Posted on 02/02/2005 1:28:25 AM PST by JohnHuang2
The governor of Colorado yesterday called for the resignation of the University of Colorado professor under fire for comparing the victims of the 9-11 World Trade Center terror attacks to Nazis while praising the suicide hijackers for their "gallant sacrifices."
Gov. Bill Owens sent the letter to the president of the University of Colorado College Republicans, Isaiah Lechowit, who was scheduled to read it at a rally in opposition to professor Ward Churchill.
"All decent people, whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, should denounce the views of Ward Churchill," wrote Owens. "Not only are his writings outrageous and insupportable, they are at odds with the facts of history."
As WorldNetDaily reported, the controversy stems from an essay Churchill wrote titled "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens," written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. In it, he describes the thousands of American victims who died in the World Trade Center inferno as "little Eichmanns" (a reference to notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann) who were perpetuating America's "mighty engine of profit." They were destroyed, he added, thanks to the "gallant sacrifices" of "combat teams" that successfully targeted the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
On Monday, Churchill stepped down as chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department but remains a professor of Ethnic Studies and Coordinator of American Indian Studies at the Colorado school.
Tomorrow night, the university's board of regents will have a special meeting to discuss the tenured professor's fate.
Wrote Owens: "Not only are [Churchill's] writings outrageous and insupportable, they are at odds with the facts of history. The thousands of innocent people and innocent they were who were murdered on September 11 were murdered by evil cowards Indeed, if anyone could possibly be compared to the evildoers of Nazi Germany, it is the terrorists of the 21st century who have an equally repugnant disregard for innocent human life.
"No one wants to infringe on Mr. Churchill's right to express himself. But we are not compelled to accept his pro-terrorist views at state taxpayer subsidy nor under the banner of the University of Colorado."
Owens, a Republican, said the professor's views are more than just anti-American, but are "at odds with simple decency, and antagonistic to the beliefs and conduct of civilized people around the world. His views are far outside the mainstream of civil discourse and useful academic work."
Concluded Owens: "His resignation as chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department was a good first step. We hope that he will follow this step by resigning his position on the faculty of the University of Colorado."
Churchill was scheduled to speak at Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., near Syracuse tomorrow, but yesterday officials at the school canceled the appearance, citing security concerns and death threats they had received.
Write the regents at the Univ of Colorado (Boulder) and let them know this man needs to get a swift boot out the door.
Peter.Steinhauer@colorado.edu, regent.carlisle@colorado.edu, regent.hayes@colorado.edu, carrigan@colorado.edu, tommyjclay@aol.com, Regent.Bosley@colorado.edu, jerryrutledge@adelphia.net, regent.schauer@colorado.edu, Gail.Schwartz@colorado.edu
He should be terminated. Then fired.
"Instead it was a gathering of colleagues from his Ethnic Studies dept. offering their full unconditional support for Churchill. They also promoted one of his books."
Every one of them should be terminated.
Hello CU Regents,
If you fail to fire this traitor you can count on this being the top issue next time any one of you is up for election. You really need to listen to Dan Caplis on KHOW 630am between 3pm and 7pm. On their Tues. evening show what they played on the air from one of Churchill's talks from Oakland, California was outrageous and grounds alone for treason. No one such as this should be teaching anywhere in America at any level in our education system. Churchill is a preacher of hate not a teacher. A Nazi wouldn't be allowed to teach at CU, a KKK member wouldn't be allowed to teach at CU... Ward Churchill shouldn't be allowed to teach at CU.
Do your your job and terminate this scum of the earth!
later,
Tony from Boulder
It's disgusting how these parasites get themselves "tenured" in taxpayer funded educational facilities and proceed to rip apart the very taxpayers who support their free speech abuses. What flatulent frauds! The whole Ethnic Studies department sounds like they don't understand free speech is NOT a license for treason and inhumanity at taxpayer expense. Let them run their mouths on their own dime.
Decent people are getting sick of this crap.
Churchill was scheduled to speak at Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., near Syracuse tomorrow, but yesterday officials at the school canceled the appearance, citing security concerns and death threats they had received.
On the O'Reilly Factor they said that the real reason was the alumni donations to the college were being revoked. If there's one thing that will get a lib it's taking someone else's money away from him.
This whack job extremist must be fired!...He hanged himself with his garbage mouth!
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/2386.php
I was able to listen to the over 2+ hours of audio from these links. Churchill should definitely be tried for treason! No doubt about it...
But then again, I'm old fashioned.
Or...hang 'em...hang 'em high....
The local radio dude here in Denver, Mike Rosen, (KOA radio) had Churchill on for an hour and grilled him well.
