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Controversial Colorado University Professor's Appearance at University of Hawaii Causes Backlash

Hawaii Reporter ^ | February 22, 2005 | Malia Zimmerman

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/

In the Midst of Ward Churchill Being Investigated for Lying About His Ethnicity to Further His Career, for Being an 'Academic Fraud' and Anti-American, and Possibly Being Fired, University of Hawaii Groups Rally Behind First Amendment Shield; Many in Hawaii Say Hate Speech Without Balance Doesn't Do the First Amendment Justice or Serve Hawaii's Taxpayers Well By Malia Zimmerman, 2/21/2005 11:46:24 PM

Editor's Note: On Monday, Feb. 21, 2005, a press conference was held at the University of Hawaii with Colorado University Professor Ward Churchill. To listen to an mp3 audio version of the press conference, which begins here with a statement by Haunani Trask about Churchill:
http://www.ward-churchill.com/wc/feb21.mp3

"The only thing I can do is to pursue a different slogan: U.S. out of America, U.S. off the planet, U.S. out of our lives, U.S. into the dustbin of history." Ward Churchill

The minority Republican faction in the Hawaii State Senate called on University of Hawaii President David McClain to stop any association between Colorado University American Indian Studies Professor Ward Churchill and the University of Hawaii.

In a request, made by Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings from the Senate floor Friday, Feb. 18, 2005, and later in writing to McClain, Hemmings said, "We all agree freedom of speech should be protected, but not at the expense of supporting fraud and misrepresentation. In this regard, I hope Mr. Churchill will not be given the opportunity to speak under the auspices of the University of Hawaii."

McClain, in a press release issued on Friday on University of Hawaii stationary, said although he does not agree with Churchill, he will allow Churchill to appear under the banner of "freedom of inquiry and expression."

But Hemmings, calling Churchill "evil," pointed out "the University must not confuse supporting first amendment rights with supporting literary, professional and cultural deceit."

The Hawaii Senate Minority faction isn’t the only group concerned about the implications of the University of Hawaii hosting, and subsidizing at least a portion of Churchill’s speech.

A number of people have written in protest to the University of Hawaii, including some who threatened to pull sizeable grants and personal donations to the school should Churchill speak there Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. as scheduled.

Letters have poured into Hawaii Reporter -- people from Hawaii and across the country say they are distressed that the University of Hawaii’s various departments are promoting Churchill.

The Hawaii College Republicans at the University of Hawaii, and students from other local universities, are planning to protest Churchill’s visit from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in front of the Art Auditorium on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

Churchill’s Controversial Past Coming Home to Roost

Churchill, who prides himself on publishing inflammatory anti-American propaganda, came into the national spotlight recently when the mainstream media reported on his declaration in a 2001 essay that unquestionably, America earned the attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the attackers were in fact "combat teams" who made "gallant sacrifices." Churchill did not stop there. The fact that the combat teams killed just 3,000 Americans shows they are not "unreasonable or vindictive," he wrote, because to get even with America, terrorists "would, at a minimum, have to blow up about 300,000 more buildings and kill something on the order of 7.5 million people."

In the essay, Some People Push Back; On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, Churchill claims Americans got what they deserved because America has killed, according to him, 500,000 Iraqi children. He says the attacks on Sept. 11, he said, were "a natural and inevitable consequence of what happens as a result of business as usual in the United States. Wake up."

He writes: "True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire -- the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved -– and they did so both willingly and knowingly. Recourse to "ignorance" -- a derivative, after all, of the word "ignore" -- counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in -- and in many cases excelling at -- it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it."

The article would have been ignored if Churchill and seven other protestors had not tried to stop the Denver Columbus Day parade in 2004 on the premise that Columbus committed genocide. He was arrested, but acquitted this January and many people weren’t happy with the court’s decision, and reportedly, they began to expose Churchill. Churchill was scheduled to be on a panel in upstate New York, but when reports of his writings circulated nationally, and the O’Reilly Factor focused in on Churchill’s controversial essay, the New York university canceled his appearance and other universities followed.

The governors of Colorado and New York denounced him, while the governor and legislature in Colorado, along with a number of citizens, are demanding Churchill be fired from his tenured position at Colorado University.

Despite the controversy surrounding Churchill's highly inflamatory comments, he told reporters in Honolulu Feb. 21, 2005, that he will not back down, not apologize and would take back nothing he said publicly.

Churchill’s Credibility Shattered by Academics, American Indians, Across the Country

As Churchill’s Anti-U.S. statements became more outrageous and more public, academics and American Indians across America began to investigate Churchill’s background and academic record.

On Feb. 7, 2005, in an article entitled Ward Churchill is No Indian, Jim Adams, the associate editor of Indian Country Today, says national attacks on University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill are raising questions of false pretenses as much as free speech. "A number of Native scholars and activists are challenging his posture of speaking for American Indians in his inflammatory writings on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and even his claim to be an American Indian."

