Posted on 04/04/2009 4:48:38 PM PDT by jasonmyos
BOULDER, Colo. (Legal Newsline)-The controversial University of Colorado professor who likened victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to a Nazi leader has been awarded just $1 in damages for wrongful termination.
(Excerpt) Read more at legalnewsline.com ...
I haven’t kept up recently, but judges have been extremely hesitant to order universities to hire back fired faculty. Occasionally they have rewarded a year or two of salary if they determined that someone was wrongly fired or denied tenure, but they have not considered it to be their job to tell universities whom they should hire.
So, the question is what this judge will do with the jury’s decision.
“The judge in the case, Chief District Judge Larry Naves, still must decide if the university must give Churchill back his $96,392-per-year tenured professorship, and whether the university must pay his legal fees.”
Those are two very big items, especially the question of whether they have to hire back someone they don’t want. Hopefully this judge will do the right thing in that regard. The legal fees are less important.
A.K.A. "The Hammer on the Table Defense."
Some interesting tidbits at the NotMyTribe blog:
Churchill juror Bethany Newill explains
By Marie Walden
NOT MY TRIBE - 4/03/2009 10:14PM MDT - 17 Comments
A few interesting things about the Ward Churchill jury came to light today (a sigh of relief from Pirate Ballerina!). The jury thought — right up until the judge gave them their instructions — they were to determine whether Ward Churchill was guilty of academic misconduct. When they realized they needed only to decide only whether the 9/11 essay was a substantial motivating factor in his dismissal, they agreed very quickly that it was.
Although apparently the jury took their deliberations seriously, they didn’t want to have anything to do with the damages portion of the process. They hoped the judge would do the job for them but when they found out that wasn’t permitted, they gave it a half-hearted shot. This from Westword’s interview with juror Bethany Newill:
Once Judge Larry Naves reiterated that the jury had to tackle this task, Newill confirms that “the majority of us were in favor of giving him money,” but they didn’t know how much to award. “We were given a four-page set of rules to determine the amount, and there was also an option that we didn’t have to do it. And one of the rules said there needed to be a preponderance of the evidence to show the financial effect it had on Ward Churchill. And there was no real dollar amount other than the loss of wages.”
Ultimately, the jurors followed the lead of David Lane, Churchill’s attorney. “He said, ‘What price can you put on a reputation?’” Newill remembers. “And we all decided that there’s not a price you can put on a reputation. And even though this was protected speech, there are still consequences to your actions and your words. When Ward Churchill wrote that essay, he had to think that people would be affected by that, negatively or positively, and that he would need to reap the consequences on his reputation.” Still, she emphasizes that “it wasn’t a slap in his face or anything like that when we didn’t give him any money. It’s just that David Lane kept saying this wasn’t about the money, and in the end, we took his word for that.”
No doubt, a jury of peers! Just not Ward Churchill’s peers!
Tenure overall should be abolished.
There are many like this guy in every university.
Tenure rewards the do nothings.
I didn't catch that at first. The Jury actually awarded for this traitor. The judge could still send him back.
I imagine this “judge” will rule for Churchill in order to “send a message” to the colleges and universities not to go screwing around with the Marxist professors. These professors are redesigning Amerika.
“.... awarded just $1 in damages for wrongful termination.”
That’s the jury’s way of saying,
Buck you!
Excellent. LOL
You know, if this guy said that at a real organization or company, there would be a civil right lawsuit against them...hey that’s an idea—stop complaining about it-and file one.
Newill’s version of what happened during deliberations is beginning to fall apart.
It does sound a bit too comic to be true. Thanks.
.............with back pay and legal fees.
Boy, I hope so. That's the most confused understanding of the issues I've ever read!
My son was required to take a “diversity” class at college (Temple University in Philly). He perused his choices for fullfilling the “diversity” class requirement and opted for a “diversity” class on Native Americans, figuring it would probably be the easiest one to stomach among the choices offered.
His “professor” was black (naturally - - these mandatory “diversity” classes are designed to provide employment opportunities for people who majored in “African American Studies”) and one of the books REQUIRED for the class was a book written by that famous “Native American”, Ward Churchill.
I kid you not.
The first native American was likely that simple traveler who first left his lasting mark along the dry, parched soil which he set about to put behind him.
I wonder about CO people and CO voters and CO jurors!
Most people who are against tenure do NOT have tenure! Such are the USA and her people.
Considering CO voting habits, Churchill is more powerful there than we realize. Maybe they think he is kin to the real Churchill!
You are totally correct about tenure. There are a lot of weirdos in our Universities. I am from Alabama and I know. It will be very difficult to overturn this long time tradition.
LOL, well if he says he is, he is!
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