Posted on 02/08/2005 3:26:48 PM PST by ViLaLuz
Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor who prompted a national furor by condemning 9-11 victims as "little Eichmanns" and praising the terrorists for their "gallant sacrifices," went to federal court today to challenge the school's cancellation of a speech he was scheduled to give tonight.
On Monday, CU administrators announced they had canceled Churchill's planned speech because of security concerns, reported the Denver Post. Earlier this month, Hamilton College in upstate New York canceled a speech by Churchill because of death threats against the professor and its administrators.
Regardless of what the judge decides, students of Churchill, an ethnics studies prof, say he'll speak on campus tonight – at an alternative venue if the court does not clear the way.
In his filing, Churchill claimed the cancellation was "nothing but an effort to stifle me and not let me speak on a matter of public and personal concern."
Saying both his rights and those of the people who planned to listen to him were violated, Churchill said, "I was intending to explain my meaning to the audience, in particular the CU student body."
David Lane, an attorney for a pro-Churchill student group, told Denver station KDVR-TV: "The university ... is obligated to provide security for Ward Churchill. They simply can't put a gag in his mouth by telling him, 'Well, there are these violent wackos out there that want kill you so we're not going to let you give your speech.'"
School personnel told the Post they are prepared to provide appropriate security if the court rules the speech must go on. A hearing was scheduled for 4 p.m. Mountain time.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the controversy swirling around Churchill stems from an essay he 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.
The American Civil Liberties Union has defended Churchill, calling on regents, legislators and the governor "to stop threatening Mr. Churchill's job because of the content of his opinions."
Churchill resigned his position as head of the Colorado University ethnic studies program but kept his $96,000 per year teaching post. He has steadfastly refused to apologize for his comments.
Do ANY leftists or telemarketers in this country understand what freedom of speech means? Answer: No.
Thank you for the ACLU action links. I will check them out.
Boy, these elite "educated" people sure get everything wrong.
Governments can only censor. And it's a stretch to say he's being censored by government because his employer, a state run university, is punishing him and doesn't want him so speak at a university sponsered event. The private sector does it all the time.
If Mr. Churchhill thinks he has been scrutenized about this matter so far, wait until depositions and discovery take over in this matter. We will know about every time he has farted over the past 30 years. All of his personal life will be laid bare. I do not believe even this craven entriguer will enjoy this attention. He is clearly self-destructive. We all should sit back and enjoy the show because he represents thousands and thousands of the Clinton generational anti-American sentiment held by so many in academia. This may start a purge which will make Stalin seem tame. It couldn't happen to a nicer group.
Someone needs to sure the 60s maggot retread for living in America, rather than North Korea.
Make that "sue."
So the University has "obligations" and Ward Churchill has "rights". Funny how come it is never the other way around.
I can't say it enough: Remember Earl Butz. Churchill doesn't have a leg to stand on.
"The University needs to countersue Churchill for fraud."
And prosecuted for high hate crimes and malevolence misdemeanors.
and the very lese for being too stupid to teach others.
That's why his contract at the University should be taken away...he's too dumb to teach.
"That's why his contract at the University should be taken away...he's too dumb to teach."
Remember this: Evil (pathological aspects)is never dumb; dumb is dumb, but evil is clever, manipulative and ruthless, and uses many guises. The dumb (willing fools & tools) are too easily led by evil false-prophets like Ward Churchill, Napoleon, Hitler, Lenin, Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson, et al.
Churchill decried "profit motive" in his essay, and his own "profit motive" permits him to rant his hate speech under the protective armour of university-sinecure employment. If American citizens aren't outraged by this phony deranged sociopath's agenda, then they will eventually reap the adverse benefits of his hate speech which contaminates youth.
Unfortunately, Churchill's deserved exile to a Muslim country is countered by the ACLU's founding mandate to protect, if not advance, fanatical rabble-rousers and radical leftist activism. As unfortunate, America's college youth is denied true intellectual exploration because of entrenched leftist-academia's strangle-hold on youth's thinking. Twas the very same in the 1960's, and its permeation proves true to present times.
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