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robp
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 Posted: 02/01/05 - 13:08 Post subject: This guy is a piece of work....
A University of Colorado (search) professor who provoked a furor when he compared victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks to Nazis resigned as a department chairman on Monday but will retain his teaching job, the university said.
In an essay written in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ward Churchill (search) said the World Trade Center victims were "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who organized Nazi plans to exterminate Europe's Jews. Churchill also spoke of the "gallant sacrifices" of the "combat teams" that struck America.
The essay attracted little attention until Churchill was invited to speak at Hamilton College (search), about 40 miles east of Syracuse, N.Y.
Churchill resigned as chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department, telling university officials in a letter that "the present political climate has rendered me a liability in terms of representing either my department, the college, or the university."
University officials welcomed the move. I'll bet they did....
"While Professor Churchill has the constitutional right to express his political views, his essay on 9/11 has outraged and appalled us and the general public," interim CU-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano said in a statement.
Susan Ramirez, a secretary at CU's ethnic studies department, said Churchill would appear at the college for a panel discussion titled, "Limits of Dissent." Churchill did not immediately return a message.
Hamilton President Joan Hinde sent an e-mail to faculty on Sunday, repeating the position that "however repugnant one might find Mr. Churchill's remarks," the college was committed to his right of free speech and would not rescind its invitation.
Hundreds of relatives of Sept. 11 victims have protested Churchill's upcoming appearance. William Doyle of 9/11 Families for a Secure America said people in the New York City region may charter a bus to the event.
Administrators have moved Churchill's appearance to a building that can seat 2,000, instead of the originally planned 300.
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phillycat
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Posted: 02/01/05 - 14:13 Post subject:
I heard about this on the radio this morning. Interesting. I am actually taking a class on ethics in higher education and it is interesting how difficult it can be to make some of the necessary decisions. A lot of it depends on what people find acceptable within a particular community. Quite often things that are just as wrong go unnoticed just because no one says anything.
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Gogirlgo
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Posted: 02/01/05 - 16:41 Post subject:
OK, just to throw a little devil's advocate in here, how come this guy has to resign but Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, can say the under-representation of female scientists at elite universities may stem in part from “innate" differences between men and women and it's fine? This from a guy whose administration has consistently offered less women tenure in each of the three academic years he's been president.
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phillycat
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Posted: 02/01/05 - 16:46 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | | OK, just to throw a little devil's advocate in here, how come this guy has to resign but Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, can say the under-representation of female scientists at elite universities may stem in part from “innate" differences between men and women and it's fine? This from a guy whose administration has consistently offered less women tenure in each of the three academic years he's been president. |
Oh please....don't get me started. It is sooooooooo political I just can't stand it.
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Gogirlgo
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Posted: 02/01/05 - 16:47 Post subject:
| phillycat wrote: |
Oh please....don't get me started. It is sooooooooo political I just can't stand it. |
My point exactly.
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Gogirlgo
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Posted: 02/10/05 - 14:45 Post subject:
I don't agree with what he said but I don't understand why he doesn't have the right to say it, without worrying about consequences like getting fired.
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robp
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Posted: 02/10/05 - 15:50 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | | I don't agree with what he said but I don't understand why he doesn't have the right to say it, without worrying about consequences like getting fired. |
I would get fired if I went around my place of employment spouting off about how much I disliked management. The analogy isn't exactly the same but a person has to use some common sense when voicing their opinions.
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Gogirlgo
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Posted: 02/10/05 - 16:13 Post subject:
| robp wrote: |
I would get fired if I went around my place of employment spouting off about how much I disliked management. The analogy isn't exactly the same but a person has to use some common sense when voicing their opinions. |
I'm with you, there are consequences when we say something. I'm just not sure getting fired for speaking your mind should be one of them. Interestingly, no one even knew about this until someone at Hamilton College dug it up, and they only did that b/c they'd been burned on a prior speaker with a shady past. It's not like Churchill said it and the consequences were clear. What he said, he said 3 years ago. It's the O'Reilly Factor that churned it all up.
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robp
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Posted: 02/10/05 - 16:50 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: |
I'm with you, there are consequences when we say something. I'm just not sure getting fired for speaking your mind should be one of them. Interestingly, no one even knew about this until someone at Hamilton College dug it up, and they only did that b/c they'd been burned on a prior speaker with a shady past. It's not like Churchill said it and the consequences were clear. What he said, he said 3 years ago. It's the O'Reilly Factor that churned it all up. |
If he'd get a haircut and not look like such a weiner the whole issue would probably be a moot point. 
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