Posted on 02/27/2005 5:35:59 AM PST by prairiebreeze
BOULDER — A full-page ad taken out by 200 University of Colorado faculty members calls for the school to drop an inquiry into the writings of professor Ward Churchill.
Gov. Bill Owens and others have called for the firing of Churchill, a tenured professor, because of his comparison of Sept. 11 victims to Nazis.
The faculty members paid for the ad to run Monday in the Boulder Daily Camera.
It says the review of the ethnic studies professor, expected to be completed by the middle of March, should be stopped immediately. The ad says the inquiry is the result of political pressure and not based on "any prior formal complaint of specific professional or academic misconduct on his part."
The 200 faculty members' statement defends Churchill's "right to speak what he believes to be the truth" based on academic freedom rules designed to prevent faculty members from being fired for unpopular views.
In the essay, written immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, Churchill appeared to sympathize with the hijackers. He wrote that some victims were not innocent because of their role in driving U.S. foreign policy.
Under pressure from Owens, the Legislature and the CU Board of Regents, the university began an investigation of Churchill.
CU's Arts & Sciences Council passed a resolution Feb. 10 protesting the investigation, and said administrators should know that faculty members are serious about their opposition to what some consider a witch hunt.
Margaret LeCompte, an education professor, said, "It is going to be extremely difficult, if academic freedom is on the block, for us to hire and keep good faculty members."
LeCompte and the other teachers who signed the ad paid $1,600 to have it published.
"We're all thinking twice about what we're saying," LeCompte said, recalling the climate in the McCarthy era when professors were fired for alleged communist ties.
ping
In her latest column, Ann Coulter asks what CU's response would be if a math prof said that 2+2=5? Free speech right?
Shine a light on cockroaches, and watch them scurry!
Suppose for instance WC said men MAY be better at advanced math?
Then the brown stuff really WOULD hit the fan!
LOL! How true..
Wonder where these 200 faculty members stand on academic freedom when it comes to the Larry Summers statements.
U of CO is going to have some rough years ahead. The far left bent of the faculty has reared its ugly head for all to see and prospective students and their families won't like what they see. Nor will alumnists.
The faculty members must not be paying attention , no one is attacking Chrcuhill's right to free speech, they are attacking is academic fraud. If I was a professor who spent a lot of hard work on a PhD, I'd be mad at some guy who snuck into a tenured position with bogus credentials.
The ad says the inquiry is the result of political pressure and not based on "any prior formal complaint of specific professional or academic misconduct on his part."
The emphasis is on PRIOR. The professors are claiming that, if they speak up, then it would be improper to investigate their past academic credentials and conduct in any way that wouldn't have happened if they hadn't spoken up. I disagree. By stepping forward and making a prominent statement, I think it is fair for people (especially other academics) to ask "who is this guy, and what are his credentials, and what has he done before?" In the course of that scrutiny, things may come to light. If you have major gaps and misconduct, you may want to think twice before attracting attention to yourself. Does that put your freedom to speak under restriction? Not if speaking is more important to you than the possible consequences.
On the other hand, who of us is perfectly clean? Who doesn't have something in their past that they would prefer to remain unnoticed? Where the line is between fair scrutiny and gratuitious character assassination, I don't know.
Actually, it sounds more like they are for political reasons trying to prevent an investigation into professional or academic misconduct.
Prudent advice for anyone, anytime, anywhere. Yet, sadly, academic tenure absolves these clowns of the consequences of stupid remarks (and apparently from copyright violations and lying about heritage as well).
I believe he originally wrote that all victim's deserved to die. The MSM along with many in academia continues its assault on truth. Apparently the only failure of the McCarthy era was that it failed!
If it were only one comment or one issue with Churchill I don't think it would have escalated to this level. But he continues to reinforce his hate-America rhetoric through paid university appearances. He's been found to lie extensively about military background, ethnic heritage and possibly his academic credentials. He's been discovered to copy and sell artwork as his own. He assaulted a cameraman and they have it on tape.
Added up, there is more than enough reason to investigate him. Getting close to police investigation time IMO and not just the university.
"The ad says the inquiry is the result of political pressure and not based on "any prior formal complaint of specific professional or academic misconduct on his part."
Not so. Even since his appointment, there have been a number of Indian organizations loudly protesting that he wasn't even an Indian. From what I remember of a number of the articles posted here about his alleged plagiarism and faking of sources also antedated the controversy.
What's most interesting about this demand that the investigating be ended is that it indicates the protesters may be very concerned about some Churchill-like skeletons they may have in their closets and don't want their own little AA scams revealed. All the more reason for the investigation to move forward and broaden to the whole UC hiring and tenuring process. Let's flush out all the frauds.
If 200 "faculty members" support deceit, dishonesty, fraud and outright lunacy it's time to investigate the whole faculty. Time to clean house!
Lies are lies.
I got the impression from the artist son that the family will fight to protect their late father's copyrighted material.
No only is WC a PIG, but a thief also!
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