First they came for the professors

Politics International Politics
1

Should Mr. Churhill be afforded the academic freedom to speak his mind?

  • no.
  • not sure.

0 voters

Apparrently academic freedom is only for people who express themselves in polite ways or say things we already believe. I guess Bush’s former press secretary, Ari Fleischer (sp?), was right; people should watch what they say. :America:

[quote]CU weighs buyout for firebrand prof

By Dave Curtin and Arthur Kane
Denver Post Staff Writers

University of Colorado officials are considering offering Ward Churchill an early retirement package that could end an increasingly uncomfortable standoff with the controversial professor.

Two people familiar with internal CU discussions said the still-undetermined offer is in the idea stage. The discussions come just a week before a three-person panel is scheduled to deliver a report on Churchill’s fitness for tenure.

David Lane, Churchill’s attorney, said he has not been contacted about a buyout offer.

But, he said, while his primary focus is on protecting Churchill’s constitutional right to speak out, he would be willing to listen to a university proposal.

“If they offer $10 million, I would think about it. If they offer him $10, I wouldn’t,” Lane said.

Attorneys for CU were not available for comment Friday afternoon.

Since it was first reported that Churchill, a CU ethnic studies professor, had demonized some of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the university has faced relentless scrutiny of its hiring practices and faculty qualifications. Churchill has undergone an extensive media review of his scholarship, artwork and genealogy, while everyone from radio talk-show hosts to syndicated newspaper columnists have questioned his integrity, his ancestry and his military career.

CU regents have said they are bound by due process and authorized a review of Churchill’s writings and speech by a panel comprising the interim Boulder chancellor, the arts and sciences dean, and the law school dean.

Depending on the panel’s findings, due the week of March 7, CU president Betsy Hoffman could inform Churchill of the university’s desire to terminate his employment. Churchill would then have the right to appeal through a faculty committee.

Typically such dismissals - even if done by the book - result in years of expensive lawsuits that Hoffman told legislators last week the university would like to avoid.

Sources involved in the talks said if an arrangement could be made, it could get everyone off the hook, including Churchill, the subject of daily press revelations. …[/quote]

2

s.b. -
Ward Churchill has been proven on several levels to be a liar, a fraud, have dubious academic credential and to be an art forger.
Is this the type of individual you wish to defend with 1st amendent cliche’s?
The guy is a nut bag who has preyed on the sappiness of left wing hate America Fisrst groups during his entire “academic career.”
His entire CV is fradulent as well as his military service claims.
He has admitted that his claims to being an American Indian are false. What elese will he finally be forced into admitting is false?
Sorry…no constituitional protection for frauds and liars.

added:
And by the F’ing way, it quite a damn stretch to attempt to connect this to President George W. Bush.

3

And of course it has nothing to do with the content of his beliefs, which is the whole point of that anachronistic cliche, the ‘First Amendment.’

The more these guys known as ‘neoconservatives’ show their true colors the more I understand why they don’t want to be called ‘conservative’ anything. They’re definitely on the right side of the political spectrum but it’s not the ‘conservative’ portion.

4

This guy has been the whipping boy of the conservative blogs for two weeks.

Read his “9/11 report”…this is not the kind of guy I’d want educating my kid.

5

spook, spook, spook…you are building up quite a bar tab.

6

hey TC, I’ll be in Tainan in march…how about buying me a beer?? :slight_smile:

7

jdsmith -
let me know the details.

8

[quote]Ward Churchill copied ‘original’ art piece
Takes a swing at TV reporter who confronted him
Posted: February 26, 2005, 1:00 a.m. Eastern

9

I saw the video.

He’s a tool.

End of March I think…exact date…TBA

10

spook, spook, spook…you are building up quite a bar tab.[/quote]

My bar tab is nothing of course compared to the national debt tab ‘you guys’ are running up in your zeal to help the Iraqi people democratically elect their first pro-Iranian Islamic theocracy.

How about a compromise then? I get to keep the ‘neo’ part but, by mutual agreement, I’ll change the ‘conservative’ part to something more appropriate such as ‘McCarthyism.’

