Posted on 03/04/2005 11:12:35 AM PST by BullDog108
By Thomas Coghlan, News Assistant
March 01, 2005
University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill will be coming to speak during Native American Awareness Week April 5, said Deirdre Almeida, director of the American Indian Studies program, at the Feb. 28 Senate Faculty meeting.
“As far as the Native American Student Association and the Native American Studies Program, he was still invited to come and be part of American Indian Awareness Week. And as far as the students go, they plan to pick him up April 4, because he speaks on April 5, at the airport. That is what they are saying. They are going to bring him; whether he is here or else where, they are going to bring him,” said Almeida.
According to the American Indian community, Churchill’s scheduled appearance on April 5 is still going to take place.
“This is an Native American Student Association event, they held a press conference with their lawyer about a week ago and released a statement which they said this is now their event, so they have to get him here,” said Almeida.
Many students plan to pick up Churchill at the airport on April 4 and escort him to a location that has not yet been decided.
Almeida said she did not have specifics on Churchill’s arrival.
“I do not know what they are up to,” Almeida said.
Churchill and the Native American community do not seemed to be concerned with the security risks that were cited as the reason for the cancellation of his visit.
“He is a warrior. They can’t hurt him, people nowadays. I am hearing people within the native American movement referring to him as having the spirit of Crazy Horse with him, and Crazy Horse could ride through battles and was never wounded, bullets just passed him by, and that’s how Professor Churchill is viewing this ‘they can’t hurt me unless I let them,’ and he will not,” said Almeida.
Advertising for Native American Awareness Week was scheduled to begin Feb. 27, but due to the cancellation and uncertainty of Churchill’s appearance as a campus event, the advertising campaign has been put on hold, Almeida said.
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Brian Levin-Stankevich said he was concerned about the safety of the people attending this event on campus.
He said that if he chooses to attend Churchill’s lecture of his own free will, it will not be a liability issue to the campus as it might be for an organized university-sponsored event.
“Let’s say I tell my class to attend this event. Now I have a student who might not have decided to go on their own, something does happen, we have a multi-million dollar lawsuit as a consequence,” Levin-Stankevich said. “If we are completely oblivious to that, then we are not doing our job.”
Keven Shipman, a graduate student and adjunct professor, who was chosen to head the Churchill project, said that Churchill’s lecture was needed on EWU’s campus.
“I think Churchill needs to come to this campus anyway. Somehow or another Churchill will walk on this campus; that is my perspective,” Shipman said. “That is the basic sentiment of most other professors. Of course if the administration doesn’t re-invite him or revoke their cancellation, then he wouldn’t be here in an official venue. It would be maybe a rally event, theoretically.”
When President Jordan made the decision to dis-invite Churchill Feb. 4 without consulting the Native American community, many Native Americans saw this as a continuation of a trend that has been seen throughout their history, Shipman said.
“We see it as, the Native American community, just another time that someone made a decision for us,” Shipman said. “This is a cause for sorrow. We kind of know what our status is at this university and in white society as a whole when these decision are made for us; it reinforces a long history of the same sort of decision making.”
When the Native American Awareness Week’s keynote speaker was canceled, it had a dramatic effect on the entire event, he said.
“It is still going, that date that Churchill was going to be here. Basically I think that is going to be a day of mourning, because the administration made the decision for us with out really consulting us,” Shipman said.
If President Jordan does not re-invite Churchill, per the request of the Senate, it will bring up the issue of self-censorship when the American Indian Studies program decides on future speakers and even materials that could be used in classrooms, Shipman said.
One of the main issues discussed at the Senate meeting was the urgency of the decision that has yet to be made by President Jordan.
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice Todd Hechtman said that he felt setting a deadline was a reasonable request.
“It’s not pushing things too much to set a reasonable deadline,” Hechtman said.
Many of the other faculty members expressed their support for a deadline to be set; one even went as far as to say that they should have an answer by the next day.
Faculty Organization President Patty Chantrill said the lines of communication are open and that there are ongoing discussions taking place.
“We are not in any rush to get an answer from the president as to our request, what we are concerned about, our urgency, is more about continuing to sit down and have a discussion about what is possible and where we want to go with this particular situation as well what we want to do in the future when it comes to issues of academic freedom and freedom of speech. Our universities’ reputation is at stake and the very vitality of our work,” said Chantrill.
Chantrill said Churchill’s March 1 appearance at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater would act as a gauge to help determine the actual security risks; The way that event unfolded could help President Jordan make his decision.
