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CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 10:26:20 AM EST
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Ward Churchill's lawyer has confirmed that there will be a final buyout agreement between the embattled Professor and the University of Colorado by the end of the weekend. The money has been agreed upon, a few terms still need to be hashed out.

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    CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal | 33 comments (33 topical)
    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 11:15:42 AM EST
    Man, I took the wrong career path- I should have become a Professor! All I needed to do was pick a minority ethnicity to claim I belonged to, use other people's work and call it my own (and threaten those who complain)- copy artists from my newly adopted culture's work and sell it as my own...what an easy life! Added bonus: If I compare murder victims to Nazis and blame the US government for every ill thing that has ever happened in the world, I can count on the good ol' American Left to label everything I've done as "Academic Freedom" and "Freedom of Speech" to make sure I either keep my job or get the Hefty payout! What a wonderful scam, why didn't I think of it?

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 11:27:43 AM EST
    I'm really sorry to hear the University is caving. Mr. Churchill is not very articulate, and is of course of the extreme left, but getting rid of any academic because of the content of their speech is a bad start down a rocky road. It's also a bit ironic that when the left compares someone they view as the opposition to the Nazis it's a firing offense, but when the right does it (many examples cited on other posts) it's just a rhetorical florish. 9/11 was a horrible day on which a horrible act was committed, but that doesn't mean every victim was a saint. Making it a "hallowed" event that can brook no contrary characterizations is the kind of easy sanctification that characterizes so much American exceptionalism. We shouldn't have to "watch what we think" in this country.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 11:34:31 AM EST
    I was really irked by his essay, and I'm surprised that he was able to get tenure and become the head of a department with out the full PhD. OTOH, his students and peers thought he was a good instructor. That counts for more than a little something. Finally, everyone is focusing on his claims of being part Native American. However, the Right is conveniently downplaying one very significant fact in his biography: the man is a Vietnam vet. However offensive some of his words are, he did literally lay his life on the line for his country. Do you only support our veterans when they say things you agree with?

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 11:59:18 AM EST
    Finally, everyone is focusing on his claims of being part Native American. However, the Right is conveniently downplaying one very significant fact in his biography: the man is a Vietnam vet. However offensive some of his words are, he did literally lay his life on the line for his country.
    No, he didn't. He lied about that too. He was not on the front lines as he once claimed. He was a truck driver in South Vietnam well out of the line of fire. I think the buyout is a good idea. No matter how you look at it, it was a costly decision to hire, promote, and tenure someone apparently so dishonest and outlandish. They can either pay that price by keeping him, through losing students and funding due to the constant drumbeat from most of the right and more than a few of the left, or they can pay legal fees and court judgments and still lose students and funding due to the publicity of a lawsuit if they choose to fire him. This third option is the best thing for the University and the taxpayers in Colorado, because I think it will be the least costly in the long run.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 11:59:54 AM EST
    This is crazy, just insane. The right is terrified of free speech. I didn't see any riots on the college campus. The measure of a society is in the way the minority is treated and believe me Churchill is really small. His financial gain is not only a humiliation for the college but another hit to our constitutional right of free speech

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#7)
    by roy on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 12:09:59 PM EST
    However, the Right is conveniently downplaying one very significant fact in his biography: the man is a Vietnam vet.
    Yes, he was there, and he seems to have done an important job well. That's respectable. He then lied about his service, claiming various prestigous experiences contradicted by his records and his own earlier claims. That's vile. Google for "ward churchill vietnam" and see for youself. Various sleaziness has come from the Right, but I think it's innaccurate to say the Right is "conveniently downplaying" Vietnam.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 12:21:07 PM EST
    Doctor Boy are you for real. You have the balls to mention The worlds queen of slease. She makes churchill into a saint. I'll bet you get aroused every time you think of that Jack booted transvestite.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 12:40:21 PM EST
    Universities used to be the places of free thought and new ideas. [remainder deleted]

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 12:41:33 PM EST
    Hey M Ditto Driving a truck in War IS putting your life on the line. If you don't think so I can get you a job diving a truck in Iraq. I guess you prefer our coward in chiefs as your kind of hero!

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 12:42:04 PM EST
    Roy Vile? I'll tell you whats vile. It's a Spoiled rich kid who gets his rich dad to get him out of serving in Vietnam. Then sends others to die under false pretenses. Now thats really Vile. Can you guess who I'm talking about. I'll give you a hint G.W.B

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 01:02:13 PM EST
    YEAH!!! I won. Bet my fellow MD there'd be a buyout or dismissal because of MR Churchill's vitriol. "Anything to shut him up" was one of my favorite quotes in uc scandal. Anybody else near Miaimi? I'm a thousand dollars richer and treating for dinner and drinks tonight!!

