We should not be distracted by the silly tempest over Ward Churchill. The real problem, God help us, is that most institutions of "higher learning" are thoroughly riddled with radicals who are indoctrinating the next generation.
Right. Churchill is the tip of a very ugly iceberg.
Note in the article how his Indianess is regarded as a unique qualification for the job. That no white man would have gotten this job. Now that part amazes me. What is a white man was the best, most knowledgeable, most scholarly person who had studied, written about, researched Indian studies. What if he were a fabulous teacher, had 18 books and innumerable articles about Indian Studies? Would he be disqualified solely on the basis of his "whiteness". That is wrong, just wrong.
Academia is busted. We know that, they know it, they know we know. And we are on the case. I have hopes.
I agree that Churchill is not the problem, he is a symptom of the problem.
The problem is that they are almost totally incompetent.
The fact that they are riddled with radicals (socialists/communists) trying to indoctrinate the next generation is also a symptom of their incompetence.
We are falling behind other countries in the sciences, math, and engineering according to Newt.
I think we can use the tempest over Ward Churchill to focus attention on the real problem.