Posted on 02/07/2005 2:30:03 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Rosen: The professor must go
February 4, 2005
Isn't it ironic that a man who trampled on the free speech rights of Italian-Americans marching in the Columbus Day parade, now hides behind the First Amendment to save his job at the University of Colorado?
Let's make one thing clear: this is not a First Amendment issue. As an American citizen, Ward Churchill can defame the memory of Americans murdered on 9/11 and spew his brand of mindless bile without fear of legal prosecution because the First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that abridge his freedom of speech. But this isn't a criminal matter; it's an employment issue, and his employer, CU-Boulder, should be free to fire him for his hateful, absurd and grossly insensitive utterances. Liberty is not license. Freedom of speech is not absolute.
On my radio show Monday, Churchill conceded that students and faculty should be held to the same standard regarding penalties for reprehensible expression. Students have been suspended or expelled for statements far less offensive than Churchill's. Where's their First Amendment protection?
Churchill has referred to those murdered on 9/11 by al-Qaida fanatics as "little Eichmanns," and has declared that those innocent civilians - among them women and children, and the firefighters and police who tried to save their lives - got what they deserved. Imagine the fate of a CU professor who said something like: "CU women deserve to be raped; they're little sluts"? The point is that, even when protected by tenure, the right of professors to speak their mind with impunity is not absolute. You remember how quickly CU president Betsy Hoffman suspended football coach Gary Barnett for remarks that turned out to be entirely defensible. (She later had to apologize for slandering him on national TV.) No one can say precisely where the line is but Churchill has crossed it and he deserves to be fired far more than the 9/11 victims deserved to die.
Almost as sickening as Churchill's hateful, anti-America tirades were some of the mealy-mouthed early responses of some CU regents, administrators and faculty members (News columnist and CU law professor Paul Campos excepted). Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said "I may personally find his views offensive," but then went on to misrepresent the First Amendment as a defense for Churchill. When he got nailed for that "may" qualifier and had a few days to see which way the wind was blowing, he belatedly summoned the courage to stiffen his tepid criticism.
Regent Patricia Hayes explained that the regents' meeting, scheduled for yesterday, was to be less about considering Churchill's termination and more "to show the community and the rest of the university that we are appalled." In other words, it would be public posturing to cover their backsides. I'm not impressed that they're "appalled," that goes without saying. As I write this, I'm hoping some regents show a stiffer backbone and take action. If Churchill isn't fired for cause, and pronto, CU officials might find Coloradans and their elected representatives unreceptive to their pleas for more taxpayer money from the legislature this year.
Churchill has equated America with Nazi Germany. He also reiterated that statement on my radio show Monday. In an interview with a left-wing organization, Satya, Churchill - pictured in combat fatigues, a Che-style beret, dark glasses and cradling an assault weapon - declared that more 9/11s may be necessary, and that he wants the "U.S. out of North America, off the planet, out of existence altogether."
As an Indian activist, he's so blinded by his hatred for America and the white man that he can't think straight, much less objectively. He doesn't just have a chip on his shoulder; he has a giant redwood. And this was the chairman of CU's Ethnic Studies Department?
Ironically, Churchill has turned his self-indulgent obsession into a profitable career. If CU is pressed for cash, it should not only terminate Churchill, it should eliminate this department and this major. There's nothing in it that can't be adequately covered in history, sociology, anthropology and other legitimate disciplines. What do you do with an ethnic studies major, anyway, other than repeat the cycle and teach ethnic studies, fomenting anger and resentment within the next generation of college students? It's a breeding ground for divisiveness, separatism and irredentist fantasies to settle past scores.
Don't waste any tears on Churchill. If CU fires him, he won't be unemployed long. He'll likely become a celebrity and martyr in leftist academe, and be snatched up by some other depraved university. That's OK. At least he won't be peddling his hatred at the expense of Colorado taxpayers.
Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA.
Un-f***ing-believable.
The Academic Freedom folks, like the Anti-War folks are flying false flags. They don't believe in these principles, they're simply on the other side, the side of the Anti-Americans, the Islamo-Fascists and the commie-socialists. That's it, politics by any means.
Remember Eichmann's statement that "if there were no Jews" he would not be mistaken for one? Well, here's Ward Churchill, who is not an Indian, pretending he is an Indian.
Although I don't have access to his work on the matter, I would suspect he's been very much a part of the movement to suppress American cultural recognition that Indians ever existed.
In that sense, Ward Churchill is, himself, an Eichmann carbon copy.
Don't know anything about Rosen(talk show radio host?),but if Churchill is dumb(and arrogant)enough to go on his show,let em do it.These creeps need to be exposed.
I have no doubt there's other stuff in the record concerning the effort of the Abenaki to gain federal recognition that's going to bring up Ward Churchill, and without even finding it I just know the man's going to be in there arguing that the Abenaki are "white folk", not Indian at all!
Churchill also does a lot of focusing on what he calls genocide ~ he's a veritable student of the practice.
So, when was it that it occurred to me that this Churchill guy may have been studying Eichmann for genocidal ideas?
Yes. And if he were working for a private institution, he'd probably be gone by now. But CU Boulder is a public college, and I doubt the speech alone would be considered grounds for dismissal, and Chruchill would have a lawsuit if they did fire him. The college is going to need more than that.
Surely the older WWII generation alumni must have some influence, especially since colleges count on their alumni for annual funds.
I think of the people we knew who died on 9/11, and I just want to lose my breakfast.
This creep (I won't even say his name) will surely have much explaining to do when he meets his maker. In the meantime, it would be nice if he were at least made to squirm.
I wonder if Churchill is even his real name.
And there's a UNLV prof under fire for suggesting that gays, like other people without children tend not to save for the future as much as those with children. He has to promise to give up his next pay increase because one student was "offended" by his statement and unofficially complained.
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