Former CU-Boulder Professor Loses Appeal to Regain Job
ByIn an uncanny coincidence, a day before 11th anniversary of Twin Tower terrorist attacks, a professor who compared 9/11 victims to a Nazi official has lost his appeal against dismissal Monday.
The Supreme Court of Colorado dismissed former CU-Boulder professor, author and political activist, Ward Churchill's suit against the University of Colorado. The court upheld the lower court's ruling that entitled the university to 'quasi-judicial immunity.'
Churchill has decided to appeal once again to the U.S. Supreme Court and his attorney David Lane has confirmed the move.
"We'll see if the U.S. Supreme Court is inclined to do any better," Churchill wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post, shortly after the court's ruling.
Churchill became the centre of the controversy because of an essay he wrote in which he paralleled some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to a World War II Nazi official. According to AP, the victims were addressed as 'little Eichmanns,' a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi leader who helped scheme the Holocaust.
CU investigated, but its hands were tied as the essay was protected under First Amendment. But while the investigation was in progress, conveniently, some academics accused Churchill of plagiarism and fraud in scholarly writings.
Following the accusations, Churchill was fired from his position of CU-Boulder's ethnic studies department over the charges of plagiarism and academic misconduct in 2007. In response, he filed law suit against the university for 'Wrongful Termination' in the District Court, which he won under First Amendment rights violation. However, the judge declined to restore his position at the university, reports Denver Post.
Again, in 2010, he lost as the State Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's ruling not to give his job back. Following which, he appealed to the state Supreme Court, which made its ruling in a 55-page judgement Monday.
"Today's decision by the Colorado Supreme Court upholds the high standards of academic integrity practiced every day by our faculty," said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano in a statement.
"It is vital that what is published and what is taught in the classroom be based on research and scholarship grounded in honest, accepted and time-tested methods," he added.
Though the university wants to shield itself from Churchill and leave everything behind, as manifested in the statements, Churchill has no intention of stopping.