Pro-Terrorist Ward Churchill a plagiarist?

[DinoDoc]

See! Getting rid of an academic fraud who even lies about his ethnicity is bad cuz it might please right wingers.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Agathon
Andy Warhol copied brillo boxes.

Ward Churchill copied paintings almost entirely... that's called artistic forgery. He used peoples work as his own. How much more will it take for you to accept the god damn reality?

[Agathon]

The joy of internet allegations... it must be true!!!

[DinoDoc]

To quote an ill-tempered and ignorant "logician" in this very thread: "Prove it!"

[Agathon]

To quote an ill-tempered and ignorant "logician" in this very thread: "Prove it!"

OK.

1. I'm telling you that I am really Superman.

2. At least one person has been known with certainly to lie on the internet (me.. just now by claiming I am superman).

3. My lie about superman appeared on the internet.

4. So of all the statements on the internet at least one is a lie.

5. Therefore: you cannot have absolute certainly about something that you read on the internet.

6. Life is harsh and DinoDoc still hasn't removed his Santa hat.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2760059,00.html#

Sacred cow of tenure laid low?
By Kevin Simpson
Denver Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 13, 2005 -

In both shouts and murmurs, the Ward Churchill controversy has echoed through universities across the country amid the escalating clash of politics and academic freedom.

Even before the furor over the CU professor's writings - he compared some of the Sept. 11 victims to a top Nazi - some college faculty had sensed an erosion of liberty to broach provocative or unpopular views.

Churchill put a face on those concerns.

"It's like the old Dylan line - you don't need a weather vane to know which way the wind is blowing," said Robert Polhemus, English professor and chairman of the faculty senate at Stanford, paraphrasing the singer's "weather man" line. "For a generation, professors took both tenure and academic freedom for granted in a way that won't be possible in the next decade."

Legislators in at least eight states, including Colorado, have entertained bills or resolutions in the past several months reflecting the conservative push to balance what they claim is an overbearing liberal bias on campus. And tenure has long been open to attack on the grounds that it too thoroughly insulates even incompetent academics.

CU is just the latest skirmish.

At the University of Iowa, the faculty senate parried what it fears to be a politically charged challenge to free speech in academia by rattling off a resolution urging the CU regents not to use Churchill's controversial essay to damage his academic career.

"I think (the controversy) is being seen across the country as an effort to use ideas that very few people would agree with, and the expression of those ideas, as a wedge issue," said Katherine Tachau, professor of medieval history and president of the faculty senate.

Churchill, a tenured professor and then-chair of CU's ethnic studies department, recently came under attack for the essay he wrote on Sept. 11, 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks. Several legislators and Gov. Bill Owens have called for his removal.

Churchill subsequently stepped down as department head but retained his $94,000 annual salary. Meanwhile, CU initiated a review of his academic work scheduled to conclude this week, but a financial settlement to ensure the professor's departure remained possible.

"But that leaves the problem that a politically motivated attack from outside the university resulted in somebody being treated in a manner that explicitly attacks their ability to say and publish what they want," said Tachau. "A best-case scenario would be for the university and governor to affirm that we do not like what he says, but we defend his right to say it."

But Polhemus said that settlements in conflicts like this are "what universities do."

"Universities hate to have huge rifts or conflicts because they depend upon donors, and people have to work together," he said. "If they can possibly solve it amicably so people's interests aren't run roughshod over, they'll do that."

Not a hot topic at ASU

Although academics from coast to coast have followed the headlines, faculty at Arizona State University haven't found the Churchill matter a hot topic at the water cooler, said Doug Johnson, chairman of the personnel committee of ASU's academic senate.

The subject hasn't come up at meetings on tenure or faculty governance, and Johnson figures most professors might regard the CU circumstances as an extreme case of pushing the rhetorical envelope.

"I don't see that this is such a hot button that people immediately respond," he said. "We don't feel our ability to speak on an issue is threatened. It's more of an anomaly than anything else."

CHURCHILL CONTROVERSY
Essay & statements

Click here to read Ward Churchill's essay, "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens," as posted by a third-party political website. (The Denver Post does not endorse the website or views it expresses; the link is provided only as a reader service.)

Click here to read Churchill's Feb. 1 statement on the controversy.

Click here to read the University of Colorado Board of Regents' Feb. 3 resolution on the controversy.

Click here to read the Colorado House of Representatives' Feb. 2 resolution condemning Churchill.

