Posted on 02/28/2005 5:31:26 AM PST by Glacier Honey
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -A full-page ad taken out by 200 University of Colorado faculty members calls for the school to drop inquiry into the writings of professor Ward Churchill.
Gov. Bill Owens and others have called for the firing of Churchill, a tenured professor, because of his comparison of Sept. 11 victims to Nazis.
The faculty members paid for the ad to run Monday in The Boulder Daily Camera.
It says the review of the professor, expected to complete by the middle of March, should be stopped immediately. The ad says the inquiry is the result of political pressure and not based on "any prior formal complaint of specific professional or academic misconduct on his part."
The 200 faculty members' statement defends Churchill's "right to speak what he believes to be the truth" based on academic freedom rules designed to prevent faculty members from being fired for unpopular views.
In the essay, written immediately after the Sept. attacks, Churchill appeared to sympathize with the hijackers. He wrote that some victims were not innocent because of their role in driving U.S. foreign policy.
Under pressure from Owens, the Legislature, and the Board of Regents, the university began an investigation of Churchill.
CU's Arts & Sciences Council passed a resolution Feb. 10 protesting the investigation, and said administrators should know that faculty members are serious about their opposition to what some consider a witch hunt.
Margaret LeCompte, an education professor, said, "It is going to be extremely difficult, if academic freedom is on the block, for us to hire and keep good faculty members.'
LeCompte and the other teachers who signed the ad paid $1,600 to have it published.
"We're all thinking twice about what we're saying," LeCompte said, recalling the climate in the McCarthy era when professors were fired for alleged communist ties.
And the endowment.
200 professors? That shoulds like a good start. CU really needs some house cleaning.
Thusly, she endorses Churchills position.
She was totally uninformed about his plagiarism, copyright infringement, etc.
She knows. She just doesn't care. She hates America more than fraud.
And to think that this is my alma mater!!
You're probably pretty safe if you don't live in Atlanta and are not in the programming profession, but if I see UC on a resume, the applicant doesn't get the job.
Again...what do expect from a person who may be personally helping world wide terrorism? They may "do away" with her if she says anything. Terrorist operatives can't spill the beans. I wonder how many people she may have killed through terrorism, bombings and assassinations? I believe this maybe the truth...
yeah,...yer not kiddin',...the full page ad will appear quite silly after more info on their colleague, "THE PLAGIARIST",is made known tonight[I hope]
So, 200 faculty sign a petition. Now, just what fraction of the total faculty are these 200 leftists??
don't turn over that rock! you might not like what's beneath!
or
don't look too closely - you might catch ME in your investigation!
methinks they doth protest too much.
Why?
Think we could get them (the names)posted here?
http://news4colorado.com/localnews/local_story_059075239.html
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CU Faculty Buys Ad To Support Churchill; Buyout Possible
Feb 28, 2005 5:50 am US/Mountain
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) Hundreds of University of Colorado faculty members came to the defense of embattled professor Ward Churchill.
Members of the faculty bought an ad in the Monday edition of the Boulder Daily Camera. The ad demands the university stop it's investigation.
Churchill's work has been criticized for, among other things, comparing victims of Sept. 11 to Nazi leader Adolph Eichmann.
University officials confirmed to CBS4 News that a buyout is one of the options they're looking at to get rid of the Churchill problem. It may be easier and cheaper than trying to fire him if CU officials find it has justifiable cause to end his employment.
Churchill's life, lectures and academic writings are under the hottest national spotlight. And now even his artwork from the early 1980s is under scrutiny for possible copyright infringement.
"And the time it was done, incidentally, 25 years ago, so how did this suddenly become a news item?" Churchill asked. "A quarter century after the fact, in the midst of all this?"
Churchill hinted the media wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the political writings that have caused a national uproar.
The same writings have led CU regents to review his academic work to decide if he should be fired and have prompted 200 fellow CU faculty members to rise to his defense, charging the school's investigation is a result of political pressure.
We want the administration to drop the investigation, use their ordinary administrative procedures to resolve the controversy, and, most importantly, support the faculty's right to academic freedom.
But as investigators weigh academic freedom against credible allegations of academic fraud, everyone involved appears to be looking for a way out. And, university officials confirm a buyout to make Churchill go away is one of the options on the table. Churchill's attorney says his client is willing to consider it.
"Frankly, Ward Churchill has not enjoyed living under a microscope for the last month, and I think he would like this to all go away, as well," said David Lane, Churchill's attorney.
CU officials say a buyout is only one option under consideration and certainly not the only one. But, its the kind of thing that could head off a lengthy and costly court battle, if the university decides to fire Churchill.
The ad in the Boulder Daily Camera cost the faculty members supporting Churchill about 1,600.
After all, the taxpayer is the master, and the "professors" the servants. If they don't like it they all can go out and find real jobs.
"Regents, who may one day be called upon to vote on Churchill's job, are upset about the daily publicity over the controversial professor, saying it could cause long-term damage to CU's reputation..."The possible damage to the university this controversy has created will take years to recover from," said Regent Peter Steinhauer"
The CU faculty feels a bit shaky and vulnerable to inquiry! That's the problem with truthseeking inquiry - it seeks the truth. Delusional academia demand for themselves an impenetrible fortress of Ivory Towers. Academia demand sinecures giving them license to pursue and to exploit what the hell they want to without censure or scrutiny. Can WE rely on the integrity of their scholarship and the honesty of their expertise? Who oversees academia and scholars but other members of academia and scholarship? Ans: Symbiosis!
Certainly there are members of CU's administration and faculty who are afraid to be held up to scrutiny. They give out life and career determining grades. YET, they are not willing to be graded by CITIZENS who pay for their exalted status and who demand integrity.
Too (obscenity) bad if academia want to dismiss "inquiry" -
it's an obvious fact of life: malignant systems need purging. How ironic that CU and Churchill defenders exposed themselves as being so blinded by their ideology that they cannot, or will not, see that Ward Churchill's hate rants are more Hitler-like than 9/11 victims are like "Eichmanns."
The guilty always want their compadres to remain univestigated
wonder what they are hiding?
What are they afraid of?
Surely, the learned elites can stand up to scrutiny of their "truthful" writings.
These thin-skinned cartoon characters can dish it out but they can't take any criticism.
"If he's busted, folks might start looking at our stuff next."
Appears you should have thought a third time, LeCompte!
"We're all thinking twice about what we're saying," LeCompte said, recalling the climate in the McCarthy era when professors were fired for alleged communist ties.
Drama queen!
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