Boulder – The University of Colorado’s research-misconduct committee quizzed professor Ward Churchill behind closed doors Wednesday about plagiarism and copyright allegations raised by a newspaper.
Churchill, accompanied by his wife and attorney, spent about an hour in the secret meeting held in the basement of CU’s Regent Hall.
Churchill’s attorney, David Lane, said members of the faculty committee asked a “couple of questions to fulfill their duties” but were not really concerned about the allegations leveled in June by the Rocky Mountain News.
“We noted an objection to having to defend allegations printed in the newspaper,” he said.
Committee members refused to comment on their meetings or even confirm when they meet.
“It’s a confidential process,” said CU spokeswoman Pauline Hale, who is not allowed to attend the meetings.
Chancellor Phil DiStefano asked the committee in June to look into allegations unearthed by the Rocky Mountain News, including a 1972 pamphlet written by activists in Canada that Churchill claimed as his and whether the professor published other writers’ work without their permission.
The committee already was investigating allegations of plagiarism and academic fraud, and a complaint that Churchill has misrepresented his heritage as Native American.
The investigation of Churchill began after an essay he wrote that compared some Sept. 11, 2001, victims to Nazi Adolf Eichmann surfaced in January in New York.