Click here to read Gov. Bill Owens' letter on Churchill.

Click here for Churchill's academic webpage on the CU Department of Ethnic Studies website.

At Boise State University, civil engineering professor George Murgel said he senses a similar attitude, but while immediate reaction to the Churchill controversy has been somewhat muted in Idaho, Murgel doesn't minimize the possible ramifications - particularly where the touchy issue of faculty tenure is concerned.

"If he has problems in his work, and it's been glossed over for years in evaluations, that would be a more stinging indictment of the overall system than just him," said Murgel, also president of the faculty senate. "It could trigger a look all around the country at review systems, and could push the argument to do away with tenure altogether.

"That could be your worst- case scenario in all this."

Questioning motivation

But some question the motivation for the review of Churchill's work and wonder if such a politically influenced move - particularly one advanced from outside the university itself - can be trusted.

"We're not trying to eviscerate tenure of having responsibilities," said Iowa's Tachau. "But the way there's been political pressure brought to bear on the university, and (opposition to tenure) has been taken up as a cause célèbre outside of academe, we're suspicious of the fairness of any process he's going through."

The Churchill drama has captured rapt attention in some corners, such as the nationwide law school faculty e-mail group to which Judith Wegner subscribes.

Wegner, a former dean of the University of North Carolina law school and current chair of faculty, said most people in her field are watching developments closely and fitting them into a larger context.

"I'd say there's a pretty broad awareness, a concern not just about that, but put together with the David Horowitz 'academic bill of rights,' the Patriot Act, the difficulty of foreign students to engage in research or travel, constraints on grants in some places - it's a worrisome time, honestly," she said.

Whatever the outcome, most professors agree that the Churchill controversy touches on one facet of academic freedom that isn't going away any time soon.

"Maybe Ward Churchill is a con man or loony, or maybe the people against him are other kinds of loonies who just want to shut down discussion and force their own monolithic view on the world," said Stanford's Polhemus. "I don't know, but I know the issue about what professors say, and who they offend in the classroom, is going to be an issue in the coming years."

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Agathon
The joy of internet allegations... it must be true!!!

These aren't internet allegations. They are well founded.

[Agathon]

These aren't internet allegations. They are well founded.

But let me guess, you read about them on the internet.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Agathon

To quote an ill-tempered and ignorant "logician" in this very thread: "Prove it!"

OK.

Still waiting. You can start with the one's Oerdin posted or go back to the links Boris listed to disprove them and please not try and devolve into histrionics as you have been.

And the Santa hat fits the avatar, so it stays.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Agathon

These aren't internet allegations. They are well founded.

But let me guess, you read about them on the internet.

It doesn't matter. They came from news sources.. these aren't internet sources.

[Agathon]

Still waiting. You can start with the one's Oerdin posted or go back to the links Boris listed to disprove them and please not try and devolve into histrionics as you have been.

What do you mean?

Why would I want to disprove them. The fact that they are obviously in question (like anything else you read on the internet) is enough for me.

I have no idea whether the plagiarism case is true or not. From what I've seen it looks as thought what he did wasn't plagiarism. But then again I may not have all the information.

The paintings thing seems a bit weird. Churchill claims he had permission from the artist, but the artist is dead. Guess we'll never know.

But none of that is relevant to my overall argument, which does not depend in any particular way on th accuracy or no of the plagiarism charges.

Perhaps if you were a bit more specific I could oblige your request or show you why it isn't relevant.

[Giancarlo]

Agathon.. why won't you ever get it and stop defending someone who is dishonest and a proven liar?

[Sava]

Originally posted by Agathon

The paintings thing seems a bit weird. Churchill claims he had permission from the artist, but the artist is dead. Guess we'll never know.

I would think not Agathon. The one painting is from 1870.

[DinoDoc]

I can understand why he's doing it, though I don't understand why Ward is being taken up as a poster boy for academic freedom if even half of the serious allegations against him are true.

[Agathon]

I would think not Agathon. The one painting is from 1870.

Must be a different artist then or a different painting. This guy's son is still alive and disputes Churchill's claim. Doesn't Oerdin say 1972 in his post?

That's the one I saw mentioned.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Agathon
Andy Warhol copied brillo boxes.

Andy Warhol changed things around so that they were unique and made a statement about our consumerist society. He didn't life the label and try to claim he originally created it which is what Churchill did.