Posted on 02/09/2005 9:06:57 AM PST by ParsifalCA
Ward Churchill has become a poster child for the incredible dysfunction of Americas universities. Churchill is the University of Colorado professor who, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, described the victims as "little Eichmanns." Their deaths, he argued were a "penalty befitting their participation in . . . the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved."
These comments went largely unnoticed until Churchill was scheduled to speak at Hamilton College he frequently lectures in exchange for a six-figure fee. (Its an easy way to obtain the wherewithal to denigrate the hard working businesspeople and restaurant workers in the Twin Towers). The outrage that resulted from Churchills remarks forced Hamilton College, quite rightly, to cancel his speech. And now it has emerged that Churchill who, for years, has traded on his supposed status as a Native American isnt actually a member of any tribe at all. He is a fraud.
If any other professional had brought disrepute on his organization even comparable to the disgrace Churchill has visited on UC-Boulder, hes be out of a job already. But the university has only taken the first step in initiating a six-month process that might (or might not) result in Churchills dismissal.
Proponents of tenure have long argued that it protects academic freedom. That argument has proved to be as fraudulent as Ward Churchills Native American heritage.
Tenure does little or nothing to protect academic inquiry from the right. Even Lawrence Summers, the President of Harvard, feared for his job in the wake of eliciting feminist outrage by hypothesizing the existence of inherent differences between the sexes. Those remarks werent radical chic, like Churchills; instead, they challenged one of feminisms central tenets that there are no differences between men and women. And for that, there can be no tolerance in the left-wing academic world.
In fact, tenures existence serves only to lock a new generation of conservatives out of academia by permitting the radicals who dominate the academy to maintain their jobs long past the time when they are either productive or relevant. Harvards Summers ran into trouble once before when he had the temerity to suggest to Cornell West (a star of the African-American Studies department) that he might be well-advised to stop making rap records and start producing a little more scholarship. In a huff, West decamped for Princeton.
Its not surprising that West found Princeton to be a refuge. After all, its the home of Professor Peter Singer a proponent of animal rights who nonetheless believes that parents should have the right to euthanize their own handicapped children up to 28 days of age. But Singer can have confidence that hell never be held accountable; he can spew amoral garbage far beyond the pale of academic discourse and then, if challenged, can scurry to the safety of his tenured position in the ivory tower.
The tenure system like this serves neither the students, the parents paying tuition, the universities who pay salaries or our society in general. The only people who benefit are the academics themselves who may, perhaps, sense that they couldnt enjoy the same protection, perks and privileges in a more robustly competitive system. It is a system that is perfectly congruent with the left-wing, even anti-capitalist views of the overwhelming majority of todays university professors.
This is America, and academics have the right to say whatever they please. But at some point, conservative or liberal, they should be responsible like every other professional and politician is to the people who pay their salaries. Good or even provocative and important ideas will lack neither marketability nor defenders (look at the shadow university world of the think tanks established by the conservatives); at the same time, evil and destructive ones can claim no right to subsidy without accountability. And in a true marketplace of ideas, there should always be at least some ideological balance.
Ward Churchill has told his students that if hes fired, hell sue: "They really don't want to do that unless they want me owning this university." Under the law right now, maybe he would. And thats part of the problem.
Discussing the possibility of Churchill being discharged, the President of the University of Colorado said, I hope we dont do anything for which future generations will have to apologize. Unbelievably, hes concerned that firing Ward Churchill might be the wrong decision.
If anyone doubted that moral relativism, ethical blindness and intellectual laziness dominates Americas major universities, the furor surrounding the Ward Churchill affair should eliminate any uncertainty. tOR
Columnist Carol Platt Liebau is a political analyst, commentator and CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial director based in San Marino, CA. Ms. Liebau also served as the first female managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Her web log can be found at CarolLiebau.blogspot.com
copyright 2005
Heap Big Chief Ward Churchill is a complete fraud, in every way. This non-Native American totally faked his credentials to con his way into a Native American studies program, and then has never done the slightest research (as is required of faculty) on Native Americans.
She says his fee is a six figure fee. I don't believe it unless it is $1000.99. I would bet a bippy he doesn't get a six figure fee.
She says his fee is a six figure fee. I don't believe it unless it is $1000.99.
His appearance at Eastern Washington U was cancelled. The article said that the fee for that speech was $3000.00. Like you say, it's 'six figures' if you count the pennies.
Jeremy, the adult film star and director, who will be paid $6,500 to deliver a speech on ''Sex and Law,'' will appear at EWU, despite protests.
Churchill, an Ethnic Studies professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who was scheduled to speak April 5 during EWUs Native American Awareness Week for $3,000, had his invitation to the university rescinded.
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