Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor under fire for alleged research misconduct, fired back today at his critics in a six-page response to a 125-page report, issued last week by a campus committee, that said he had committed plagiarism and had falsified and fabricated research materials. The report moved the university a step closer to firing the outspoken professor, who initially drew criticism for describing some victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks as little more than Nazi-like bureaucrats (The Chronicle, May 17).

In his counterblast today, Mr. Churchill reiterated and expanded upon some of the points he made in a statement issued the day the report came out. The committee was stacked against him, he said, because it consisted of university insiders who knew nothing about his field of study. The panel never allowed him to defend himself against the accusations, he said, and seemed primarily interested in reaching predetermined conclusions. And, he said, the report is full of misrepresentations and lies about his work.

The committee’s report, he concluded, is “the latest volley” in a campaign “to discredit those who think critically and who bring alternative perspectives to their research.” The report, he charged, has one message for scholars: “Lay low. Do not challenge orthodoxy. If you do, expect to be targeted for elimination and understand that the university will not be constrained by its own rules—or the Constitution—in its attempts to silence you.”