Posted on 02/09/2005 8:17:44 AM PST by AdamSelene235
BOULDER - A defiant Ward Churchill told an overflow audience of more than a thousand at the University of Colorado on Tuesday night that he will not back down or be silenced.
Most of the crowd that packed CU's Glenn Miller Ballroom for Churchill's speech appeared to be pulling for him in the fight of his professional life. It was his first public talk since becoming embroiled in controversy for his 3-year-old essay on the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I'm not backing off an inch. I owe no one an apology," he said, during his highly anticipated speech, which was advertised to be one hour but ran just about 35 minutes.
That was just one of many lines to win a standing ovation from many in the crowd.
Churchill, 57, has been the focus of heated debate since late last month when his scheduled appearance on a panel discussion at Hamilton College, at Clinton, N.Y., triggered renewed scrutiny of his essay, "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens."
In that piece, he likened "technocrats" working in the World Trade Center to Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi charged by Adolf Hitler with implementing plans for extermination of European Jews.
In a rapid succession of events last week, Churchill resigned his post as chairman of CU's ethnic studies department - while keeping his $94,000 teaching post; heard Gov. Bill Owens and members of Congress call for his outright resignation; saw the Board of Regents vote to launch an investigation into his record, which could lead to a call for his firing; and lost his date with Hamilton College, after the school canceled his appearance, because of threats against Churchill and others.
Eastern Washington University and Wheaton College also canceled planned appearances by Churchill, and the University of Wisconsin is debating whether to permit him to speak March 1.
CU, too, had called off Tuesday night's appearance by Churchill. But several parties, including an ad hoc organization called CU Students, Faculty and Staff in Support of Ward Churchill, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court, challenging the school's decision as an unconstitutional restraint of Churchill's free speech.
Before the matter could be heard, however, student organizers met with CU officials during the day and reached an accord, permitting the event to go forward.
"They have completely capitulated," attorney Darold Killmer said, after the court hearing was averted. "They knew they were constitutionally wrong and I'm sure they knew they couldn't possibly win."
CU officials said they decided to proceed with the event after student organizers admitted they had overstated the nature of security threats in conversations with officials on Monday.
Churchill, in a black leather jacket and jeans, was engulfed in a phalanx of supporters, fellow leaders of Colorado's American Indian Movement members and security personnel. He arrived 20 minutes late for his appearance.
But when Churchill stepped to the podium following ceremonial American Indian drumming and singing, plus a fiery introduction by AIM activist Russell Means, it was clear the crowd wasn't going to punish him for the delay.
"Bill Owens, do you get it now?" he asked, following the 40-second standing ovation with which he was greeted. That cued another strong wave of applause.
"I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I do not work for Bill Owens. I work for you. . . . The Board of Regents should do its job, and let me do mine."
The battle lines were drawn and underscored repeatedly, in overtly political colors.
Churchill, his voice strained at times and keyed to a fighting pitch for most of his talk, said "there is not an inch of give" in his stance, and that "This institution needs to be protected from the ravages of the rabid right wing" elements that he perceives to be behind the attacks on his credibility and his scholarship.
A primary reason for Tuesday's speech was so Churchill could explain the reasoning behind his essay. He insisted he never advocated or endorsed the nearly 3,000 deaths occurring Sept. 11, but only meant to explain that America's foreign policies - such as the support for U.N. sanctions against Iraq, which many have blamed for deaths through starvation and disease of 500,000 Iraqi children after the first Gulf War - can yield disastrous payback.
"What you are putting out will blow back on you, and that's what happened," he said.
"We're worried about weapons of mass destruction, in a country that has the largest inventory (of nuclear arms) in the world, the only country that has used them on civilian targets, and intentionally used them on civilian targets."
Churchill and Means both spoke bitterly about renewed attacks in the media over recent days on the issue of Churchill's American Indian heritage. He has, in the past, claimed both one-sixteenth and three-sixteenths Cherokee heritage, but others who have studied his genealogy have questioned those assertions.