United Faculty President of Eastern President Tony Flinn said he agreed with Chantrill’s assessment of opening the lines of communication between administration and faculty.
“The object is to keep communicating with the administration because we were not part of, or consulted, before the decision was made,” Flinn said.
Student speaker Marcus Wallace spoke of the urgency that he and members of the American Indian Studies program, as well as the Native American community, are feeling.
“Something has to be done about this issue. We can’t just sit around and wait,” said Wallace. “Would you not come to work on Monday if President Jordan said, ‘No, he is not going to come speak.’ This is how serious an issue this is.”
With the date of Churchill’s scheduled appearance approaching quickly, the urgency of President Jordan’s decision becomes more pronounced each day.
“Why would we not be in a rush? Time is getting close, we should be in a rush,” said Wallace.
John Youngs, a history professor, said that free speech was not something that EWU should let another campus decide for them.
“Why aren’t we taking that chance and standing up for freedom of speech and letting them sort it out?” Youngs said.
At the end of the Senate meeting a motion was voted on and passed unanimously to create an ad-hoc committee that would follow up on the entire issue of freedom of speech on campus, and specifically the Churchill issue.
There was an article in today's (Spokane) Spokesman Review about this also. Unfortunately, the Review site is a fee based site and I refuse to give the Cowles empire a dime.
To contact the University about this, their Campus Directory with email addresses and phone numbers is here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1355948/posts
Churchill theme song.
Can't they just offer him an appearance and speaker fees, and then take it all back? Oh wait, that would be indian-giving.
Which could be any minute now.
LOL...Sounds like a Seinfeld episode.
Security risks. What BS. I'm really sick of hearing about this phony.
Why? He's not a NAtive American, except in the sense that he's an evil white man who was born here.
I just discovered Horowitz. I love him--what an intellect.
Anyway, there is much we can do to counter this takeover of academia and we have to do it. It's the largest battle in the war. Losing it means they continue to churn out lunatics until the end of time.
Shining a light on them and making it known to the average parent, who otherwise would not have a clue what goes on inside these institutions, is a valuable first step. Cutting them off at the knees, as far as finances go -- is a crucial second step. Academia needs to be dealt with, else we are just treading water.
"having the spirit of Crazy Horse with him".
The spirit of "Crazy Ass", maybe.
Lol! Thanks for link, I missed that thread.
That was a Seinfeld episode....
Hope springs eternal...
I'm trying to get EWU to invite Horowitz. Have enlisted the Campus Republicans. I saw him in Beserkeley a fews years ago. What a circus outside the hall!!!
LOL! Worth repeating!
My complaint is that he does so at my expense. I am forced to contribute to his salary with my tax dollars to the State of Colorado. As a tax payer I want the jerk fired. However, that is difficult to do since he works for one of the "premier", garbage, feminist, propaganda schools in the land: CU at Boulder. Their feminist president and board of regents castrated the CU buffalo long ago. They have pimped into place many other like-minded professors, especially in CU's "Ehtnic Studies Department." Getting rid of these disgusting academic abscesses is very difficult. They cover their interior puss with a facile crust of "academic freedom." The public only becomes aware of it when it occasionaly squirts out with public utterances like Churchill's post 9/11 filth.
All the major universities of this land have been similarly infected along with our government. At their core are the putrid residue of the 60's flower children who couldn't find, or didn't even try to find useful employment. Instead they went into politics, education or the judiciary, where they continue to do their dirty work. What we need is a mass national cleansing via the ballot box for the politicians, pink-slips for the Churchills, and impeachments for the judges.
My complaint is that he does so at my expense. I am forced to contribute to his salary with my tax dollars to the State of Colorado. As a tax payer I want the jerk fired. However, that is difficult to do since he works for one of the "premier", garbage, feminist, propaganda schools in the land: CU at Boulder. Their feminist president and board of regents castrated the CU buffalo long ago. They have pimped into place many other like-minded professors, especially in CU's "Ehtnic Studies Department." Getting rid of these disgusting academic abscesses is very difficult. They cover their interior puss with a facile crust of "academic freedom." The public only becomes aware of it when it occasionaly squirts out with public utterances like Churchill's post 9/11 filth.
All the major universities of this land have been similarly infected along with our government. At their core are the putrid residue of the 60's flower children who couldn't find, or didn't even try to find useful employment. Instead they went into politics, education or the judiciary, where they continue to do their dirty work. What we need is a mass national cleansing via the ballot box for the politicians, pink-slips for the Churchills, and impeachments for the judges.
Very good summary of the situation!!!
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