--"All decent people, whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, should denounce the views of Ward Churchill,"---
Decent liberals? Give me a break; there are none.
Decent Liberals???.....L.O.L.
The 1st ammendment doesn't guarantee a secure platform from which to spout. Let him find a street corner somewhere to spew his crap (like near the WTC).
Please, some one in Colorado give Ward Churchill a good enough a$$ kicking that he will not forget it. Are there no men in the whole state of Colorado?
...O'Reilly Factor they said that the real reason was the alumni donations to the college [Hamilton] were being revoked.They've taken a beating. Believe me. And, they've taken the usual escape route of slither and slime, and issued this bogus fear of "death threats" as the reason for cancelling the appearance.
Seems to me if security were truly a concern, that would make their precious 1st amendment rights altogether more important and worth upholding. But no, it's all someone else's fault.
Pathetic.
Time will tell if the good citizens of CO have any balls common sense!
The Hamilton College school paper dug up some good stuff on the guy, but I am not sure if they are online.
Send this yesterday:
"Members of the Regents committee:
Some of my best professors and teachers have been
liberal.
But, Mr. Churchill's behavior is worthy of nothing but
a prompt termination. If I had Mr. Churchill as a
professor, it would be extremely difficult to hold any
respect for the man.
It is difficult to say this, as I value greatly
academic freedom. As a conservative, I value the
opportunity to hear all viewpoints, even strongly
liberal ones with which I disagree. I enjoy
stimulating discussion on important subject.
But, Mr. Churchill is expressing an opinion which is
repugnant to 95% of the populace. And, he expresses
his opinion in his paper in a most vitriolic, nasty
way. The language used is harsh and unfeeling.
Today he released a statement saying his words are
being taken out of context, that he does not support
the terrorists. Even if true, it is a minor
distinction between supporting the terrorists and
LEGITIMIZING THEIR ACTIONS by criticizing their
victims as ultimately being culpable for what
occurred.
Mr. Churchill has seemed to learn nothing from this
episode; in fact, he continues his bigotry.
In a Fox News interview, he stated: "Bush, at least in
symbolic terms, is the world's leading terrorist...He
absolutely thumbs his nose at the rule of law. He's
the head of a rogue state by definition, and it's a
rogue state which dispenses carnage on people presumed
to be inferior in some set of terms."
Calling the United States of America a rogue state.
Saying President Bush is a terorrorist flaunting
international law....despite going to the UN to fight
the case for war. Are these the views you want your
faculty having? They certainly are not views that
will cause the University of Colorado to be viewed
upon favorably by the public that sends students
there. There are some things that just go too far.
You would not allow a professor encouraging rape or
racist hate crimes to stay at CU, so why allow this
man to stay, who is equally repugnant? For academic
freedom?
I support academic freedom, but there is a limit to
what should be acceptable. I would certainly hope you
believe there is a limit, and that calling terrorists
"gallant" crosses that line.
As for how academic the paper in question even is,
take a look at this passage: "If there was a better,
more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting
some penalty befitting their participation upon the
little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of
the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing
about it." This in no way resembles an intellectual
argument. It is vitriolic language that is way out of
line and clearly shows his defense today, his claim
that he does not support terrorists, but was simply
doing an objective piece statating facts, to be very
questionable.
Mr. Churchill is very emotionally wrapped up in
defending the terrorists and criticizing the American
victims in his piece. It in no way resembles a
balanced, fact-based article.
And free speech is no defense. Every person in
America has the right to say whatever they want to say
without GOVERNMENT restriction. However, freedom of
speech does not mean societal or job consequences will
never come due to that speech. If you slander a
person, you may be sued. If you say something that
brings down the reputation of an institution....such
as the University of Colorado in this case....you may
be fired from that institution. There is nothing
wrong about firing him, and First Amendment rights
have nothing to do with it.
You would fire a racist professor in a heartbeat
without thinking about his First Amendment rights or
academic freedom.
We will see if you would do the same by firing
Churchill. After all, if you don't support the right
of racist bigots to
express their speech as professors, I am sure many
will wonder why you do support the views of a radical
leftist who says: "True enough, they were civilians of
a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a
technocratic corps at the very heart of America's
global financial empire the "mighty engine of
profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy
has always been enslaved and they did so both
willingly and knowingly." If you support that
classist (as opposed to racist)
view, when everyone knows you would NOT tolerate a
racist faculty member distributing KKK literature, I
am sure the general public will question what
principles you as members of the Regents actually
have.
I hope you will do the right thing, especially since
the citizens he sees as "technocratic corps" are
funding his salary.
If not, you will no longer be taken seriously as an
academic institution."
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