Denver Post Calls For Firing Ward Churchill

The Denver Post recounts the long, drawn-out due process that has been given to Ward Churchill, the much-reviled ethnic studies professor from the University of Colorado. They say it is time to fire Churchill, which has been recommended by several committees and university officials.

More than two years have passed since the waves of controversy first started lapping at Ward Churchill, the embattled University of Colorado professor. In that same time, other recognizable names tied to CU - Betsy Hoffman, Gary Barnett - have been relegated to history.

Yet Churchill remains.

That's because the ethnic studies professor has been given the appropriate due process - and then some.

It's never been easy to fire a tenured professor, which is good, but that time has come for Churchill.

A majority of CU's research misconduct committee called for his dismissal last year. CU's interim chancellor at the time, Phil DiStefano, agreed, handing the controversial professor his walking papers - a decision Churchill promptly appealed.

Now CU president Hank Brown also says Churchill should be fired. Not for his controversial rants or unpopular speech, mind you, but for academic misconduct.

"Professor Churchill's conduct has clearly violated the University's policies on academic freedom and is inimical to the University's core academic mission," Brown wrote in a 10-page letter to Patricia Hayes, chairwoman of CU's governing Board of Regents. "The University cannot disregard allegations of serious research misconduct simply because the allegations were made against a professor whose comments have attracted a high degree of public attention."

Churchill's shoddy scholarship first came to light publicly after he gained notoriety for a controversial essay in which he likened some Sept. 11 victims to "little Eichmanns."

Two very thorough peer reviews of his research and academic work found academic misconduct. The first investigatory group concluded that he intentionally falsified research, plagiarized and ghost-wrote articles that he later used as references to prop up his own research. (Emphasis added)

As offensive as his rants have been, the reason for his firing has nothing to do with those. It has everything to do with what would not be acceptable in a college student, much less a tenured college professor. That is why it is past time to show him the door. Churchill says he'll sue if he is fired. Good. Then all of his misconduct will become public record, won't it?