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Committee: Fire Churchill

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 13, 2006 at midnight

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A majority of the University of Colorado committee leading an inquiry into Ward Churchill recommended today that the ethnic studies professor be fired.

Of the 10 voting members, six said he should be fired. One said he should be suspended without pay for two years, while two others recommended a five-year suspension without pay. Another member of the committee was absent, and the panel's chairman is a non-voting member.

In a 22-page report, the committee — made up of nine CU faculty, a staff member and a graduate student — agreed with the findings of an investigation released last month. That investigation concluded Churchill "committed serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct," including plagiarism and fabrication of material.

Churchill and his attorney could not immediately be reached for comment, but the professor has said in the past that the allegations are politically motivated and without merit.

Churchill angered many in the public with an essay he wrote about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In it, he compared some victims in the World Trade Center to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

CU officials launched an investigation into his work within weeks of the essay being widely publicized.

The recommendation from the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct will now be sent to interim provost Susan Avery and Todd Gleeson, dean of the college of arts and sciences.

Avery and Gleeson then will make separate recommendations to interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano, who will have the final say on whether Churchill should be fired.

An exact timeline for that decision has not been determined, but could come within weeks.

The recommendations released today by the Standing Committee are posted on the university's Web site at www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill. The report of the investigative committee issued last month is posted on the Web at www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/churchillreport051606.html.