That would be appropriate because then, as now, you’ve got a movement which is attempting to persuade the American people that the price they have to pay for security is abandoning their traditional liberties and principles and anyone who gets in the way is nothing more than a pinko/commie/anti-Semite/mindless tool of terrorism.

11

Has anybody heard of sociologist J. Philippe Rushton, in Toronto? He did research suggesting innate biological race differences in various things like IQ. Protesters got wind of this, decided that such talk had no place at the university, and decided to dog his steps wherever he went. He kept his job, but has to lecture through close-circuit television.

And then there’s Harvard president Lawrence Summers. He still has his job, but it seems a whole lot of people would rather he didn’t express the thoughts that he expressed on the possibility of innate biological differences between men and women covering IQ, which might help explain the paucity of women in the sciences.

These are only famous examples. For each of these, there must be many more who leave quietly, or stay quiet in the first place.

12

[quote=“spook”]My bar tab is nothing of course compared to the national debt tab ‘you guys’ are running up in your zeal to help the Iraqi people democratically elect their first pro-Iranian Islamic theocracy.[/quote]Its what “we” do. Spread the light of freedom and all that.[quote]How about a compromise then? I get to keep the ‘neo’ part but, by mutual agreement, I’ll change the ‘conservative’ part to something more appropriate such as ‘McCarthyism.’[/quote]I doubt you would truly want to use that phrase. It would be admitting you are wrong. Research and the KGB/NKVD/STASI archives have shown that McCarthy, while a bit undiplomatic in hia zeal, was essentially correct in his assertions. The level of Soviet penetration was if anything much greater than he thought. And much more funding was going to front groups than he, McCarthy, imagined. So perhaps you might rethink that sobriquet.[quote=“spook”]That would be appropriate because then, as now, you’ve got a movement which is attempting to persuade the American people that the price they have to pay for security is abandoning their traditional liberties and principles and anyone who gets in the way is nothing more than a pinko/commie/anti-Semite/mindless tool of terrorism.[/quote]“traditional liberties”…? Respectfully, WTF does this mean? What “traditional liberties” have been removed? Name them…and don’t toss out whineing comments about Gitmo and due process. This is war and those are non-uniformed enemy combatants.
And also, don’t try to play the ‘Victim Card’. It just doesn’t work. Nobody I have seen has labelled you a “commie/pinko or mindless tool of terrorism.” Although your predjudicial comments regarding Jews and Israel is on public display. But you certainly have your right to opinion.
So…rock on spook!

13

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]s.b. -
Ward Churchill has been proven on several levels to be a liar, a fraud, have dubious academic credential and to be an art forger.[/quote]

[quote]

14

maybe nobody has labelled Spook as such, but TainanCowboy, you clearly implied I was a red:

By the way what’s the deal with harrassing people for using the term “neoconservative?” Is “neoliberal” also verbotten?

15

s.b. -
Please stop following me from thread to thread and then posting my comments out of context.
Please do not pull my comments to another poster and place them as if they are posts to you.
If you have a response to a post please place that response on that thread.
Please follow the continuity on a thread.
Please stop these actions.

16

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]s.b. -
Please stop following me from thread to thread and then posting my comments out of context.
Please do not pull my comments to another poster and place them as if they are posts to you.
If you have a response to a post please place that response on that thread.
Please follow the continuity on a thread.
Please stop these actions.[/quote]

The fact is I clearly stated that your one comment was to Spook and the other was to me. Scroll up if you don’t believe me.

17

I guess scrolling up alone wouldn’t work, you’d hafta go back to the previous page. Incidently I also think it was quite on topic. Spook seemed to be sagely argueing that we’re dealing with a kind of neo-McCarthyism here, which you attempted to dismiss. I thought this was unfair as you have acted in ways I felt were quite consistent with McCarthyism, as exemplified by some of your writings to me (even if it was on another thread.)

Cheers.

18

A genuine free speech outrage:

wlextv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614

[quote]“My story is based on fiction,” said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. “It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.
[/quote]

I guess public school students don’t have free speech rights in Kentucky, huh?