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CU may fire nutty professor

I like how an Indian Tribe is coming out and denouncing him for acting like he's of Indian heritage.

Link

If I ever do a career change, I think I'll go into ethnic studies. Apparently, there are no qualifications necessary.
 
As a grad student at CU, I've been following this story pretty closely. Here is a link Churchill's essay, entitled, "Some People Push Back", that has caused the uproar:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4151804/detail.html

Pretty disgusting stuff. Personally, I think the Colorado Daily (local Boulder newspaper) said it best:

http://www.coloradodaily.com/articles/2005/02/04/opinion/opinion01.txt

Most of the people I've talked to feel he should be fired. I agree, but not because of what he said (although what he said is unbelievable). An alumni of CU wrote recently that "the core issue seems to be the words Churchill used to convey his opinion, and how those words reflect on CU. His suggestion that those killed in the World Trade Center attacks are "little Eichmanns" seems to be a calculated attempt to elicit a strong emotional reaction. Comparison of workers killed in the attack to genocidal war criminals is an appeal to the emotions, not logic or reason. Legitimate scholarly discourse does not employ such inflammatory means, nor does it make its primary appeal to the emotions."

I think he should be judged on his actions has a professor. Is his research really 'scholarly'? Does it prompt thinking and inquiry, or merely passion? Churchill's future employment should be based the answer to those questions.

As a side note, he has threatened a lawsuit if he is fired over this. He says academic freedom protects him from exactly this kind of attack (I think it protects him from being thrown in jailed, not fired, but I could be wrong). Anyway, to read what Churchill has to say in his defense, click here:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4151313/detail.html
 
Hmmmmm...not sure if he should be fired, exactly. He has a right to his stupidass opinion, just like everyone else, and I'd be interested in seeing whether he's made an overall academic contribution to learning with his life, though I kinda doubt it. Firing him would get him more publicity and a goody-good lawsuit where he gets to act like a martyr ("Now we see the violence inherent in the system! Help-help, I'm being repressed!")

Just letting the fool shoot his mouth off does more to damage the America-haters than trying to punish him.
 
Pluck and Grit said:
Whether he stays or goes, Churchill is the big winner in this. He's practically a household name now. Whatever book he chooses to write is going to sell.
Click to expand...
I agree....he's now automatically an icon for the Left, along with Michael Moore and Howard Dean, for taking such a stand against the "Evil Empire" of GWB and the wascally wepublicans.....
 
Queasy1 said:
I like how an Indian Tribe is coming out and denouncing him for acting like he's of Indian heritage.

Link

If I ever do a career change, I think I'll go into ethnic studies. Apparently, there are no qualifications necessary.
Click to expand...

I got a look at him on Fox tonight and he really cultivates the Indian angle. Got extra long straight hair like Sitting Bull. Well, let's see: he's plainly a phony Indian; maybe he's a phony prof as well?? Apparently his concept of "academic freedom" is a social blank check, enabling the bearer to do and say anything with no repercussion. I'd say he might have a case if the government came in and led him away in handcuffs. But not if the university fires his sorry butt.


Pluck and Grit said:
Whether he stays or goes, Churchill is the big winner in this. He's practically a household name now. Whatever book he chooses to write is going to sell.
Click to expand...

By George, you've maybe hit it. He could have started this whole brouhaha
to make a few bucks. If cons in prison can pull the publishing scam, why not a phony prof???
 
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Heck, he's probably an Icon of the right, too.

I mean, if I was Rush, I'd be quoting him every chance I got. Wouldn't you?
 
Ward screwed up this time. He didn't have much credibility in the Native Community in the first place. He does have some interesting books that he has written in the past.

The University should have checked for a "Tribal Enrollment Card" or "CIB (Certificate of Indian Blood)" issued by the Tribe. If you don't have one, then your not.
 
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Pachydermatous said:
I got a look at him on Fox tonight and he really cultivates the Indian angle. Got extra long straight hair like Sitting Bull. Well, let's see: he's plainly a phony Indian; maybe he's a phony prof as well??
Click to expand...
He is a phony prof in that he doesn't possess any PHDs. Apparently, he attended some sort of hippy educational commune.
 
Queasy1 said:
He is a phony prof in that he doesn't possess any PHDs. Apparently, he attended some sort of hippy educational commune.
Click to expand...

Surveying all of academe, it makes you wonder how many of these ethnic studies types are phonies. Also makes you wonder if the whole system cries out for a house cleaning.

I mean, Indians need a lot of things, but this guy isn't one of them.
 
Academic freedom vs. the reputation of the University

If what he says adversely effects the University (and this guy's trash certainly does reflect discredit on the University of Colorado), then the University has not only the right, but the duty to scrape him off.
Like the Palestinian at the University of South Florida who was fired for writing a letter asking for financial support for suicide bombers in 1995, and being filmed saying "Death to Israel" in Arabic.
 
But the whole incident does underscore a hopeful trend. Back in 1969 B.R. (before Reagan) this nutso would have been hailed as a prophet in the major media, would have made all the TV talk shows, would have been lionized by academia, would have written a best seller, and likely would have been elected to public office. The fact that he might be fired is what I define as progressive.
 
Ward already has plenty of books and is pretty popular in the liberal community. There are many Natives that read his material and agree with some of his opinions and research.

That being said, he has made plenty of enemies in the Native Activist community. He was kicked out of AIM when it factioned and was sort of on a blacklist for claiming to be Native (That being his biggest sin). I met him at FSU when I was in Southeastern AIM and he came and spoke at the University on Native issues.

He finally put his foot in his mouth this time.

True, Indians may need a lot of things but they will figure out exactly what they need without being told what they need.
 
"Academic freedom" has, as I understand it, usually meant that a prof may not be fired by the university for controversial speech. It has nothing to do with the laws of the land or with the power of the university to fire for cause. Treason is another matter altogether.
 
bandersnatch45 said:
"Academic freedom" has, as I understand it, usually meant that a prof may not be fired by the university for controversial speech. It has nothing to do with the laws of the land or with the power of the university to fire for cause. Treason is another matter altogether.
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Whether you want him fired or not there is still the sticky issure of tenure to overcome
 
Churchill has problems with academic fraud:

Seems our boy might get fired for cause, as in he's been very bad and tenure won't help........

"To the extent that Churchill was hired because he claimed to be a Native American, he would seem to be guilty of academic fraud. But the situation is worse than this.

Thomas Brown, a professor of sociology at Lamar University, has written a paper that outlines what looks like a more conventional form of academic fraud on Churchill's part. According to Brown, Churchill fabricated a story about the U.S. Army intentionally creating a smallpox epidemic among the Mandan tribe in 1837, by simply inventing almost all of the story's most crucial facts, and then attributing these "facts" to sources that say nothing of the kind. "

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3530404,00.html

hat tip: instapundit
 
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