!:

The Board of Regents of the University of Colorado in Boulder voted 8-to-1 Tuesday evening to fire tenured professor of Ethnic Studies Ward Churchill on charges of research misconduct. But Churchill maintains that the allegations were a pretext to remove him for his unpopular political views. Churchill has written a number of books on genocide against Native Americans and the US government's COINTELPRO program. After yesterday's verdict Churchill said he planned to sue the university.

The controversy dates back to early 2005 when a college newspaper reprinted Churchill's three-year old essay on the attacks on the World Trade Center. He described the attacks as a response to a long history of US abuses and called those who were killed on 9-11 as "little Eichmanns" who formed a "technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire."

Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi bureacrat convicted for war crimes who political theorist Hannah Arendt famously described as embodying the “banality of evil.” Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly repeatedly attacked Churchill for his comparison. Soon after, Colorado Governor Bill Owens wrote a letter to the university calling for Churchill’s resignation.

A special panel at the university immediately conducted an investigation into Churchill’s comments. They concluded that he could not be fired for his statements, which were protected by the First Amendment. However, another panel later determined that Churchill plagiarized and fabricated material in his scholarship and recommended his dismissal.

Supporters of Ward Churchill organized a rally before the Regents delivered their decision to fire Churchill at 5.30 pm. They had been deliberating behind closed doors all day.

Churchill supporter Ann Erika Whitebird.

Ward Churchill joins us on the phone from Boulder, Colorado.

* Ward Churchill. He was just terminated from his tenured post as Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Churchill is an activist and author of a number of books on genocide against Native Americans and the US government's COINTELPRO program.

For a transcript, click "Read More," below.

Transcripts, audio and video are also available here.

From infoshop.org:

Ward Churchill Is Fired by the CU Regents - Summary of Developments

On July 24, 2007, the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado (CU) voted 8-to-1 to fire Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of American Indian Studies and former Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department.

In doing so, they overrode the recommendation of the review panel of the University's Privilege and Tenure (P&T) Committee, instead endorsing CU President Hank Brown's recommendation to fire. They also disregarded the University's refusal to investigate the numerous research misconduct complaints filed against the May 9, 2006 Investigative Committee Report which provides the only justification for Brown's recommendation.

Read more at infoshop.org

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Source: Free Speech TV

Embattled Professor Ward Churchill speaks on the controversy over his essay, his treatment by the media and the people calling for his firing, and even execution, for 'treason'. In this hour-long program, Prof. Churchill invites FSTV into his home to tell the side of the story told nowhere else on American television: his side.

Producer: Source Code
Length: 61m 53s

When They Came for Ward Churchill

Watch at FreeSpeech TV

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From Wikipedia:

Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer, Vietnam veteran, political activist, and academic. He is a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was widely discussed and criticized in the mass media in 2005, for a 2001 essay in which he questioned the innocence of many of the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks, labeling them as "technocrats" and "little Eichmanns."[1] . He has "decided to publish largely in alternative presses or journals, not in the university presses or mainstream peer-reviewed journals often favored by more conventional academics."[2] In addition to his academic writing, Churchill has written for several general readership magazines of political opinion. His work is primarily about the U.S. and its historical treatment of political dissenters and of American Indian peoples.

Following the controversy around his 2001 essay, the University of Colorado stated support for Churchill's right to engage in controversial political speech. Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano stated, ""While Professor Churchill has the constitutional right to express his political views, his essay on 9/11 has outraged and appalled us and the general public."[3] After an investigation of Churchill's past research, the University's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct recommended Churchill be sanctioned for repeated acts of "serious research misconduct."

On June 26, 2006, CU Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano issued a notice of intent to dismiss Churchill from his faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder.[4] Churchill has been "relieved of his duties by interim chancellor Phil DiStefano, but he will stay on the CU payroll until the termination is final."[5] Some observers infer that the investigation and these actions are in retaliation for Churchill's controversial statements about the World Trade Center attacks because it began in the midst of national media coverage of his statements.[6][7] Other observers note that Churchill was accused of "misrepresentations" and "fabrications" in scholarly journals years before he wrote his 9/11 essay [8] [9]. University of Colorado officials pointed out that while accusations against Churchill had been published as early as the 1990s, no one ever filed a complaint of research misconduct with the university until 2005. The University has upheld Churchill's right to academic freedom of speech, and pointed out that they were compelled to address the new charges of research misconduct that came to light during the controversy over Churchill's remarks about the 9/11 victims. Churchill has filed an appeal against his proposed dismissal.

Click Read More to read the essay all the fuss is about, or click here to watch a video that includes Ward Churchill's response to the controversy.

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Ward Churchill- Perpetual War: State Sponsored Terrorism & the Limites of Academic Dissent.

Churchill is a Professor of American Indian Studies and former Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was worked since 1978, and is on the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. He has authored, co-authored or edited more than 20 books, including A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present; Acts of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader; and Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. He has received numerous writing and teaching awards and, as of 2001, was the most cited scholar in his field. In 2004 Professor Churchill was named runner-up for the Gustavus Myers Award of Best Writing on Human Rights for On the Justice of Roosting of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality and was inducted into the Martin Luther King Collegium of Scholars.

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