Posted on 05/25/2005 12:16:52 PM PDT by AdamSelene235
BOULDER - Ward Churchill told a University of Colorado committee Tuesday that the academic misconduct investigation now under way is a politically motivated attempt to boot him from the faculty.
The embattled ethnic studies professor met for just under two hours with CU's standing committee on research misconduct, which is investigating allegations that Churchill engaged in plagiarism and falsified historical information in his scholarly work. This was the first time Churchill met with the committee to defend himself.
"He ended by saying this is nothing but a political witch hunt," said David Lane, Churchill's attorney. "He told them they should stand up for academic freedom and the First Amendment."
Churchill left through a side exit after the hearing and did not talk with reporters.
In March, Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano asked the committee to investigate Churchill's academic record, as well as allegations that he misrepresented himself as an American Indian to advance his career. The investigation is potentially the first step in stripping Churchill of his tenure and firing him.
The standing committee will research the allegations against Churchill and, if they find them to be true, forward the case to a university tenure committee. The process is expected to last several more months.
Churchill submitted a 50-page response to all the allegations made against him. He denied plagiarizing any work and said his research was historically accurate. Lane told the committee that the investigation of Churchill's ethnicity was illegal and an insult.
"The government of the state of Colorado has no legal authority to demand an employee set forth their pedigree as if they were a pedigreed dog," Lane said. "I believe this to be an unconstitutional inquiry."
Lane said Churchill told the committee that several leading authorities on American Indian culture were white, and his ethnic background should not make any difference to CU.
"Your scholarly work should rise and fall on its own merits," Lane said.
Lane said eight members of the committee were present, including a CU attorney and a member of the tenure committee. Most of the panel is made up of CU faculty members from a variety of fields, and Lane said they would not be able to fairly judge Churchill's work or the allegations against him.
"You're dealing with biochemists and physicists," Lane said. "I mean, you got a physicist asking questions about, 'Well, when you're citing a source, do you have to cite all the sources, or is it just enough to cite one of the sources?' "
Lane predicted the committee probably will find that Churchill did violate CU academic standards. Lane said he felt the standard that appeared to be established by the committee was so low that it likely would send the case to the tenure committee.
"This entire inquiry is based on the notion, 'You said what you said about 9-11, and we're going to find a way to get you,' " Lane said. "Their assignment by DiStefano is to find a legal way to get rid of Ward Churchill."
Lane described the meeting as cordial and said his client answered all the committee's questions "very politely and completely."
However, Lane held out the hope that the committee might rule in Churchill's favor.
"We're asking them to stand up to political pressure," he said.
Under the standing committee's rules, its members are not allowed to comment publicly on the investigation.
Lane said he still believed Churchill will be exonerated.
"Ultimately, Ward Churchill will continue to teach at the University of Colorado at taxpayer expense for as long as he wants to until he retires," the attorney said.
Churchill left through a side exit after the hearing and did not talk with reporters.
What a brave man!
They went on a witch hunt, and found a lying son-of-a-witch.
Well, he does kind of look like a witch. I mean, lose the sunglasses and pop a pointy hat on him and I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
I hope CU gets rid of him soon. He's a major embarrassment and disgrace.
I hope earth gets rid of him soon.
Ward Churchill, in defense of the First Amendment which gives academics the right to shameless plagiarism.
He looks like a feminazi, which is another word for witch.
Freedom of speech means I can say I'm an Indian and there's nothing the tribe can say about it.
In other news, Adolf Hitler decries attempts to overthrow the Third Reich as "politically motivated." "The invations?" Hitler said, "Well, yeah, there was that, but this is just an effort to get me because I am a Nazi!!!!" "This is really an issue about free speech," he claimed. "Once they found that stuff about the Aryan race being superior, it was, like, let's find an excuse to get rid of old Adolf!"
He didn't mind setting forth a pedigree when it was to his benefit.
Which witch is which?
I wonder how many students were denied their freedom of speech in his class, especially those with conservative ideas.
I'll bet good money that this idiot intimidated conservative students on a regular basis.
Payback is a b*tch.
He's probably also sold his soul to the Devil, so that makes it a match.
Actually, I agree with this. The fact that he lies about his heritage should not affect his tenure (unless the heritage was instrumental in getting him hired). Heck, the fact that he's an a**h** shouldn't affect his tenure. But the fact that he is a plagiarizing a**h** should :-)
Today representatives from various witch covens across the nation gathered in Washington to speak out against Churchill's claim of being a witch.
"There are no records showing Ward Churchhill is now or has ever been a witch", said Sally Mother-Earth-Moon-Beam while stirring her cauldron.
"Last year he claimed he had documentation proving he was a sixteenth warlock", recalled Janet Nutty-Squirel-Food. But Kathy Tree-Goddess-HairyPits Leader of a local Angry Feminist/Witch's coven indicated that the documents were never forthcoming. She describes how he once showed up "smelling of cheap patchouli throwing some frog legs about, we weren't impressed"
When contacted Churchill had no other comment other than to deride "those Right wing anti-witch fanatics who are robbing me of my rich warlock heritage"
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