Two years later CU not sure about Churchill
The lengthy decision-making process surrounding the future of ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill seems like it’s finally amounting to a resolution.
After more than two years of debate from students, faculty and community members, the final verdict will be decided by a plethora of high-ranking CU administrators.
In June of 2006, interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano handed down his decision to place Churchill on an administrative leave of absence, with pay, after he was accused of various forms of research misconduct. These allegations came to fruition after Churchill questioned the innocence of the victims of Sept. 11 in one of his essays.
“The CU Chancellor has already made his recommendation and the process is now in the hands of the Privilege and Tenure Committee, who will give their report to President Brown for the final say,” said CU Spokesman Bronson Hilliard. “As it stands now the decision is out of our hands.”
After the Privilege and Tenure Committee finishes its long-awaited report, the document must then make its way through the bureaucratic hierarchy before a final decision can be made.
“The report still needs to go to the two parties — Churchill and the University Council — before it’s forwarded onto President Brown, and that hasn’t been done yet,” said Michele McKinney, a spokeswoman for the CU system.
The rest of the process is about as convoluted as it gets. After the two factions receive the report, the panel has 10 days in which it will be able to make its decision. At that point, the report will be forwarded to President Brown, who has 15 days to make his decision.
“President Brown will look at all the reports that have emanated from the investigation into Ward Churchill’s research misconduct,” McKinney said. “It’s not just the Privilege and Tenure Committee’s report.”
The next step could have two possible outcomes. The first will take place if President Brown and the panel come to unanimous decision to dismiss Churchill from the University. In this scenario the decision will be forwarded to the Regents, who will notify Churchill and if he wants a hearing, then the Regents would vote publicly.
The second outcome will happen if an agreement is made that his actions don’t warrant the consequence of being fired, and in that case he will immediately return to the classroom.
As for a timetable for these events, this extremely lengthy and tedious process could continue for a few more months.
“My best guess for a time frame, with all timelines in place now, it could possibly be sometime in the summer,” McKinney said.
Everyone here at CU seems to have an opinion about the Churchill fiasco and the University gets both positive and negative feedback from the students.
“There are people on both sides who feel quite strongly about the situation,” Hilliard said. “People are certainly welcome to express their views on Churchill but they will have absolutely no impact on the outcome of the academic proceeding.”
While CU has stated its support of Churchill’s constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression of political views, the pressure felt from numerous sides has brought us where we are today.
Until the decision is handed down, all we can do is sit and wait for this unfortunate set of circumstances to be resolved.
