For Ward Churchill, The Chickens Have Finally Come Home To Roost

Ward Churchill may finally lose his job at the University of Colorado, but not for the exact reasons you might think. Churchill, a revolutionary Communist and professor of ethnic studies, got himself into some hot water last year when he published an article which suggested that the 9/11 attacks were on some level justified, and refered to some of the victims as “little Eichmanns”. Seeing as Churchill is a tenured professor, the university couldn’t fire him just for making controversial statements. Instead, they commissioned a panel to look into his academic writings. The panel’s final report, released this week, concludes that Churchill has engaged in plagiarism on a pervasive and long-term basis. Churchill predictably claims that the panel’s accusations are groundless, and are being used as a pretext to suspend or fire him. He may in fact be right. But he should have realized that tenured or not, a professor who makes such extremely offensive statements might have be risking his or her employment.