The Boulder community remains divided on outcome of Ward Churchill’s case.
“Absolutely,” Benjamin Whitmer, a former CU cultural studies professor and former student of Ward Churchill, said when asked if Churchill should be reinstated. “According to the law, his civil rights have been violated.”
Churchill, a former ethnic studies professor at CU, won his case against CU after a Denver jury decided April 2 that the school unlawfully fired him for expressing his political beliefs.
Tzvi Darling, 21, a junior drama major, said that he does not feel Churchill should be reinstated because of his academic misconduct.
“All my life, I have been preached that honesty should be the main foundation of academics,” Darling said.
Churchill sued CU after he was fired in July 2007 for allegedly engaging in academic misconduct.
Churchill, however, maintains that the university really fired him for writing a controversial essay about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which he referred to victims of the World Trade Center attacks as “little Eichmanns” — a reference to the infamous Nazi bureaucrat.
Darling said he thinks Churchill should not be reinstated for being “anti-Semitic.”
“I think that if the court reinstates him, the court is telling people that it is alright to be anti-Semitic, which is sending the wrong message to the students of ethnic studies classes,” Darling said.
Tom Moore, a worker at Left Hand Books Collective on Pearl Street, also said that Churchill should be reinstated.
“I think he got kicked out of (CU) unjustly,” Moore said. “(He was fired because of) the Republican governor and Republican regents—this was an opportunity to get rid of the guy speaking out.”
Josh Hooper, 25, a political science major at CU, said that he does not see why Churchill wants to return.
“I think it is crap that he won,” Hooper said. “Why would he want to come back? He made such a loud noise. What respect has he earned?”
Whitmer said he feels that the CU administration’s reputation was hurt, not Churchill’s.
“CU reputation was hurting (at the time of the essay release),” Whitmer said. “They thought let’s cut our losses and came up with some reasons to fire him. The findings were ridiculous. Now people are seeing (firing Churchill) as a witch hunt and there is public outcry.”
Darling said that he feels the significance of a degree from CU will decrease if Churchill is reinstated.
“I think it’s the court’s job to uphold the recognized quality of our degree,” Darling said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sara Fruman at sara.fruman@colorado.edu.
