Ward Churchill, Former University Of Colorado Boulder Professor, Will Have Appeal Heard By State's Supreme Court

Former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill will got a new chance to fight for his old job at CU Boulder on Tuesday when the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal in his free-speech case against the University that fired him four years ago.

According to the Denver Post, Churchill will argue that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired in 2007 when he was fired, in Churchill’s view, as a result of his controversial essays about 9/11 in which he called some victims of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks “technocrats of empire” and compared them to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

Churchill later released a statement that was posted on the University of Colorado Boulder’s website under the Department of Ethnic Studies where he once served as Chair, stating that his remarks had been grossly misunderstood.

However, after Churchill’s controversial statements were made, an investigation was launched regarding Churchill’s background and academic work. Several academics came forward to state that Churchill had plagiarized some of his published work and CU Boulder ultimately fired him for what they called academic misconduct, due to the plagiarism claims from other academics.

The Daily Camera reports that one key argument that will be heard by the state’s Supreme Court is the quasi-judicial immunity doctrine that Churchill and his attorney, David Lane, argue is a threat to free speech and academic tenure at universities.

In a statement made in the Daily Camera, Lane says about Churchill’s situation with the university:

When the regents violate the Constitution, should they be on the hook for it? The lower courts have said "No," and the Colorado Supreme Court is going to chime in and we'll see what they say.

Comments

[ColoradoTaxpayer]

01:41 AM on 06/03/2011

The man was involved in the incident that happened in AZ last month. Student took over a school board meeting, handcuffing themselves to the chairs. in the video, Churchill was in the front row. the man is a piece of...you know what.

[brokerallen]

07:38 PM on 06/01/2011

I'm surprised they are hearing the case.

[rbchilds]

08:43 AM on 06/05/2011

Very liberal judges.

[pa30]

12:30 PM on 06/01/2011

On and on and on and.....

[Jerry Bourbon]

12:25 PM on 06/01/2011

The guy is a punk. Plain and simple.

[heboprotagonist]

12:05 PM on 06/01/2011

The man is a radical. I like that. I like a guy who isn't afraid to put some crazy ideas out there and force the rest of us to evaluate our place in society. The one thing all radicals should know, however, is that you've got to be squeaky clean. In your professional life, in your personal life- no skeletons, no regrets. When you say or publish radical ideas, the vocal opposition will research every nook and cranny of your existence. Don't let them find anything.

[ThomasMc]

11:58 AM on 06/01/2011

Americans don't like to think, they like to be told what to think. So they don't like radicals like Churchill asking them to think for themselves.

[rbchilds]

08:45 AM on 06/05/2011

I'm thinking for myself, I say boot his behind out of the state.

[homer winslow]

06:26 PM on 06/07/2011

I think that it should be you who should get the boot.

[Virginia Beringer]

10:38 AM on 06/01/2011

Nothing matters here but the first amendment. Did they fire him because of what he said or not? Were the other charges trumped up or real? No matter how disturbing we find someones speech, he had the right to say what he said, and it does fit in the context of his field of study.

[scranton301]

09:13 PM on 05/31/2011

Waste of space.

[homer winslow]

06:26 PM on 06/07/2011

Yes, but we tolerate you anyway.

[scranton301]

07:09 PM on 06/07/2011

Good God Homer you are a little slow on the trigger aren't you?

[shthar]

07:34 PM on 05/31/2011

We don't like to think about why things happen.

We like snappy soundbites and catchphrases.

[corwin]

07:05 PM on 05/31/2011

This is a man with no job skills.At a pretend academic discipline (Did i mention he's a Democrat? I guess so)
What would you?

[pwmoore88]

03:40 AM on 06/01/2011

Firstly, to teach in a college setting, one MUST have certain job skills, educational job skills, or intellectual job skills if you will. Secondly, if looked at with a historical perspective, his statements make sense. Look at the US policy from the 1950s through, well let's just say today. Plain contradictions, promoting democracy around the world but all the while supporting (financially or otherwise) undemocratic policy in foreign countries. Thirdly, ethnic studies is a real discipline, how else do you think people would understand why others do what they do? Finally, what does his political affiliation have to do with anything? It is widely known that most university professors are more liberal than most, call it being more educated and not only that but also added with being more understanding of people, policy, and most things in general.

[pa30]

12:35 PM on 06/01/2011

He doesn't have any skills,otherwise he would go elsewhere.Its all relative to the subject taught.Seems our students fail math ,science and history, but excel at critical thinking and changing facts to fit the agenda,thanks to the likes of Churchill.