PrintApril 3, 2009
Fake indian wrongfully fired for 'little Eichman' comment
Ward Churchill was awarded $1 in damages for "violating his free speech" rights in a suit where the author of a tract that blamed America for 9/11 and referred to stockbrokers who worked in the Towers as "little Eichmans" was seeking to be reinstated to his teaching post at the University of Colorado.
Churchill briefly spoke outside the courtroom and said, "it took four years. It took a while. And it was quick, it was justice."CU "has been exposed for what it is," Churchill said."It was found by a jury that I was wrongly fired," he said. "They not only violated my rights, but my student's rights and the community's rights."Churchill said he was satisfied with a $1 judgment and said his case was not about money."Reinstatement, of course," he said. "I did not ask for money. I asked for justice."Churchill thanked his family and his supporters and his lawyers. He also blasted his detractors including Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman and former Rocky Mountain News Editorial Page Editor, now Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll, who Churchill said, "tried to shape public consciousness in a false fashion."Churchill excused himself from the crush of news cameras and said he wanted to "get some silence and repose."
In a perfect world, Churchill would be on the street somewhere playing a tambourine and begging for coins. Or perhaps, he should have been forced to apologize to the families of 9/11 victims one by one.
But academia as we all know is not a perfect world. And while the concept of academic freedom is a very important one, it seems to always work in favor of liberals and rarely for conservatives. This gives the lie to the whole idea and makes a mockery of those who truly are persecuted for their political beliefs; conservative teachers and scholars.
The fact is, CU could have fired him for shoddy scholarship, plagiarism, and any number of academic crimes of which he was guilty (including not teaching the subject matter he was hired to teach). But as we all know, firing a liberal for being an idiot is extremely difficult.
Now the judge will hear separate arguments about back pay or reinstatement for Churchill. Expect to see the fake Indian back in class next semester.
