Posted on 02/08/2005 9:26:37 AM PST by jalisco555
The deeper one digs into the Ward Churchill scandal, the more amazing the story becomes.
Academic freedom must be protected, which is why I'm continuing to write about this matter. A version of academic freedom that protects Churchill from appropriate sanctions isn't sustainable either as a political or an ethical matter.
Consider: Churchill has constructed his entire academic career around the claim that he is a Native American, yet it turns out there is no evidence, other than his own statements, that this is the case.
Churchill has said at various times that he is either one-sixteenth or three-sixteenths Cherokee, yet genealogical reporting by the Rocky Mountain News and others has failed to turn up any Cherokee ancestors - or any other Native Americans - in Churchill's family tree.
Why should we care one way or another? We should care because Churchill has used his supposed Indian heritage to bully his way into academia. Indeed Churchill lacks what are normally considered the minimum requirements for a tenure-track job at a research university: he never earned a doctorate, and his only degrees are a bachelor's and a master's from a then-obscure Illinois college.
Churchill's lack of conventional academic credentials was apparently compensated for, at least in part in the eyes of those who hired him at the University of Colorado, by the "fact" that he contributed to the ethnic diversity of the school's tenure-track faculty.
To the extent that Churchill was hired because he claimed to be a Native American, he would seem to be guilty of academic fraud. But the situation is worse than this.
Thomas Brown, a professor of sociology at Lamar University, has written a paper that outlines what looks like a more conventional form of academic fraud on Churchill's part. According to Brown, Churchill fabricated a story about the U.S. Army intentionally creating a smallpox epidemic among the Mandan tribe in 1837, by simply inventing almost all of the story's most crucial facts, and then attributing these "facts" to sources that say nothing of the kind.
"One has only to read the sources that Churchill cites to realize the magnitude of his fraudulent claims for them," Brown writes. "We are not dealing with a few minor errors here. We are dealing with a story that Churchill has fabricated almost entirely from scratch. The lack of rationality on Churchill's part is mind-boggling." (Brown's essay can be read here: http://hal.lamar.edu/~browntf/Churchill1.htm.)
Similar charges have been leveled against Churchill by University of New Mexico law professor John Lavelle, a Native American scholar who has documented what appear to be equally fraudulent claims on Churchill's part regarding the General Allotment Act, one of the most important federal laws dealing with Indian lands. (Lavelle also accuses Churchill of plagiarism).
The saddest aspect of Churchill's case is that, in regard to his identity, he might not be guilty of fraud in the narrowest legal sense. According to the News, Churchill has been claiming to be a Native American since his high school days in Illinois. It may well be that by this point he has genuinely convinced himself that he actually is an Indian.
Of course some people believe they're Napoleon. But that's not a good reason for giving them professorships in French history.
Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu.
Since he thinks non-Indians have no right to be here, I guess either 13/16ths or 15/16ths of him should go back where he came from.
This scumbag must really be hating life about now. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think there is a 30-day review as to whether he should be fired or not, which started late last week, if I'm not mistaken.
My mother was 1/8 Cherokee so I guess I am Native American also.
Did anyone see John Gibson (sitting in for O'Reilly this past Friday) interviewing a couple of Churchill's students? Talk about ignorance and immaturity. These students only support Churchill, because they think its cool to do so. No other reason, but to be cool. (which they weren't, they were really stupid)
I go to CU so I know how true this statement is. "Diversity" (Pretty much anything not white) trumps Academics every time. The sad part is, during the football recruiting scandal, the University tried to convince everyone that they were more concerned with academics than football.
Another vignette of life on American campuses -- You don't have to teach the truth as long as you are thouroughly convinced of your lies.
I was born here in the US. I am thus, Native American. It doesn't matter in the slightest where my ancestors came from.
$50 says HR at the university green-lighted him on a fast-track for employment and promotion, once they heard he was an indian, and didn't do a thorough background search.
In answer to your question, yes, the Trustees must be aware of Churchill's frauds. If the Governor knows, they know. And the objective is to find rock-solid reasons for firing him, that he cannot evade by arguing "First Amendment" in any court review.
John / Billybob
Tenure or no, academic fraud is a virtually guaranteed ticket off campus for professors. There have been cases of PhD's stripped of their doctorate due to "cooking the numbers" in their research. If these stories are true, Churchill's gone.
Thanks. Bet he keeps his job. Academic freedom, you know.
Ping.
"Did anyone see John Gibson (sitting in for O'Reilly this past Friday) interviewing a couple of Churchill's students?"
yep, I saw it...
and I would have liked to have slapped that smile off that punk's face! they seem to have no problem with dead Americans being called Nazis and that they deserved to die on 9/11...
13 weeks in Marine Corps boot camp and those clowns wouldn't be smiling!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
I predict for one reason or another, he will not be teaching, come March 6.
Now, are you a Native American? Presuming you were born here, yes.
True. I guess it's possible that Churchill will be sacrificed in order to quiet the critics but the rot and corruption go much, much deeper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.