Churchill case cost CU $352K

Brittany Anas, Daily Camera

Friday, August 10, 2007

The academic-misconduct case against former professor Ward Churchill has cost the University of Colorado $352,000, according to information released by the school Thursday.

That figure — which includes legal fees, university hearings, investigations and security over a 2½-year period — could balloon as the school defends itself in a First Amendment lawsuit filed by Churchill. He alleges he lost his tenured professorship because of a right-wing attack on academic freedom.



The regents voted 8-1 last month to fire Churchill on grounds that he fabricated history to fit his own theories and plagiarized passages from other scholars in the American-Indian studies field.

School officials said the investigation was "costly to the university."

"Multiple allegations of research misconduct were cited for a full investigation," a CU statement said. "It was a very thorough yet difficult and complicated process, which included a seven-day hearing before a faculty panel. To fully investigate charges of research misconduct against Professor Churchill, and to provide him the full dueprocess as required by Regent Law and Policy, the university had to incur costs in the areas of legal fees, investigative costs and hearings."

Churchill first sparked controversy in 2005 with his essay on Sept. 11, 2001, that called some victims of the terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns," a reference to a notorious Nazi.

Extra police officers, security guards and metal detectors cost the university $6,400 during the daylong hearing and public vote July 24 that resulted in his dismissal, said CU system spokeswoman Michele McKinney. The university beefed up security for the day after receiving an e-mail two weeks before the hearing threatening to kill the regents if they fired Churchill.

In May 2006, a faculty investigative panel released a 124-page report showing serious and recurring problems with Churchill's work, including plagiarism, fabrication and questionable citations. At that point — more than one year into the investigations — the case cost had surpassed the $150,000 mark.

The university hired Eric Elliff, a top Denver trial lawyer with Morrison & Foerster, to provide legal guidance for the panel as it did its work and interviewed witnesses.

Also, four CU employees who were serving on the school's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct were compensated a total of $33,463. The faculty members had received grants for summer research but instead invested much of their time on the Churchill investigation.

Regent Pat Hayes, chairwoman of the nine-member board, said she was surprised by the total cost but wouldn't do anything differently.

"It is certainly money we wish we didn't have to spend," she said. "But it was well spent because we needed to do things according to regent law. In the long run, we had to do it right."

In addition to the $352,000 in expenses, a four-decades-old CU rule will require that the school keep Churchill on the payroll for one more year, cutting him checks that will amount to more than $96,000.

The payout stems from a 1966 regents' decision to adopt portions of the American Association of University Professors guidelines on tenure and academic freedom. One of those rules requires that professors dismissed for reasons not involving "moral turpitude" receive salaries for at least a year from the date of dismissal.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.