Churchill expects to be fired Tuesday

Regents, aware of potential suit, stay quiet about hearing

Brittany Anas, Daily Camera

Friday, July 20, 2007

University of Colorado regents will decide whether to fire professor Ward Churchill after a special meeting and hearing Tuesday. Here's how the day is scheduled:

8 a.m.: The Board of Regents will meet in public in the University Memorial Center to announce it will go into executive session, behind closed doors.

8:15 a.m. until at least 4 p.m.: In private, regents will be briefed by the board's attorneys before holding a hearing.

The hearing will include arguments from Churchill and his attorney; university counsel; and the counsel representing CU's Privilege and Tenure Committee. Each party will have a set amount of time to present its case to the board. Regents can ask questions, but no new evidence can be presented.

The regents will then deliberate.

4 p.m. or later: Regents will meet again in public session in the UMC's Glenn Miller Ballroom to vote on CU President Hank Brown's recommendation that Churchill be fired.

Video of the meeting will be streamed online at www.cu.edu.

After the meeting: Brown and Regent Pat Hayes, chairwoman of the board, will hold a news conference in UMC Room 235. Media credentials are required, but the conference will also be streamed online.

CU said Thursday that an open microphone will be available at the end of the day for anybody who wants to express "their personal opinions on topics related to the events of the day."

University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill said he expects to be fired Tuesday.

The university's regents — the week before a decision viewed as a defining mark in the university's 131-year history — are poring over more than 1,000 pages of documents pertaining to Churchill's academic-misconduct case. They will hold a closed-door hearing preceding their pivotal public vote Tuesday on whether Churchill should be fired.

Some sources close to the case say regents — acutely aware that the university will be sued by Churchill — are not even telling one another how they plan to vote for fear such discussion could resurface as evidence that they didn't give the professor due process. But some of the sources indicated that the likely outcome of the vote — by sixRepublicans and three Democrats — should be obvious.

Due process includes regents waiting until the conclusion of Tuesday's hearing before deciding how to vote. Confidentiality rules also preclude regents from discussing personnel matters publicly before a vote.

Churchill and his attorney describe the investigations and upcoming hearing as a charade and say they are convinced the majority of regents will vote for dismissal. The tenured professor said he has not spoken with the regents about the upcoming hearing but that the research-misconduct allegations were "concocted precisely for the purpose of providing a pretext for the regents to do what they were all set to do in the first place."

"I expect to be fired," Churchill said in an e-mail to the Camera on Thursday. "That's been ordained since the outset. ... So, they're going to do what they've wanted to do all along. Then it's my turn."

CU President Hank Brown recommended in late May that Churchill be fired because of egregious academic-misconduct violations. A faculty panel, the Privilege and Tenure Committee, has recommended a lighter sanction — suspending Churchill without pay for one year and demoting the professor.

The closed-door hearing is the final university step in a lengthy academic-misconduct case that has involved extensive investigations into Churchill's written works, hearings with faculty committees and counter-claims from the professor's supporters. The regents must approve any termination of a tenured professor.

The firebrand professor first sparked controversy in 2005 with his essay on Sept. 11, 2001, that compared some victims of the terrorist attacks to a notorious Nazi.

A CU investigative committee last year concluded that Churchill invented facts, plagiarized entire works and misrepresented the authorship of articles.

Churchill and his attorney have threatened to file a First Amendment lawsuit against the school if its leaders hand down any punishment, claiming the university is retaliating against him for his controversial speech.

Vying allegiances

Since Brown began leading the university system in August 2005, the regents, although not always unanimously, have supported his administration's initiatives and policies.

Churchill's attorney, David Lane, said he is not sure the regents will vote unanimously to fire Churchill, though — acknowledging some may feel more allegiance to faculty members than Brown and side with the Privilege and Tenure Committee's suspension recommendation.

Lane said he is skeptical that the regents are reviewing the thousands of pages of case material.

