 If you felt a
powerful surge in "The Force" yesterday, you can thank the
University of Colorado Board of Regents. In an 8-1
decision, they voted to FIRE tenured professor Ward
Churchill. No matter what you hear or read, the Real
Story is that this case is NOT about free speech. Ward
Churchill was fired because of "repeated and deliberate"
plagiarism and academic misconduct. It's just that
simple.
Just like you or me, Ward Churchill is entitled to "freely
speak" his opinion, no matter how offensive it is (even
though I believe a University should have the right to fire
someone who makes claims as irresponsible and baseless as
Churchill's). The Chancellor of the University of
Colorado made one fact very clear: Churchill's firing had
NOTHING TO DO with the essay where he compared the 3,000
innocent men, women and children who were murdered in the
9/11 attacks to Nazis (he called them "little Eichmann's").
This is not a free speech case and anyone who tries to
convince you otherwise is playing "Lawyer 101" games; they
know the facts aren't on their side so they're playing the
only weak hand they have.
Churchill had published, as fact, that the U.S. Army
deliberately distributed smallpox-infested blankets to
Indians in 1837, causing an epidemic that killed over
100,000 people. That was clearly contrary to the
source Professor Churchill cited.
Misrepresenting facts and intentionally mis-citing sources
are high crimes -- not misdemeanors -- in the academic
world, and for good reason.
Then, during the University of Colorado's review of
Churchill, a professor at a Canadian University told the
Board of Regents that Churchill plagiarized her
work...publishing a chapter from her book as his own.
Words and ideas have great value in our society, and
stealing them is as wrong and illegal as money or property.
The legal consensus was that YES, Ward Churchill had stolen
the Canadian professor's work.
Just so we're clear, these are only two examples of Ward
Churchill's flagrant intellectual dishonesty. That's
why he got canned. He's a liar and a cheat. Can you
imagine what would happen to a student at any respectable
university if it was proven that they did these things?
They'd be expelled, and rightly so. This isn't about
Churchill being a liberal (even though that would be an
insult to liberals) -- FACTS have no political point of
view. All we can ask of those who teach our children
is that they do so with absolute honesty. How can we
expect students to do the right thing if their teachers
won't lead by example?
Remember, it wasn't me, the media or politicians who fired
Ward Churchill, it was his own university colleagues and
peers. Do I feel that the overwhelming majority of
college Professors are liberal? Yes, I do. But I
also believe that the majority of them are descent and
honest people. Ward Churchill is a bad guy, and
getting him out of the academic system makes as much sense
as keeping child molesters away from schools.
At the end of the day, we need to remember one vitally
important thing--professors aren't Gods who are above
criticism. They're just people doing a job. I've
been bad at jobs in the past and deserved it when I got
fired...just like Ward Churchill does.
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