"The issue (of challenging Churchill's political arguments) was not sustainable, so I was to become the issue," said Churchill. "Well, later, for that."
Means, whose introduction was often even more impassioned than Churchill's delivery, was also disgusted with those taking issue with Churchill's heritage.
"I don't know what Clear Channel (the media giant) says about his one-sixteenth or three-sixteenths. Here's where it counts," Means said, tapping his heart.
Alluding to the regents' order last week for a probe of his written and spoken records, which Churchill puts at more than 24 books and 70 chapter contributions to other publications, Means said, "I know the regents aren't going to get through them all.
"Those cowards," he added, "who could not stand up for women, and could not stand up for their own professors," apparently referring to female students who have alleged they were raped in recent years by CU football players or recruits.
Churchill was clearly buoyed by the predominantly positive reception on his home turf.
"You give me hope. You all give me hope," he concluded.
He raised one fist above his head, saying, "Power to the people" but his voice was largely drowned by the applause.
This is great. This fraud is burying CU and the other liberal universities with his current outbursts and past spewings.
Everytime he speaks, the alums close their wallets. The Regents will have to do something about this clown but fast.
Somehow I get the feeling that if a conservative had been invited to speak, these are the same people who would be protesting the school's decision to invite him.
If Colorado taxpayers have no problem with this, I don't.
Oh... Okay... Well, then I guess you won't mind if the taxpayers of the state of Colorado stop sending you a check, right?
"They have completely capitulated," attorney Darold Killmer said, after the court hearing was averted. "They knew they were constitutionally wrong and I'm sure they knew they couldn't possibly win."
I read an article a while back talking about a poll showing that most students think the First Amendment goes to far. I think this crap right here shows that a misunderstanding of the First Amendment does take things too far. Why couldn't the professor go across the street and give a speech? Get on the radio? Because the idiot students think that Freedom of Speech includes location. If you can confine a group of protesters in a barbed wire cage with armed guards in downtown Boston, you can sure as heck kick this hippy prof off campus. If I thought Freedom of Speech included location, I'd say it went to far as well. Government isn't telling him what he can or cannot say.
"What you are putting out will blow back on you, and that's what happened," he said.
So stop mewling about the unfairness of losing your job, you motherless crank.
That is like, sooo 40 years ago.
You can imagine what the brownies would be like at that bake sale!
Heck, just about everyone from East Tennessee can claim 1/16 native blood.
Color me unimpressed.
Who thinks this Churchill isn't "adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort" while through global communication the enemy takes it in opposing our forces afield?
Though sadly, the United States overall also takes a very selective view of our Constitution.
I do not like this guy, I believe in freedom of speech, but I dont agree with his freedom to impose his communist socialist dogma to our students. Damn hippy.
"I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I do not work for Bill Owens. I work for you. . . .
Lord, God, You are the only tru and effective defender of all that is good and right.
Please deal with this poisonous, cancerous time bomb in our midst.
Cause his hate, poison etc. to consume him and trip him into his own dark hole, if there is no hope for his repentance and redemption.
Please remove him from the public stage.
Cause everyone who hears this idiot to feel disgust and loathing for what he sais and all he has become.
Cause a righteous contrast to arise with much attractiveness and potent truth telling, in Jesus' Name.
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=f3fcd191-0abe-421a-01bc-e9a296571d1f&TEMPLATEID=5991da4c-ac1f-02d8-0055-99a54930515e
Video of his speech
I take it that is a resignation. I think Churchill knows that making a big fuss over this will get him fired. But, just think of all the speaking engagements (and fat fees) at liberal universities here and in other countries. He is probably scheduling a world tour for the next ten years.
>I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado<
Who does this "Red" man think most of the tuition that pays his salary comes from? Russia?
Parents - be careful where you send your kids for their "higher" education!
I think the more the public gets to hear this guy, the better. He's even more fringe, more scary than Michael Moore, and the poster boy for American academia
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