Firing of CU professor Ward Churchill
Re: “Fire Churchill for dishonest practices,” July 24 editorial.
Your editorial supporting the now-confirmed firing of Ward Churchill tries duplicitously to have it both ways. You claim you are in full support of Churchill’s First Amendment rights. But you then support his firing for his alleged academic deficiencies. In doing so, you miss the main point – that the investigation was precipitated by his protected free speech opinions on the U.S. military complex.
Amazingly, the Board Regents even saw fit to apologize publicly for his opinions! Any subsequent action by the university is tainted as being in retaliation for his speech. But you nonetheless approve of such tainted action.
This smacks soundly of “the ends justifies the means” reasoning, which CU will now get to defend in court at taxpayer expense. Sorry, but I expect more from the governing body of a supposedly esteemed institution of higher education, and my support of CU as an alumnus will certainly be affected.
Peter Lyon, Boulder
…
Thank you for the great editorial calling for the firing of Ward Churchill. He has no integrity and no pride. Threatening to file a lawsuit is another example of his lack of insight to his problems. As a University of Colorado graduate, I thank the panel for terminating Mr. Churchill.
Dave Herrera, Henderson
…
Let’s say I have two employees who are having an interpersonal squabble that is disrupting the office environment. As a result, I meet with the two employees and do some other investigation and find that one of them has been pilfering funds from an office petty cash fund. Or, police are investigating a person on a charge of disturbing the peace when he or she was preaching the gospel from a soapbox in Civic Center. During the investigation, the police find a stash of methamphetamine in the soapbox. The Ward Churchill argument is that since the initial investigation had nothing to do with what was ultimately found, I can’t fire the employee for stealing from petty cash or charge the disturber with possession of an illegal substance.
Here we have a situation where a concern about one thing led to the discovery of a second thing. Failure to take action in any of these cases would result in a variety of kinds of chaos.
Jim Hidahl, Denver
…
Ward Churchill was fired because he plagiarized ideas and falsified research, the two most serious “crimes” anyone can commit against the very foundation of the intellectual community at the heart of the university. That he is also a self-serving, pompous liar suggests the possibility that not only the law but also justice can be served.
Harry Kelleher, Denver
…
Unless University of Colorado president Hank Brown conducts a serious investigation into every professor on campus, then I believe it is a case of singling out Ward Churchill because of his response to Sept. 11. I know it wouldn’t be convenient, but perhaps the university could select a random sample of professors and conduct a thorough investigation. Otherwise, I agree that this is a witch hunt fueled by the conservative political element that has been thrust into areas of control on all Colorado campuses.
Brown says CU’s most important asset is its reputation. I disagree; the most important asset is the school’s integrity. Reputation might be a good selling point to attract quality students and faculty, but integrity is what will keep those students and faculty and provide a quality experience while they are here. Saying Churchill isn’t being singled out because of his views lacks integrity because it just isn’t true. Why isn’t there an ongoing committee that investigates all professors at the same level of scrutiny that was applied to Churchill?
While the integrity of each professor affects the overall integrity of the school and Churchill’s research behavior detracts from that integrity, so too do the actions of CU’s leaders. Hank Brown’s decision to dismiss Churchill while saying that action isn’t motivated by his Sept. 11 comments is not acting with integrity. Therefore, Brown and Churchill are both harming the university.
Barbara Bates, Golden
…
Although I have no information with which to judge Ward Churchill’s scholarly efforts, my son is a University of Colorado graduate who had Churchill as a professor. When he first heard of the controversy, his reaction was surprise and disappointment. He claimed that Churchill was by far the most inspirational, most challenging teacher he ever experienced.
In the more than two years of press releases from the university and the regents, I wonder why we have never heard this aspect of the professor’s work at CU evaluated.
Gloria Puester, Aurora
Benefits of community-supported agriculture
Re: “Demand for local food grows,” July 23 news story.
The article on community-supported agriculture should have gone into more depth on the reasons people participate in it, which have to do with the impacts of our consumer culture.
The average vegetable travels more than 1,000 miles to the consumer. It is packed in plastic, refrigerated, and shipped by truck, all of which consume resources and cause pollution beyond whatever pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers were used to grow it.
The produce we get from Cresset Community Farm travels less than 100 miles and never sees the inside of a refrigerator. The tomatoes have a chance to ripen before they’re picked, and this makes them taste like tomatoes instead of Styrofoam. We get spinach that was picked that very morning; to get it any fresher, you have to nibble it out of the ground like a goat.
By helping each other provide for ourselves and our families, we subvert corporate dominance over agriculture. It makes us wonder what else we are capable of, and suddenly life has more meaning.
As long as our society depends on major corporations for things like food, we will have serious environmental and social problems. Community-supported agriculture is a way out of that predicament.
Sean Gale, Denver
Piñon Canyon expansion
It appears that no one is happy about the proposed expansion of the Fort Carson training area, which is essential if combat troops are to be prepared for future missions. There is a simple solution. Close Fort Carson and move all training to another state where both legislators and residents are more receptive. Stop the quibbling now and have the Army take immediate action. Announce tomorrow that Fort Carson will be closed in five years.
Helmuth Froeschle, Lakewood
Colo. child-care system
Re: “Child-care maze cheats recipients,” July 12 Diane Carman column.
There is great truth in Diane Carman’s column. Little, if any, of the information concerning the plight of families in need of child-care assistance could be found wrong or misleading.
However, we at Catholic Charities, which currently operates 11 child-care programs (mostly in Denver), would like to point out that almost every party involved in the process of helping families receive the aid needed for child out-of-home care is painfully aware that current processes and procedures are cumbersome and faulty at times.
To that end, an ongoing dialogue between agencies, the counties, the state, and those who certify eligibility have been addressing the problems frequently and in-depth. Catholic Charities, which participates in this dialogue, has found the state and county authorities to be open to creative thinking and ideas to streamline and facilitate the requirements for attaining child-care assistance.
We are all focused on the end results: quality, accessible care for the children and the hope that these small but significant steps forward will help lift some of our families out of poverty.
With the voice of the people and the commitment of county officials, perhaps we can expedite changes to a system that is not necessarily “cheating” recipients, but is just not nearly as efficient as we all hope it can one day be.
Randy Weinert, Denver
The writer is director of communications for Catholic Charities, part of the Archdiocese of Denver.
Online extras
For more letters to the editor, go to
To send a letter
E-mail: openforum@denverpost.com (only straight text, not attachments)
Mail: The Open Forum, The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, 80202
Fax: 303-954-1502
Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 200 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.
To reach us by phone: 303-954-1331
