Posted on 02/27/2005 7:37:24 AM PST by alienken
TROUBLE SPEAK Ward Churchill copied 'original' art piece Takes a swing at TV reporter who confronted him
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 26, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Professor Ward Churchill Adding to a growing list of allegations, controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill appears to have violated copyright law by claiming a reknowned artist's work as his own.
Churchill, whose integrity has been challenged since news broke earlier last month of his paper blaming victims of 9-11 for the attacks, made an Indian-theme serigraph in 1981 called "Winter Attack" and printed 150 copies.
But one of the buyers, Duke Prentup, told Denver's CBS affiliate KCNC-TV of a stunning discovery he made last month while flipping through a book of illustrations by the late artist Thomas E. Mails.
The work signed by Churchill virtually is a mirror image of Mails' 1972 pen and ink sketch, "The Mystic Warriors of the Plains."
KCNC reporter Raj Chohan took a cameraman to Churchill's office Thursday to confront him with the revelation and received an angry response.
Artwork signed by Ward Churchill (KCNC-TV, Denver)
"Get that camera out of my face," Churchill said.
Chohan followed the professor down the hallway to his office, trying to show him Mails' piece and asking to explain why it "looks like you ripped it off."
Original artwork by Thomas Mails(KCNC-TV, Denver)
That prompted Churchill to take a swing at Chohan.
The reporter said: "Sir, that's assault, you can't do that. Can I ask you about this? It looks like you copied it."
Churchill: "I was just grabbed by the arm. And that [camera] gets out of my face."
Chohan: "Sir, we're allowed to take these pictures, this is a public space."
Churchill: "You're not allowed to grab me by the arm."
Chohan: "He didn't touch you sir, we've got it all on tape. Sir, this is called Winter Attack. It's a serigraph by you. It looks like it was copied from Thomas Mails artwork. Can we talk to you about that please?"
Churchill came out of his office several minutes later and agreed to talk, acknowledging his artwork is based on the Mails piece.
He insisted, however, he disclosed that during its initial release.
"It is an original art work by me, after Thomas Mails," Churchill said. "The fact that the purchaser was ignorant of the reality of what was perfectly publicly stated at the time the edition was printed is not my responsibility."
However, no credit was given to Mails on the artwork, and Churchill refused to provide documentation to back his claims.
Intellectual property attorney Jim Hubbell told the Denver station such documentation, if it exists, still would not protect Churchill from copyright infringement unless he had consent from Mails.
The son of the late Thomas Mails told KCNC the family retains the copyright.
"My father invested a great deal of himself in his work, and from that he developed a great fierceness in defending his work," Ryan Mails said. "I cannot imagine he would ever grant permission to anyone to copy one of his pieces."
Controversy erupted around Churchill last month, when one of his essays made it into the national spotlight.
Written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, it 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.
Churchill resigned his position as head of the Colorado University ethnic studies program but kept his $96,000 per year teaching post. He steadfastly has refused to apologize for his comments.
He's also come under fire for claiming an American Indian heritage, training terrorists, and meeting with Libya's Moammar Gadhafi in the 1980s when the U.S. had banned travel there.
In addition, he's accused of writing essays with passages "almost identical" to those of other authors.
The University of Colorado Regents is probing whether Churchill has violated tenure and expects to announce a decision in March.
I agree %1000 with you buddy ..I sent my email out just now ..DID EVERYONE ELSE HERE FIRE ONE OFF TO U OF C ? LETS ALL DO IT !!!!!! POWER IN NUMBERS FOLKS DO IT !!!!
What?? And expose and jeopardize the other 90% of "Academia's" tenured-protected "frauds" as well?
This has been the most dangerous and biggest scam of all perpetrated upon the Republic -- University sanctioned "Anti-America Indoctrination Centers" taught by anti-America Leftist Professors who CAN'T be fired.
" a lot of them have a pretty cushy lifestyle, and they don't do sh*t, contribute little if anything to society, and teach their students nothing of real value " Having just gone back to college for my Masters after 25 years you dont know how true that is. Many if not most of my fellow students ( the kids I mean , in their 20s) dont have a 4th grade level of knowledge of history(for one examole, there are many ) BUT , the have 10 courses in bullshit ethnic studies and pop sociology .It's a joke.
