Posted on 03/15/2005 1:03:34 PM PST by ajolympian2004
In The Great Gatsby, Nick, the naive young narrator, is stunned when he learns that his friend Jay Gatsby's "business associate" Meyer Wolfscheim is the man who fixed the 1919 World Series. "How did he happen to do that?" he asks Gatsby.
"He just saw the opportunity," Gatsby replies. Astonished, Nick asks "why isn't he in jail?" Gatsby responds suavely to his young friend's flustered innocence. "They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man."
By now, innocent observers might be wondering why "they can't get" Ward Churchill, or at least put him out on the street. The answer is that, like so many talented American con men, from Arnold Rothstein (who actually did fix the 1919 World Series), to Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowski, he's a smart man.
Churchill has spent his academic career running an increasingly elaborate scam - the sort of thing that's known among grifters as "the long con." Whatever else one might say about Churchill, it must be admitted that he has an abundance of the trait which marks all truly great con men: shameless audacity. Confronted by an academic job market that would normally laugh in the face of someone with his lack of credentials, Churchill hit upon an ingenious scheme: He decided to become an Indian.
Taking advantage of the natural reluctance most people have to question someone's ethnic self-identification, Churchill, who has no detectable Indian ancestry, simply began insisting that he was, in fact, an Indian. Everything that has happened since has been enabled by Churchill's continuing use of that phony claim to get away with the academic equivalent of murder.
Last week, according to a reliable source, the University of Colorado reached an agreement with Churchill, in which he agreed to resign in return for a payment roughly equivalent to three years worth of salary and benefits.
Understandably, this news provoked a firestorm of protest among people who were appalled by the prospect that CU appeared to be rewarding Churchill for his misbehavior. That backlash seems to have killed the deal, at least for the moment.
As a part of the group that Churchill has labeled his "white Republican critics" (I'm actually a Mexican-American Democrat, but, as we have seen, facts aren't professor Churchill's strong point) I'm in favor of the proposed settlement. Here's why.
First, it will likely save the university, and therefore Colorado's taxpayers, a great deal of money. Even if one assumes that in the absence of a deal CU will fire Churchill, and then win the lawsuit he is sure to file, the sum of the settlement is considerably less than what CU will have to pay to defend the lawsuit, which could easily drag on for years.
But there's a far more important consideration: What if, in the end, Churchill wins his suit? He will then spend another 10 or 20 years at a university that will now be helpless to do anything about the situation. With all threat of sanction removed, it's hard to imagine how bad Churchill's behavior is likely to become. Under such circumstances, the damage he might do to the university, and especially to students who are imprudent enough to expect minimal competence and civility from all their professors, is incalculable.
Of course it's extremely distasteful to pay Churchill anything. If life and law were fair, he would have been fired long ago. But they aren't - and one consequence of this is that there's a real risk Churchill will win his lawsuit.
CU already made one disastrous decision when it hired Churchill. It would be even more disastrous not to get rid of this high plains grifter immediately, at what is, all things considered, a bargain price.
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Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu.
True.. If he gets canned for academic fraud he may not get hired by any state supported University.. But.. if they just buy him out..... he'd be "free agent" in left wing academia
Actually.. that would be best for us.. let's keep him around and use him as a label... "Our Universities are riddled with Ward Churchill Democrats"..
Response to French foreign minister Talleyrand's demand for a bribe to open peace negotiations. I believe it was for 50,00 pounds. Quote is by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney I believe.
Nam Vet
Only if you measure things solely in dollars.
"that would be best for us.. let's keep him around and use him as a label... "Our Universities are riddled with Ward Churchill Democrats"..
Also, I have sent some of the cartoons and articles about Churchhill to the presidents of a couple of local colleges and universities with some mini Churchhills. One got back at me that I was pushing for censorship. I replied, "Just the opposite, I want this anti American Clymer screaming his anti America mantras on and off campus 24/7. Soon you will be out of a job and alumni donations will be history!"
It is therefore in the best interests of the those who desperately need to cover their derrieres that focus remains on Ward's scam, rather than turn it toward the CONTENT of his "teaching". They can't afford the questions.
They'll quietly pay him off just to get rid of the embarrassment.
"CU needs a football coach...""
They had a great one and chased him off. He was too religious
2. Give the fake Injun' some of his own medicine - the state has tremendous resources and the fake Injun' will cave with mounting legal bills - so just keep on dragging this out!
3. The principle is important here - the state should fight and not cave with a buyout. Not one friggin' cent!
I have taught on the university level for 23 years. You are correct. Universities will typically not knowingly hire controversy (yes, there have been exceptions). Usually, however, their desire to avoid guaranteed future trouble somewhat outweighs their love of leftism.
No buyout. Discredit him, fire him,others begin lawsuits against him for his plagiarism the court throws out Ward's frivolous lawsuit. Ward has to realize that he'll have many lucrative speaking engagements with left and won't be hurting for money. That he will still make money is rankling.
appeasement with sociopaths never works..fire him let him go to court, an Indian jury will scalp him...
ping.
Bump that!
I used to represent fire insurers in court against claims - arson and insurance fraud. (Interesting work).
We had one client who wrote small ($10-15K) contents policies on rental property - trailers, apartments, and so forth.
This company's policy was to fight ALL arson-for-profit claims. Despite the fact that with a small contents policy, you often wound up spending more on defending the case than you would have if you had settled for the policy limits.
After awhile, the word got out and the arson-for-profit guys quit getting policies with the company. The company actually wound up ahead, because they had honest policyholders who just had a normal expected frequency of loss (which is what you calculate the premium on).
For us it was a bit of a disappointment that their policy worked so well, because we had a ton of fun with those cases -- since the perps never expected anything but a quick settlement. Imagine being a plaintiff who's had a terrible run of luck - 9 houses burning in 6 years, imagine that! - and having to face a jury.
Sometimes you just have to take a stand. Surprising how easy it is once you try and quit being afraid of shadows in the corners . . .
See post 36 for an example.
Yeah, that's what Dan Caplis comes back to everyday on his radio show here in Denver on KHOW 630am. He says that not firing Churchill sets a precedent where future professors will just have to meet the minimum 'Churchill standard' to avoid losing their job. Based on what we are hearing here in Denver it appears that Churchill will be fired eventually after due process. It's well worth it IMHO.
Excellent story and a fine illustration of how spending for lawyers can work in the long run. You discourage the frivolous greed head lawsuits. Rub their lawyer's nose in the dirt plus in some states can demand payment of your lawyer's fees from the plaintiff
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