Assault on Freedom of Speech

Ward Churchill has been fired. You'll probably recall his controversial statements regarding the events of 9/11 in which he referred to some of the victims as "little Eichmanns." The uproar over his statements, which were written shortly after 9/11, didn't occur until four years after the fact. Typical of such situations the matter of free speech doesn't enter. Instead some other reason must be fabricated.

So you're not supposed to think that Ward Churchill is being punished for exercising his right to free speech. Rather the Board of Regent's want us to believe it is a matter of Churchill's scholarship. Among their findings:

In May 2006, a faculty committee found that Professor Churchill’s research, which focused on persecution of American Indians, was seriously flawed. Among suspected inaccuracies and fabrications confirmed by the panel, it charged that Professor Churchill had misrepresented sources to support his argument that Capt. John Smith intentionally introduced smallpox to the Wampanoag Indians in the 17th century.

Now I certainly don't know the whole story here. But what I do know is that the entire story is not being reported. According to Churchill:

The fraudulent nature of CU’s “investigation” has been clearly documented by 5 sets of research misconduct complaints filed against the Investigative Committee. Two sets of these complaints were filed in May 2007 by 9 CU professors, 6 outside professors and 2 attorneys. I have since filed three additional sets of research misconduct charges. These 5 complaints document, among other things, falsification and fabrication of evidence and plagiarism by the Committee in its Report on my scholarship.

Moreover, according to Investigative Committee Chair Mimi Wesson has publicly acknowledged at least one “error” in the Report and stated that in the interest of “research integrity” the Committee will “take steps to ensure that the error is corrected for the scholarly record.” There seem to be serious problems with the nature of the research done on Churchill.

There should be no doubt that this is a move to stifle free speech in this country. Whether you agree with Churchill or not, the fact is that if you believe in freedom of speech you stand up for all speech, especially that speech you find repugnant.

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