Thank you....everyone FREEP all the addresses are here...
governorowens@state.co.us ;
editor@coloradodaily.com; kusa@9news.com ;
Peter.Steinhauer@colorado.edu; Regent.Schauer@Colorado.edu; Jerryrutledge@adelphia.net; tommyjclay@aol.com; Regent.Hayes@Colorado.edu; Gail.Schwartz@colorado.edu; Regent.Bosley@colorado.edu; Regent.Carlisle@Colorado.edu; Carrigan@colorado.edu
just copy and paste
Even the most stilted "academics" will tell you a four year degree today from a good university has ALMOST as much content knowledge as a good high school diploma in 1966
grade inflation, minority rights, lowest common denominator, ed schools that teach nothing, what do we expect? we LET the socialists and communists take over while we bragged about little Johnny's great inflated grades and he didn't even have to work....the rot came from within....now is the time to scrape the rotten cancer out of what used to be a storehouse and propagator of Western Civilization which ALWAYS acknowledged others....others just never acknowledge OUR rights and I'm damned sick and tired of taking this SHIT from half-assed and half-educated Communists !!! Period!!
Isn't it ironic that this moron wanted to be in the spotlight and said stupid things to help get himself there, but being in the spotlight is the very thing that will bring him down. Did he not think that reporters etc. would look into his writings and artwork just looking for something news worthy? In this case 15 minutes of fame may prove to shorten a career. (I hope)
C'mon, tell us how you REALLY feel! Don't hold back. :-)
Well so far we've learned that Churchill is a nut, an attention grubber, a white guy, a failed historian, and a fake artist. Can it get any better?
violent, seditious, a fraud, plagiarist, liar, imposter......want some more?
Wow no wonder we have a hard time competing at the world level and market.
"Wow no wonder we have a hard time competing at the world level and market."
This is precisely the reason
The story is that UC will buy him out to avoid the embarassment; well, I think they deserve it; and, after all, they could look at is as a cleansing of their ranks.
Of course, the faculty will fight it, claiming it's a witch hunt, but perhaps they all have something to hide, too.
IMO, buying him out will diminish the credibility of CU forever. But I guess that's okay with the Regents.
Wow, that was scary!
It is absolutely in character for the man who coined the "little Eichmanns" concept, to blatantly rip off the work of a legitimate artist, sign it with his name, and think he could get away with it because he took the trouble to reverse the image. This is classic schizoid behavior: the creation of a false-self system, replete with false ethnic identity, credentials, whatever is needed to cobble together the right IMAGE for a "self". The man is a walking phantom. And only in a world of virtual reality could a virtual non-entity like this be "King", if only for a little while. But now his reign is over, and what looked initially like a notorious "15 minutes of Fame" has backfired on him, BIGTIME.
I agree 100 percent; if they make any other kind of deal, they are completely marginalized!
There was an article last week that since this started, their applications are down 15 to 20 percent, which roughs out to 15,000,000 a year!
And I would never let a child of mine go there just based on the fact that they once hired Mary Frances Berry as a chancellor.
You'd better be ready for Prime Time when you DEMAND your 15 minutes of fame.
That's the lesson here -- and probably for those 200 other professional professors supporting this Ward of the state of Colorado. A lot of these people have risen to prominence with nothing else to recommend them except for their politically correct conformity. But when they have to defend it under the harsh glare of the spotlights, they realize that there's no foundation for their beliefs, opinions, assertions, actions, and entire lives. It's all been a tissue of lies.
So when the spotlight finally do turn on them, they're like deer caught in the headlights; it isn't pretty.
Well said brother..I teach High School here in NJ so I know what you mean . I do my best with a failed system.BUT..Much of education is NOT only the schools but the parents. I just TEACH them , I dont bring them up. The parents are the WORSE.Each child is a little Prince and Princess.You say one word to a spoiled rotten kid and mom and dad are there the next day with a lawyer or 2 . There is NO dicipline at home at all .I can be the best teacher in the universe and the kid wont go far unless he has a home life that fosters education . That's why , for example , the Korean kids excell...college. as it is , is a waste.
Thank you for posting that. Incredible!
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