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Ward Churchill Fired
This is in the category of "It's about bloody time!" Ward Churchill, now former professor of Colorado University, has been fired for academic misconduct and plagiarism. Quite frankly, his calling the victims of the 9/11 attacks "little Eichmans" should have been enough for his immediate dismissal. It's too bad that it took this long to terminate him. What is also disturbing is they are paying him a year's salary as part of the termination. That must be nice. Get fired for cause and still get paid.
From Channel 9 News:
Churchill touched off a firestorm in 2005 after an essay surfaced which he wrote shortly after 9/11 likening some victims in the World Trade Center to Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out the Holocaust.University officials concluded he could not be fired for his comments because they were protected by the First Amendment, but they launched an investigation into allegations that he fabricated or falsified his research and plagiarized the work of others.
In 2006, a university committee found Churchill guilty of academic misconduct, including plagiarism and a faculty panel recommended he be demoted and suspended for a year without pay. In May, CU President Hank Brown recommended Churchill be fired.
In general, I guess they are right about the free speech part, however private companies can and do fire high profile employees for making such stupid statements as Churchill did in 2005, as it can be construed to reflect on their employer.
It is also disappointing that it took that incident to trigger an investigation into the allegations that he was an academic fraud.
Even though it took a long time before the Board of Regents took action, at least they did the right thing for reasons that can be defended.
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