ACLU urges CU regents not to fire Ward Churchill

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 20, 2007 at midnight

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The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the University of Colorado's Board of Regents on Thursday, urging them not to fire professor Ward Churchill.

"I think that the protection of the First Amendment rights is vital in the university and in the general public," said Cathy Hazouri, executive director of ACLU of Colorado.

The letter, signed by Hazouri and ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, was delivered to the regent's office.

Calls for Churchill's firing were the result of his expression of unpopular views, not because of the quality of his scholarship, the letter said.

"The investigation of professor Churchill's scholarship cannot be separated from the indefensible lynch-mob furor that generated the initial calls for his termination," the letter said.

Churchill caused a furor when he wrote an essay comparing some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi leader, but the university has said that while such comments are protected speech, Churchill's problems stem from findings that he committed plagiarism and research misconduct.

Thursday, CU spokeswoman Michele McKinney said she could not speak on behalf of the regents in regards to the ACLU letter.

"More than 25 fully tenured faculty members from CU and other institutions served on three panels and unanimously determined that professor Churchill engaged in acts of research misconduct," she said. "The university has an obligation to review such findings and determine what, if any, sanction is warranted."

On Tuesday, the Board of Regents will hold a special meeting to discuss CU President Hank Brown's recommendation to fire Churchill.

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