CNews 28February07
According to this website, Ward Churchill will be lout-shouting at yet another Anarchist Book Fair and Scrotum Inflating Confab.
CNews 25February07
Via Drunkablog: The Maoist International Movement (or as Drunkablog puts it, "you know he lives in his mom's basement") demands a favorable resolution to Ward Churchill's termination case (favorable to the Perfesser, that is, not to the rest of mankind). Unholy hell (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) will be unleashed should said outcome not occur. If you can find better entertainment, buy it.
CNews 23February07
CU's Silver & Gold illustrates that while Churchill may not be spewing pseudo-pedagogy at CU presently, the school doesn't seem to have much difficulty finding cronies to fill in:
Robert Jensen, the keynote speaker at the annual CU-Boulder diversity summit, says that he doesn't believe in diversity.
Nor does he believe in the other terms typically used in academia to talk about inequalities, such as multiculturalism, race, gender and class. He prefers to get right to the point about the "systems that produce the oppression," the three-headed power structure of "white supremacy, patriarchy and predatory corporate capitalism."
...and later:
Jensen called capitalism "anti-human, anti-democratic and unsustainable." He said it is anti-human because it thrives on greed and self-interest, qualities that leave out other, selfless characteristics that humans exhibit in creating strong families and universities, for instance. Capitalism is anti-democratic because it concentrates rather than distributes wealth, which in turn concentrates power, Jensen explained. And it is unsustainable because the ecosystems in which it operates are suffering, he said, citing global warming, topsoil loss and groundwater contamination.Update: Serendipitously, Capitalism magazine recently published something of a response to Jensen, as did Human Events.
Also in Silver & Gold, it seems that with granting tenure being such an unqualified success, two faculty members want to extend it to CU instructors, as well.
...and (via Slapstick Politics) here's the sort of student (and instructor) Churchill, Whitmer, et al, produce. (and here's some background on said graduate student/instructor, Joshua McNair, at the Daily Camera, which broke the story). How proud CU must be.
CNews 22February07
HT to TDR for alerting us to this
"Although Professor Churchill has been the primary subject of scrutiny and of investigation, it is evident that he has not been the only person placed under the academic, bureaucratic and political microscope," wrote Albert Ramirez, chair of the Ethnic Studies department in a statement concerning the Churchill case....From your lips to CU's ear, Professor Ramirez.
Whitmer, on the other hand, is the usual paragon of moderation:
"Academic freedom and the right to free speech never existed. They were fantasies. Yeah, you may not always be hauled off to jail for exercising them, but the media will do everything they can to ruin you. They won't bother getting you for what it was you said, they'll just find some trumped-up charge to ruin you with," Whitmer said. "Make no mistake, the only difference between it and McCarthyism is the manner of the smear."
Update: Drunkablog, which has a more incisive post on this article than ours, notes that the PB page the article points to as containing excerpts from Whitmer's now-comparatively-bowdlerized blog does not. It does, however, have links to some PB-preserved Whitmer posts, as well as to a Drunkablog overview of some prime Whitmer prose.
CNews 17February07
Self-described "Local Los Angeles Anarchist revolutionary" Jeff Hendricks leaps to defend Ward Churchill with a clumsy rewrite of Churchill's own specious retorts. (via those wacky anonymous folks at wardchurchil.net)
CNews 16February07
Ward Churchill's wife, Natsu Saito, provides a requested update (it appears it was the "defend critical thinking" crowd—particularly Alan Jones and Reggie Dylan—who made the request) on the current proceedings at CU.
Excerpt:
"A University of Colorado faculty committee has recently heard testimony in Professor Ward Churchill's final internal appeal of the Chancellor's recommendation that he be fired for 'research misconduct.' The faculty committee is also holding hearings on Prof. Churchill's grievances concerning (a) selective or pretextual enforcement and (b) breaches of confidentiality by University officials. Their recommendations will be sent to President Hank Brown who, in turn, will make a recommendation to the Board of Regents, who have the final say."
CNews 12February07
From our A Fish, A Barrel, and a Smoking Gun department: Drunkablog fisks Churchill crony Glenn Morris (a Harvard graduate and college professor who nevertheless seems blissfully unaware of the difference between "imply" and "infer"; guess what he teaches), who takes umbrage at a Drunkablog post regarding Columbus Day. Lengthy, incisive, and funny. Read it.
Update: Retired Bill, a longtime PB reader, notes that Glenn T. Morris is listed as a "Suspended-Inactive" attorney on the Colorado Supreme Court website, and is prohibited from practicing law in the state.
CNews 11February07
Grant Crowell checks in with an interview with Native American Richard Monette (audio, transcript), Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, for some observations on Ward Churchill's racial, legal, and ethical assertions. Long interview (91 minutes), but a goodie. Our favorite quote: “I think it's fair to say that he [Churchill] has done more for Ward Churchill, and less—or when it comes to the law, next to nothing—for Indians.”
CNews 9February07
For those lying awake nights wondering what Bill "Dreamweaver" Bradford is up to (he's been MIA for over a year), he'll soon be assistant-managing a casino near you (pp. 17-18). (via Ruth's Blog , ht DWG) Interesting that the only mention of Indiana University School of Law in the article is in a cutline under Bill's smirking face, and then only to note that he won the Best New Professor award there.
CNews 8February07
Excellent on-point LtoE in today's CU Silver & Gold, which we reprint here in its entirety:
CU FACULTY, STAFF STILL DON'T GET IT ABOUT CHURCHILL
A recent letter from Ken Bonetti, Tom Mayer and others concerns the growing faculty opposition to the possible dismissal of Professor Ward Churchill (Jan. 25, "Faculty opposition to dismissal of Churchill growing"). The letter is most disturbing because a number of CU faculty and staff are apparently losing whatever backbone they once might have had and still don't get it.
The letter suggests, in many forms, that the reason for the possible dismissal of Churchill is entirely the result of his warped political views. Entirely left out of this "relentless pursuit of persecution" myth are the findings in a thorough and entirely transparent review of Churchill's "serious academic misconduct."
It appears that if some of the self-appointed intellectuals ever took time to review the complete record, they would dismount the free-speech dead horse they continue to ride. My guess is that without the public scrutiny given to the inane comments Churchill made about "Little Eichmans," no one on the Privilege and Tenure Committee would ever have had the courage to challenge this guy on his credentials or veracity.
Those who continue to exploit the faults of academic privilege and tenure may continue to erode the very thing so many intellectuals hold dear. By not believing in or supporting complete transparency in the review of those who have been granted job security for life, they may find themselves defending a completely indefensible tenure system.
This matter does not just involve free speech or political views. I caution those who have a stake in the outcome of the Churchill matter to be more forthcoming about all the factors that may ultimately provoke the dismissal of a faculty member who has apparently not lived up to the high standards that academic freedom demands.
Bob Greenlee, Lafayette
CNews 7February07
Mildly OT: CU looks for Diversity Czar
