Ward Churchill’s long-awaited complaint against the University of Colorado was finally filed Wednesday, but it may not be long before it moves to a different courthouse.
Churchill, who was fired Tuesday by the CU Board of Regents after a 30-month process, filed a complaint Wednesday in Denver District Court charging that the regents and the school violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and denied him due process in his termination.
“The Defendants’ acts of intimidating, threatening and investigating and finally terminating Professor Churchill were motivated by Professor Churchill’s exercise of constitutionally protected conduct,” Churchill’s attorney David Lane wrote in the nine-page amended complaint.
CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said university attorneys are preparing a defense. “It’s a matter of our academic reputation, and it is important that we defend that in court,” he said.
The lawsuit is the latest turn in a process sparked by controversy over an essay by the ethnic-studies professor. Written after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it compared 9/11 victims to a World War II Nazi technocrat. During the ensuing controversy, CU officials looked into and eventually sustained allegations of plagiarism and academic misconduct in Churchill’s research.
Lane argues that the misconduct investigation was in retaliation for Churchill’s controversial essay, which is protected by the First Amendment.
Lane couldn’t be reached for comment late Wednesday but said Tuesday that he was filing in Denver because he believes he can find a more sympathetic jury and the case will move faster. A federal jury would draw “rural, small-town people who are not as particularly enamored with Ward Churchill,” he told reporters.
Employment attorney John Lowrie of Ford and Harrison LLP said it is likely the university will try to move the case to federal court.
“This case revolves around federal questions and jurisdiction,” said Lowrie, who represents employers and said the case could be moved in 30 days if CU decides to proceed. “It will likely be moved. I would be shocked if it wasn’t.”
McConnellogue said CU attorneys would not make a decision on that for several days.
The lawsuit also alleges CU failed to contribute up to $20,000 in attorneys’ fees for Churchill to fight his dismissal as promised in its policies. But McConnellogue said that provision was passed by the faculty senate but never approved by the regents.
“It’s not regent policy,” he added.
The lawsuit requests unspecified damages and “relief as this court deems just.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry contributed to this report.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-954-1244 or akane@denverpost.com.