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 01:13:26 PM EST
    What a wonderful scam, why didn't I think of it?
    it's never to late for a career change. libertyU; probably fits like a hand in a glove.
    "Anything to shut him up"
    $$$$ is always a good silencer.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 02:15:03 PM EST
    "Finally, everyone is focusing on his claims of being part Native American." Actually, not. The only reason why this is an issue is that the right's Thomas Brown, the same guy who worked up the false claims that WC's scholarship is defective, is working hard to dispossess 'multi-ethnic' indians for his rightwing bosses. Ditto: "He was not on the front lines as he once claimed. He was a truck driver in South Vietnam well out of the line of fire." He was in country, and that's hardly safe, even if it is out of the line of fire. Remember Tet? There were lines in Vietnam, but lots of GIs died behind them. But, applause on your denigration of yet ANOTHER GI who went to a warzone, as opposed ot checking "Do not want to go" on the form, as Bushliar did. Art Lavois: "Churchill is not very articulate" Did you see his CSPAN speech? Quite articulate. But he's not interested in having Maher put a ring in his nose, so he was stubborn about not playing his games. That's not a lack of articulation. He's a scholar, and an author, and his REAL colleagues are on record saying that he is a good professor. As for tenure and how a guy like that gets it; you're HILARIOUS. Have you even BEEN to college? Thomas Brown got his PhD at Johns Hopkins; he's an associate professor at Lamar. I guess fanaticism by itself is just not good enough. You actually have to practice scholarship.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#14)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 02:35:32 PM EST
    The Native American issue is of interest primarily because, had he not claimed it, he would probably not have gotten the job. There isn't much other reason for it. IMO, CU is avoiding a legal look into its own malfeasance in having this guy--and by extension others--on staff.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 02:40:35 PM EST
    You guys are so busy talking about the trees your missing the forest fire. This kind of thing is an affront to our freedom of speech.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#16)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 02:50:14 PM EST
    Actually, Mr. Ed, the Noble First says something about Congress and restrictions on speech. This is a matter of a guy who's been a jerk for years just coming to the attention of various folks on account of his mouth. They are being forced by publicity to look at his professional qualifications, which they should have done much earlier--as in not hired him in the first place--and that might get him fired if they had the cojones to do it. But they're buying him out so he doesn't even have to pretend to teach while he continues to speak freely. Now, about Prof. Mitchell....

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#18)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 03:04:41 PM EST
    Not only has WC's indian status been CONFIRMED Pinla, Churchliar didn't declare 'status' on his resume, he claimed 'ancestry.'

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 04:46:11 PM EST
    Gerry Owen had it right (Top of column). I just wonder if they will pay him with taxpayer ca$h.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 05:47:37 PM EST
    Some of you guys are so histrionic about this that you're making things up left and right. Mr. Ed: You know nothing about me. Before you make a statement ad hominem about our 'coward in chiefs', consider learning something about the person you are addressing. Paul in LA: You make a statement, again ad hominem, implying that I had denigrated a veteran not once but more than once. I did not make any commentary on the service of supply personnel in Vietnam, I merely pointed out that Churchill was not a paratrooper and special ops reconnaissance soldier deep into enemy territory hunting down North Vietnamese with only five other guys as he has claimed, but he was in fact a Jeep driver and filmstrip projector operator. Y'all need to take a step back. It is disturbing that the controversy was precipitated on a national scale by his Little Eichmanns essay, but it is also totally unreasonable to expect that one can make outrageous claims without somebody looking into the credibility of the person making those claims. If this were really a free speech issue, don't you think the ACLU would be all over it? To date they have released exactly one statement, (rightly) telling the governor and the legislature to stop threatening his job, and urging due process. Two peer-reviewed academic papers have been published documenting that much of Churchill's writing is plagiarized and many of his sources are fabricated. That's more academic papers than Churchill has ever had published in his life. CU has known that he was an academic fraud for at least ten years, and has done nothing about it but promote him and give him tenure. Why are people so defensive of this scoundrel? We shouldn't be mad at those who have exposed Churchill for what he is, but at a university that tolerates and encourages academic fraud, rape, underage drinking, prostitution, money laundering, and misappropriation of tax dollars. No matter how you look at it, CU is going to have to pay for Churchill. If it's in a settlement that they both agree is fair, then all the better. Otherwise CU (and Churchill) will continue to pay by being battered by the press.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 05:54:25 PM EST
    Sorry that was so long TL, if you want to pare it down ir delete it, I posted it on my blog. By the way did you notice that this is your 10,000th post? Congrats!