"I'm quite certain that their votes were cast a year-and-a-half ago," he said. "This is a staged production. ... Ward Churchill is going to be fired Tuesday."

But regents say they're waiting until the conclusion of Tuesday's hearing before deciding how they will vote.

"I'm going into this with the idea that I haven't heard everything," said CU Regent Steve Bosley, a Louisville Republican.

Pat Hayes, chairwoman of the Board of Regents and an Aurora Republican, said she and her colleagues would be breaking their own policies if they were to talk about the vote.

"It's totally inappropriate for any of us to say how we will vote," she said. "My hope is that everybody has an open and clear mind."

Other regents also said they are reviewing the record but declined further comment.

Asked whether he is feeling pressure from political figures, alumni, donors or others, Regent Steve Ludwig said: "We will not be persuaded by emotional arguments."

ACLU: Keep Churchill

The American Civil Liberties Union and its Colorado chapter released an open letter Thursday urging the regents to reject Brown's recommendation that Churchill be fired, saying it could create a dangerous precedent by chilling public debate.

"The cure for unpopular speech is public debate, not silencing a voice you don't want to hear," said Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the Colorado ACLU.

State Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said he thinks there is a slight possibility that the board won't fire Churchill because of the Privilege and Tenure Committee's recommendation for a lighter sanction.

"But I think that they have an interest that is far more than protecting the cozy tenure of professors," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he doesn't think the Churchill vote will be a bipartisan debate, saying he hopes that "the Democrats on the board are as opposed as the Republicans to lies and fabrications masquerading as scholarship."

"I think it's been clear for a long time that Ward Churchill is a buffoon and a charlatan without any scholarly credibility," Mitchell said. "I'm confident the regents will raise the level of scholarship at CU by sending him packing."

Lawsuit likely

State House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, said she thinks there is "ample reason" to fire Churchill. Still, Madden, a former employment lawyer, said the university should be braced for a complex and expensive court fight if Churchill is terminated.

"CU might end up paying him money if they do fire him," she said.

State Rep. Robert Witwer, R-Genesee, said the university should not be intimidated by a lawsuit and that Churchill has been given proper due process.

"It's time to act," Witwer said. "That's what's in the best interest of the institution and the students that go there."

CU's Regents

University of Colorado regents, who will decide Tuesday whether to fire Ward Churchill, are elected from Colorado's seven congressional districts. Two of the regents — Steve Bosley and Steve Ludwig — are "at-large," meaning they're elected statewide.

Tillie Bishop

Grand Junction Republican

Bishop taught for seven years in public schools and worked 31 years as a college administrator at Mesa State College. He also served four years in the Colorado House of Representatives; 24 years in the Colorado State Senate; and four years as a Mesa County commissioner.

Steve Bosley

Louisville Republican

A retired banker, Bosley worked in the banking and finance industry for more than 30 years. He also co-founded the Bolder Boulder 10K foot race and remains a race adviser.

Michael Carrigan

Denver Democrat

Following five years experience as a prosecutor, Carrigan is now a senior litigator with a Denver-based law firm.

Cindy Carlisle

Boulder Democrat

Carlisle is a civic leader who has served on the Boulder City Council.

Pat Hayes

Aurora

Republican

Hayes is a Denver retail manager who has served on many boards and community committees, including the Colorado State Board of Education.

Kyle Hybl

Colorado Springs

Republican

Hybl is a former Air Force captain and judge advocate. He now works as vice president and general counsel for El Pomar Foundation; general counsel for The Broadmoor Hotel; and legal adviser to the National Homeland Defense Foundation.

Tom Lucero

Johnstown Republican

Lucero is a businessman.

Steve Ludwig

Aurora

Democrat

Ludwig's career experiences include news reporter, broadcaster and media relations specialist. He is now a business and communications consultant.

Paul Schauer

Centennial Republican

Schauer is a businessman, who served as a state representative from 1979 to 1998.