Feb. 18, 2005 - 14:01 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Is He Ain�t ?

There is all kinds of uproar around the area about Ward Churchill. From everything I have read his attitude is despicable. But well you know, free speech and all that, I�ll fight for that privilege as a valuable asset for a free society.

There is so much involved in the fracas that it gets a bit complicated. Sifting through some of the news articles perhaps will give an idea of the scoop.

Rocky Mountain News, Wednesday February 16 an article by Berny Morson and Charlie Brennan goes into the tenure bit. In part:

�BOULDER � A high ranking University of Colorado official urged a faculty appointment for Ward Churchill in 1990. Despite questions about his academic credentials.�

�Less than a year later, Churchill landed a coveted tenured faculty position, bypassing the rigorous, six-year academic review that normally preceded tenure, according to CU documents.�

�The correspondence between then-Vice Chancellor for Academic Services Kaye Howe and Dean of Arts and Sciences Charles Middleton sheds more light on how Churchill rose in the ranks at CU.�

�CU officials in 1990 considered him an expert in American Indian studies who might be lost to another school.�

�Ward is certainly being courted by other universities as a significant Indian scholar and teacher. It would be a shame to lose him because of a standard which may be irrelevant in this case, �Howe wrote Middleton in an e-mail, referring to Churchill�s lack of a doctorate.�

�In the 1990 e-mail exchange, Howe, the vice chancellor noted that Churchill had been invited to be a guest lecturer that fall at Alfred University in western New York State. Howe sought support from Middleton, the dean, to make Churchill a visiting professor in Indian studies in spring 1991. Howe said Churchill could return to his slot in the academic support program if the visiting professorship did not turn into a permanent faculty position. �I think this would bive Ward a significant opportunity,� Howe wrote. Howe told Middleton she had the �highest esteem for Ward.�

�Middleton responded that he agreed with Howe �in principle.� However he anticipated Bruce Ekstrand, the vice chancellor for academic affairs, would have concerns about Churchill�s lack of a doctorate.�

�Ekstrand � not Howe � had direct authority over faculty appointments. Howe supervised the support programs where Churchill then worked.�

�The memos do not indicate how the doctorate issue was resolved. Ekstrand has since died.Churchill, who is paid $94,000, still lacks a doctorate.�

�Then chancellor-James Corbridge recommended tenure for Churchill in April 1991. It was approved by the CU regents that month.�

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And the yapping continues. Still in my mind as in other folks opinions, it boils down to, �Did Churchill lie ? Lie about being Indian ?� A prevarication of that kind surely should be grounds for dismissal. And our dear Governor would have backing to get him fired.

But a state official, to my mind is pushing it by trying to insist a University fire a tenured professor, even though it is a state university.

What price must the practice of diversity pay ? And where does perversity fit in ? Atilla the Hun was diverse as were many people in history, would they have been candidates for tenure for any position ?

In the end it probably will, after all the blather, boil down to Indianship . . . . is he is or Is He Ain�t ? . . . . . . . .

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