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 05:58:11 PM EST
    Mike, no, I had no idea! Thanks, that's a milestone, I'm going to go trumpet it now.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 06:16:19 PM EST
    Mike: "it is also totally unreasonable to expect that one can make outrageous claims without somebody looking into the credibility of the person making those claims." OK, Mike, I'll be waiting for your EXPOSE on Bushliars many treasons. Or, since you're a military buff, out his priveleged, coke-snorting path through the TANG for Dan Rather, who apparently found the only correct (but maybe not original) documents on the issue. "People lie all the time, and then they lose their credibility." -- Donald Rumsfeld

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 06:24:05 PM EST
    Paul in LA: Hold on to your hat then. Can't really talk about it, but I've got something coming out in May that I'm currently working on.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#25)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 06:35:01 PM EST
    Paul in LA. The TANG story is so bogus that the best you guys could do is a lame forgery. Doesn't it strike you, as a matter of logic, that if you have to fake evidence of something, there's a good possibility the something didn't actually happen? BTW, one USAF guy did the math. Given the fatality rate of flying the F102, and the hours Bush flew it, the probability of death was the same as going to Viet Nam. That's not to say the same as being in a rifle company, but of the general in-country death rate. Whitey Churchill, driver and audio visual guy, had the same probability of death as Bush did. Admittedly, when not actually doing their respective things, zoomies in the States--or anywhere--live better than the rest of us. But that isn't much consolation if you're dead. I guess.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 06:54:18 PM EST
    RA - Hey, watch that zoomie stuff. ;-) Michael Ditto - It appears that the deal is off. The other shoe dropped today when a female professor from a college in Nova Soctia charged that Churchill had plagiarized an article she had written, and had also called her and threatened her. To seal the deal, the legal reps of the school have also agreed that Churchill did plagiarize the article. CU will be in deep dodo if they pay this guy a nickel. PIL - I am more of an Indian that Churchill. You continue to be funny. Mr. Ed - What don't you understand about having the right to say what you want, and to also be held responsible for it.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#27)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 07:52:25 PM EST
    PPJ. I took my kids to see Top Gun when it was new so they could observe guys who went to work sitting down. And sweat and stuff. Speaking of airplanes.... no. Segue. The only thing that attracts lefties to Whitey Churchill is his little Eichmann remark. To hear that is to forgive lying, plagiarism, threats of violence, and insufficient cv. I've done football, lacrosse, and judo, as I may have said before. I liked judo. As in, give a guy enough rope. Throw me in that briar patch. Rope a dope. The lefties all got sloppy over this guy and his real self is out--or to be more accurate, is no longer in dispute--and there is the bozo's keister with lefty lipstick all over it. Did yourselves a real favor, guys. As if we needed any more lessons on what you really think and what you really like. I have it!! Churchill is Rove plant. It's a dirty plot designed to suck you out from cover. I knew it!!

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 08:17:14 PM EST
    All kidding aside, I DO think CU is taking the most expedient way out of this debacle- However, the squirming and screaming over the buyout should be somewhat amusing to watch. Congrats to the Democrats on your new Poster child. MEGA KUDOS TO TL, 10,000 POSTS!!!!

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 08:26:41 PM EST
    PPJ: I hadn't read that, but somehow it doesn't surprise me. RA: Take care painting the left with such a broad brush. I'm a card-carrying homosexual Democrat, member of the HRC & ACLU. I campaigned for Jerry Brown, Mike Mikes, and Wesley Clark. I also think Churchill is a stain on academia, and the left. If I plagiarize one phrase in an academic paper, I get permanently expelled, forfeit all of my credits, and am permanently barred from receiving federal financial aid. Why should Churchill be held to a different standard? Because he says he's an Indian?

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 10:38:29 PM EST
    "Posted by Richard Aubrey: "The TANG story is so bogus that the best you guys could do is a lame forgery." That TANG story is so bogus that Bushliar has worked real hard to cover up that he was in fact BUSTED out of the TANG for using cocaine, and the consequent failure to be able to land his plane ('excessive wave-offs'). He was busted down to flying two-man trainers, and was not flying fighters at the end. And then he refused the drug test, because he was COKING like the spurious maniac he has always been. "Doesn't it strike you, as a matter of logic, that if you have to fake evidence of something, there's a good possibility the something didn't actually happen?" Yellowcake, aluminum tubes, nuclear program.... Yeah, I think that fake evidence, or evidence promised and never produced, that's pretty suspicious. The TANG and the US military LOSING Bush's papers...REAL SUSPICIOUS. "Given the fatality rate of flying the F102, and the hours Bush flew it, the probability of death was the same as going to Viet Nam." That's truly funny. Again you attack the warzone deployed soldiers. You don't support the troops, you support the policy. Just admit it; you'll feel better.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#31)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 05:32:27 AM EST
    Michael. Not because he's an Indian. Because he's a loudmouth lefty. That's all that's necessary. Gave'em plenty of rope, Rove did. HEEHEE. Paul. Yawn.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:56:14 PM EST
    PIL - Got proof? No? Didn't think so.

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 12:19:50 AM EST
    Jim, yeah, got proof. The form where Bush has clearly checked DO NOT WANT TO SERVE OVERSEAS, otherwise known as I Love War, But Let's You and Him Fight. George Bush |X| COWARD WAR HAWK

    Re: CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal (none / 0) (#34)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 07:47:56 AM EST
    PIL - Hate to hurt your feelings, but just because you claim something does not constitute "proof." Let's have some links. Or where you just funning us?

    CU and Ward Churchill Reach Money Deal | 33 comments (33 topical)