Or the committee hearings and subcommittee hearings and the CU regents' meetings, including the "public" meeting about Churchill at which no one from the public was actually allowed to speak?
Two people were arrested for loudly protesting the ban on public speaking that day. And it was after that meeting that then-Gov. Owens warned that free speech could be dangerous. Sometimes they make it too easy. Of course, as I might have mentioned at the time, Owens used his free speech—and the state's dime—to demand that then-CU president Betsy Hoffman fire Churchill or risk losing state funding. CU Regent Michael Carrigan, a lawyer, mentioned to me also at the time that Owens might be making Churchill "a very wealthy man" at taxpayer expense. And here we are.
David Lane, Churchill's lawyer, put the question to DiStefano at the trial:
"Would you agree that there was a howling mob at the gates demanding the head of Ward Churchill?"
DiStefano weakly—or was it meekly?—answered, "Yes."
In the e-mail, she compared Churchill to O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson and Bill Clinton. And Lane asked Di Stefano if he wanted to be judged, or, uh, prejudged, by someone who considered him a "a murdering, child-molesting, philandering liar."
The law is complicated, but the case is easy. CU wanted Churchill out. The cries for Churchill's head predated any public knowledge of any academic fraud. There was only the essay. People were outraged. And many wanted him fired because, in times of duress, we tend to forget about things like the First Amendment.
For more on the subject, see Churchill Trusts a Jury? and Churchill Goes to Trial.
Below: Ward Churchill looking like a scary old witch.
3 comments:
On Ward Churchill
This plagiaristic huckster should be tarred and feathered.
He'll probably come out on top though as I met him years ago when I was an EOP (Educational Opportunities Student) at CU Denver - I heard him talk (he gave a colleague a thorough reaming at a luncheon I was invited to a few blocks off campus) and this cat's extremely wily!
He also knows how to whip up a crowd six ways to Sunday - so, that pic of him is quite appropriate. Churchill's verbosity is also such that he can get a nihilistic crew of hairy-legged fat chicks with guitars to volunteer for combat duty in Iraq.
What a stupid article, the Churchill trial has nothing to do with his free speech, once he's kicked out he'll still be perfectly free to make an ass out of himself.
A jury of Churchill's peers disagreed with you, Stephen. They decided Churchill's transgressions weren't a firing offense. They felt Churchill was investigated and fired for his inflammatory speech, not his academic failings.
For more on the subject, see Churchill Jury Got It Right.
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