The University of Colorado committee investigating Ward Churchill has found him guilty, guilty, guilty. And on some level, they’re right: Churchill is guilty of occasionally shoddy scholarship and the dubious practice of ghostwriting, and perhaps even more. But we should be alarmed by the investigative committee’s report, and not merely because the committee exists only because of a concerted effort to fire Churchill for his obnoxious and idiotic comments about 9/11 victims.

By stretching the meaning of “research misconduct” far beyond its true definition, and by supporting the suspension and even dismissal of a tenured professor for his use of footnotes, the Colorado committee is opening the door to a vast new right-wing witch hunt on college campuses that conservatives could easily exploit across the country.

[...]Churchill was on campus in support of the victims of the ongoing Green Scare, the Feds’ latest attempt to squash environmental activism. His appearance was timely, as UO nursing student Jeff Hogg was jailed earlier in the day for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury here in Eugene. Jeff could potentially remain behind bars for the duration of the grand jury, which is set to last until September but it could be extended indefinitely.

He’s just the latest victim in the fight against eco-terrorism. (’Eco-terrorism,’ as Churchill pointed out, is doing things like tearing the tops off mountains in Appalachia, or forcing people to live in an automobile culture. Or, I would add, clear-cutting forests, especially those that sustain vital watersheds.)

Cox & Forum has reposted a prescient cartoon they did of the Churchill debacle over a year ago

Confidential to Drunkablog: Yes, Michelle and PB are like this. Suffah!