DENVER—The University of Colorado has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by former professor Ward Churchill, who was fired on research misconduct allegations amid outrage over his comments about Sept. 11 victims.
Churchill’s suit in Denver District Court alleges the university’s governing Board of Regents violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and denied him due process.
University lawyers filed a motion Tuesday asking the judge to toss the suit, saying the regents have legal immunity and that school officials have a right to investigate whether faculty fulfill their duties.
Churchill was fired July 24 and filed suit the next day.
He provoked a firestorm with an essay that likened some World Trade Center victims to Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi who helped carry out the Holocaust. He said were participating in a U.S. economic system that helped provoke the Sept. 11 attacks.
The university launched an investigation into some of his other writings after concluding Churchill couldn’t be fired for the Sept. 11 essay.
Churchill has denied wrongdoing. He is asking to be reinstated and wants unspecified damages and legal costs.
