University of Colorado ethnic-studies professor Ward Churchill will formally request a hearing before the Board of Regents in response to CU president Hank Brown’s letter last week recommending his dismissal for academic misconduct, his attorney said Monday.
Attorney David Lane said Churchill has 20 days to respond in writing with a request for a private hearing. After that, unless the regents choose to reinstate Churchill and forgo all forms of discipline, Lane said, Churchill will file a free speech lawsuit against the university.
Lane and Churchill assert that the investigation into the professor’s scholarship was retaliation for an essay he wrote comparing some World Trade Center victims of the 9/11 attack to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
Brown last week formally asked the regents to fire Churchill. Brown disagreed with the May 8 majority recommendation of the university’s five-member Privilege and Tenure Committee. Three members voted to suspend Churchill for one year without pay and demote him.
Brown wrote May 25 to the tenure committee outlining Churchill’s pattern of “repeated and deliberate deception.” The committee did not respond by presenting additional or rebuttal material, Lane said.
Former interim chancellor Phil DiStefano began the process of firing Churchill in June 2006 after an investigation by CU’s Standing Committee on Research Misconduct. Churchill was relieved of duties but has stayed on the payroll.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com.
