Professor Ward Churchill Vows to Sue University of Colorado Over Controversial Firing

The Board of Regents of the University of Colorado in Boulder voted 8 to 1 Tuesday evening to fire tenured professor of Ethnic Studies Ward Churchill on charges of research misconduct. But Churchill maintains that the allegations were a pretext to remove him for his unpopular political views. Churchill has written a number of books on genocide against Native Americans and the US government's COINTELPRO program. After yesterday's verdict Churchill said he planned to sue the university.

Churchill has written a number of books on genocide against Native Americans and the US government's COINTELPRO program. After yesterday's verdict Churchill said he planned to sue the university.

The controversy dates back to early 2005 when a college newspaper reprinted Churchill's three-year old essay on the attacks on the World Trade Center. He described the attacks as a response to a long history of US abuses and called those who were killed on 9-11 as QUOTE "little Eichmanns" who formed a “technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire."

Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi bureacrat convicted for war crimes who political theorist Hannah Arendt famously described as embodying the "banality of evil." Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly repeatedly attacked Churchill for his comparison. Soon after, Colorado Governor Bill Owens wrote a letter to the university calling for Churchill’s resignation.

A special panel at the university immediately conducted an investigation into Churchill’s comments. They concluded that he could not be fired for his statements, which were protected by the First Amendment. However, another panel later determined that Churchill plagiarized and fabricated material in his scholarship and recommended his dismissal.

Supporters of Ward Churchill organized a rally before the Regents delivered their decision to fire Churchill at 5.30 pm. They had been deliberating behind closed doors all day.

Churchill supporter Ann Erika Whitebird. Ward Churchill joins us on the phone from Boulder, Colorado.

• Ward Churchill. He was just terminated from his tenured post as Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Churchill is an activist and author of a number of books on genocide against Native Americans and the US government's COINTELPRO program.

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