The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld a lower-court judge’s ruling that the University of Colorado officials sued by Ward Churchill were immune from his lawsuit accusing them of violating his First Amendment rights when they dismissed him as a tenured ethnic-studies professor on the Boulder campus, the Denver Post reported. The 2009 ruling upheld by the appeals court had overturned a jury verdict in Mr. Churchill’s favor. Mr. Churchill’s lawyer responded to the appeals court’s decision by saying he would ask the Colorado Supreme Court to take up the case.
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Finally, the judiciary system has made a wise decision. Ward Churchill is an unrefined Nazi and has no place in a university. It is too bad it too U of C this long to boot him out.
The U of C claimed that the reason for booting Ward Churchill was purely based on his academic conduct and had nothing to do with his being an unrefined Nazi. If he was fired for being an unrefined Nazi, and if the Colorado Supreme Court says that firing tenured professors for being unrefined Nazis is fine with them, it will not be long before U of C is firing professors for being Godless communists, shameless heathens, unAmerican ecofreaks, card-carrying members of the ACLU…
—–GLMcColm
Out of the insanity that embodies Ward Churchill’s very being, comes sanity ejudicated by the court. Mr. Churchill’s firing from U of C was a fairly based decision and the courts have validated that decision holding the university harmless of liability and without prejudice in Mr. Churchill’s case. Mr. Churchill is no more than a shill and this citizen couldn’t be more thrilled with the court’s decision.
Another right-wing blow to both academic freedom and the judicial system. Richard Falk of Princeton nailed it three years ago:
“All of us who value academic freedom should now stand in full solidarity with Ward Churchill. The outcome of his case at the University of Colorado is the best litmus test we have to tell whether the right-wing’s assaults on learning and liberty will stifle campus life in this country. Never in my lifetime have we in America more needed the sort of vigorous debate and creative controversy that Ward Churchill’s distinguished career epitomizes. We all stand to lose if his principled defense fails.”
Ward Churchill’s DISTINGUISHED career? Lol
From the Denver Post:
“…academics came forward and accused Churchill of plagiarism and fraud in scholarly writings, which led to his termination”.
Churchill’s termination had nothing to do with academic freedom and only a fool would say that. Apparently, even unrefined Nazis can’t plagiarize and commit fraud, as much as that may bother some posters here. I hope he does take the case to the Supreme Court because that would provide the perfect exclamation point to what happens to academic criminals.
Academia is the better off for being rid of publicity hounds like Mr. Churchill, who think being in the public eye will protect them as they abuse privilege by breaking fundamental rules of academic honesty. I suspect even his friends have trouble rationalizing the kind of misbehaviors he has been caught engaging in. Just think, if he had not overreached in his quest for attention, he could have remained a backwater gadfly, unexposed for the academic fraud he has proven to be, so perhaps there is some justice in that.
When Churchill first went live with his nonsense, I published an op-ed in a mid-sized metropolitan newspaper defending his position as a tenured professor. I was vilified by all sorts of folks, but held my ground.
When word came out that his professional scholarship was bad, I no longer wished to support him.
Whatever motivated his university to get rid of him is not relevant. What matters is that he failed to meet his scholarly obligations, and on these grounds the court upheld his dismissal. It was right to do so.
With Churchill, we are to be glad to be rid of juries, and anyone or any group that does not understand the obvious evidence of witchcraft and its ill-effects. I feel fairly confident that the CO Supreme Court will, like the other judges, see the obvious evidence and soundness of the witchcraft Churchill and his scary ilk work on all of us. Thank God that we have the U of CO administration and the CO judiciary to liberate us from these witches!
Administrators at the University of Southern Mississippi plagiarize and commit fraud with impunity. We are not familiar with the evidence brought against Ward Churchill, so we can’t comment on the accusations against him. But we have evidence and documentation to prove our claims against USM administrators. (See, http://www.usmnews.net.) So, who takes action against administrators? Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning? No, they’re flying to football and baseball games with President Saunders in a plane paid for by taxpayers and students. State legislator? No, they flying to the games with President Saunders, too. The courts? No, their kids are attending USM in the undergrad and doctoral programs. One comment about Ward Churchill: If you have looked at the details of his case, say so when you comment. You can’t do justice without looking at the details. That’s only a necessary, not a sufficient condition to begin a dialogue much less pass judgment.
@22067030 (second comment in list)
So you worry that, if Churchill’s firing is upheld, “… it will not be long before U of C is firing professors for being Godless communists, shameless heathens, unAmerican ecofreaks, card-carrying members of the ACLU…” ?
Hey, in academia, that’s the kind of stuff that gets you a medal!
As a card-carrying America-basher, Churchill was probably fired reluctantly, as they had no choice due to his blatant plagiarism. He was caught red handed.
Surely not RED handed?
easterncrow — “adjudicated”
As a parent of a Colorado U graduate I’m astounded that Churchill got hired in the first place, not to speak of attaining tenure. I think the incompetence, and the firings, need to go a little deeper. It does not seem to me from reading about him that he had anything to offer in the first place other than his ethnicity.
edward: you’re too kind. You wrote, “It does not seem to me from reading about him that he had anything to offer in the first place other than his ethnicity.” As I understand it, his ethnicity was also fraudulent, along with his academic credentials and his scholarship. Personally, I’m 1/256 Cherokee; does that qualify me as a Native American expert? I think not. (In fact, although it’s true, it’s a joke at the expense of the Affirmative Action folks.) The academic community and our system of tenure are on trial here; if we are unable to police ourselves by getting rid of blatant fraud and dishonesty, we do not deserve to be protected. This is one of the most fundamental responsibilities that go with tenure.