Prof’s words nothing new to city (More about Ward Churchill)

Daily Times-Call ^ | 2/5/05 | Pierrette J. Shields

[wagglebee]

LONGMONT — University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill’s comparison of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to a Nazi villain has grown into a nationwide controversy, but in December he also used the infamous name of Adolf Eichmann to illustrate his opposition to the name of Chivington Drive here in town.

The Longmont City Council voted Dec. 28 to change the name of the street, named for Col. John Chivington, a Civil War officer who led the Sand Creek Massacre.

Two weeks before the vote, Churchill spoke to the council about Chivington and drew an analogy to Eichmann, the Nazi credited as a chief architect of the Holocaust.

“With all due respect to all concerned, the name should be off the street,” Churchill said. “We do not name streets for Adolf Eichmann and would not expect the affected community to sit still for a moment if it was done.”

Over the past week, Churchill has drawn increasing criticism for an essay he penned in 2001 after the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. In it, he suggests that the victims of the attack in the twin towers were “little Eichmanns” and were culpable for serving as “technocrats” in the U.S. government’s oppressive foreign policies.

The Eichmann reference and others in the essay “Some People Push Back,” which he turned into a book titled “On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” has triggered a push for his removal as a professor at CU.

Although the essay is more than three years old, it received little attention until students at New York’s Hamilton College came across the essay on the Internet while researching Churchill before his planned appearance there.

The controversy started brewing when students at Hamilton started protesting Churchill’s appearance and has not let up. Protesters, lawmakers and Gov. Bill Owens have called for Churchill’s removal. Churchill resigned as chairman of CU’s Ethic Studies Department, but he did not quit his professorship.

At the Longmont City Council meeting in December, Churchill complained about accurately portraying Chivington through vile language he said the colonel used against the American Indians he and his troops slaughtered.

Before the council ultimately decided to change the name of Chivington Drive, the city had proposed a plaque depicting the massacre at Sand Creek with commentary that described both Chivington’s role in the Civil War and in the massacre. Churchill said he found it disturbing that the proposed wording failed to mention Chivington “comparing my children to lice and instructing the troops directly to slaughter them.”

CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano on Thursday evening announced a plan to investigate Churchill’s body of work to determine if there is cause for his removal. The CU Board of Regents endorsed the plan in a meeting that ended when police and a protester ended up in a physical altercation.

During the meeting, Regent Tom Lucero characterized Churchill’s essay as “abhorrent,” “patronizing,” “vulgar” and “disturbing.”

If DiStefano and his team find cause, Churchill will be issued a notice of intent to dismiss him. He can appeal such a notice to a faculty board, which can launch its own investigation and make a recommendation.

DiStefano also noted that he has an option to take no action against Churchill.

[PzLdr]

A comparison to SS Colonel Paul Blobel, would be more apt (Blobel conducted the three day massacre at Babi Yar). Chivington commanded a unit of Colorado volunteers, not regular Army troops, and Sand Creek was a massacre of peaceful Indians. The Army conducted an inquiry into his actions, and while the Army condemned him, the citizens of Denver, initially at least, thought Chivington and his men were heroes. Although Chivington had performed bravely against Confederates in the western theater of operations earlier, his actions at Sand Creek were despicable, and are to be condemned. On this issue, I would have to give the nod to Churchill.

[mountainlyons]

There are so many people moving here and so much unplanned traffic that the CO2 also effects peoples minds. I think that if tests were made that Boulder would be coated with drug residue!

[OldPossum]

Here's a great case of "follow the money." I understand that as a result of this idiot's rantings, University of Colorado alumni are withholding their contributions big-time.

As a consequence, I think that it's a certainty that they're going to give this Churchill character his walking papers.

[freeangel]

if one applied the "logic" he has used in recent days, then this Chivington was a freedom fighter and one would think churchill would be more than happey to have a street named after him.

[NeonKnight]

As a consequence, I think that it's a certainty that they're going to give this Churchill character his walking papers.

It is not that easy to give a tenured Prof his walking papers. Done incorrectly, it can cost a university millions.

[Alex Marko]

you're right..he's not native american...which makes his views void and his ideology that much more anti-american.