Rosen: Churchill must go

Published May 25, 2007 at midnight

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The Ward Churchill saga goes on - and on and on, ad nauseam. We learned last week that a five-member panel representing the University of Colorado Faculty Senate Committee on Privilege and Tenure voted 3-2 that Churchill be suspended rather than fired. But just how did we learn this?

The Denver Post, in a story on May 17, tells us that the committee's confidential report was "obtained" by the newspaper. What an interesting way to phrase it. In other words, an unauthorized copy of the faculty committee's report, intended for the eyes of CU President Hank Brown, was leaked to the Post (and The Associated Press) by someone who violated the confidentiality agreement.

You needn't be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the leaker was likely a faculty member sympathetic to Churchill, or his attorney, David Lane. Since the Post has, itself, been sympathetic to Churchill while the Rocky Mountain News has been far more critical, it's not surprising the Post was awarded the local scoop.

It's also not surprising that self-serving faculty members would recommend that the school be lenient with Churchill for several reasons:

1. The firing of a tenured professor sets an inconvenient precedent for them, threatening their inviolable job security and insulation from the consequences of unconscionable behavior.

2. Although Churchill is being disciplined for plagiarism, willful misrepresentation of facts and conduct that "falls below minimum standards of integrity," his defenders have framed this as a free-speech issue, which they believe to be an absolute protection.

3. Churchill's tasteless, hateful, bitter and cockeyed views are shared by many of his left-wing, blame-America-first colleagues in academia, including some at CU.

Another ploy of Churchill apologists is that he should be awarded the academic equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card and be exempt from any punishment for his blatant research misconduct. Why? Because of the way it came to the school's notice when he brought attention to himself by calling victims of 9/11 "little Eichmanns" who deserved what they got.

That dog won't hunt. This is not analogous to illegally obtained evidence being excluded from a criminal trial. Churchill's outrageous speech and his deceitful scholarship are two separate issues, regardless of how he got on the public radar screen.

Personally, I'd have fired him for what he's said, on and off campus. The free-speech protections guaranteed him under the Constitution as a citizen are much broader than those he enjoys as an employee, which are clearly not absolute. Just ask Don Imus. If some CU professor or student were to use vile language against women, minorities or gays, he'd be history in short order. Apparently, at CU, tenured faculty members can get away with defaming 9/11 victims and our country.

So, CU's official position is that this case isn't about free speech and Churchill isn't being held to account for his venomous words or perverse views. Lucky him. But his ravings shouldn't grant him immunity for his academic sins.

Following the findings of another faculty committee last May, then-Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano recommended that Churchill be fired. As the process drags on, this latest stage was mandated by Churchill's appeal. Fortunately, the opinion of the faculty senate's tenure panel carries no more weight than other recommendations already tendered.

President Brown will make his decision by May 29. If he recommends that Churchill be fired, the CU regents will make the final determination. If they fire Churchill, Lane has said he'll sue. But threatening to sue is part of Lane's standard act. Whether or not it's a bluff is irrelevant. The regents can't allow themselves to be cowed by that threat. If they cave now, CU's integrity and credibility will be forever stained. It's long since time to throw the bum out.

Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA. He can be reached by e-mail at mikerosen@850koa.com.

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