Adams writes, "At various times, according to press reports, Churchill has described himself as Cherokee, Keetoowah Cherokee, Muskogee, Creek and most recently Meti. In Socialism and Democracy, Churchill claimed, ‘Although I'm best known by my colonial name, Ward Churchill, the name I prefer is Kenis, an Ojibwe name bestowed by my wife's uncle.' In his own biography, he says he is an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, but George Mauldin, tribal clerk in Tahlequah, Okla., told the Rocky Mountain News, "He's not in the data base at all."

Hank Adams, an Assiniboine-Sioux and a member of the Frank's Landing Indian Community who has a successful track record of exposing "pseudo-Indians," traced Churchill’s ancestors back to the Revolutionary War and Europe to determine if Churchill was in fact an American Indian or a fraud. Adams found only Caucasian relatives, ironically some who were documented slave owners, but no Indians.

The Oneida Indian Nation issued a statement about Churchill: ''It's disturbing that anyone would use such hateful speech, and do so while claiming to be an American Indian when there is significant evidence that he is not. Professor Churchill caused many in the media to falsely believe an American Indian scholar could besmirch the lives of those who died on 9/11. Because of this, he owes every American Indian an apology."

The dispute over Churchill’s ethnicity would not have been so important except he used his alleged heritage to further his chance at tenure and promotions and to further his credibility on the history of American Indians.

"Churchill got jobs, promotions, tenure and the Ethnic Studies chair at the University of Colorado because he portrayed himself as American Indian," says Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C. and a columnist for Indian Country Today.

When asked by Hawaii Reporter in a Feb. 21, 2005, press conference if he is American Indian, Churchill became enraged by the question, said it was irrelevant and would not answer. When pressed by Hawaii Reporter and other media present on the American Indian issue, Churchill called the question "racist," and asked if President George W. Bush should have to confirm he is white. When KITV Reporter Denby Fawcett said to Churchill, "We'll take that as a 'no,'" Churchill lunged at Fawcett shouting "What did you say?" Fawcett said since he would not answer "yes" and confirm his heritage, he must not be American Indian. In a fury, Churchill stormed away from reporters, ending the press conference.

Moments later, he returned, saying reporters should do their homework and if they did, they would know he is in fact a member of the Keetoowah Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma -- he's told mainland reporters he is one-sixteenth Cherokee. He even said to check with the Rocky Mountain News. But a Feb. 3, 2005, article entitled "Prof's Indian roots disputed" in this publication documents Churchill's claims as false. The report reads:

"The United Keetoowah Band Cherokee says University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill is not a member of their tribe. 'He's not in the database at all and is not a member of the Keetoowah,' said Georgia Mauldin, the tribal clerk in Tahlequah, Okla."

If that isn’t enough controversy for one college professor, Churchill has been accused in the academic press of "sloppy scholarship" and "academic fraud," the Rocky Mountain News reports.

Churchill was rejected by two University of Colorado departments in 1991 before the communication department agreed to give him tenure. Churchill reportedly gained tenure in the communications department in 1991 (though he kept teaching American Indian studies) without meeting the school’s proper requirements, which include being on the tenure-track at the school for six years and typically included having a Ph.D. This realization has led the Colorado University regents to re-examine the tenure process.

Al Knight, a Denver Post columnist, in his Feb. 2005 report, "What makes a professor dishonest?" questions Churchill’s honesty. "It should be obvious that if a professor can use the ‘need to provoke’ as an excuse for dreaming up facts or rewriting history, then all bets are off. Under that principle, anything goes as long as someone is stimulated."

Harjo of the Morning Star Institute writes in her column a "note" for any reporters and editors who are confused. She says Churchill is the Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley of American Indian studies, but without their talent.

In addition to calling Americans murdered on 9/11 "little Eichmanns," Churchill has said:

"The U.S. Army distributed blankets infected with smallpox to the Indians specifically intending to spread the disease." He did not note the settlers did not understand how disease was transmitted until Louis Pasteur's experiments in the second half of the 19th century.

"Indian reservations are the equivalent of Nazi concentration camps."

"Churchill simply makes it up, too, plus he invents Indian credentials. Keep in mind that no one accused their papers of violating free speech when they fired frauds for cause," Harjo writes.

Taxpayer Funds Being Expended on Churchill Offensive, Local Taxpayers Say

While other Universities across the country have cancelled scheduled engagements with Churchill, the University of Hawaii American Studies Department and others welcomed him with open arms.

Taxpayer funds authorized to the University of Hawaii’s Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity office will be used to fund a portion of Churchill’s visit, according to University professors interviewed for this story.

A number of other groups supporting Churchill’s message have fundraised for the event, soliciting contributions from fellow faculty and students. Event sponsors include: American Studies, Center for Pacific Island Studies, College of Social Sciences Public Policy Center, Diversity and Equity Initiative, English, Hawaiian Studies, History, International Cultural Studies Certificate Program, Matsunaga Institute for Peace, Political Science, Sociology, Women's Studies, and Student Equity Excellence and Diverity (SEED). Community co-sponsors include: Friends of Sabeel, NION Hawaii, Refuse & Resist, Revolution Books, and the Hawaii Peoples Fund.

In statements made Feb. 21, 2005, and in an earlier press release, the groups justify their sponsorship of Churchill:

"In recent weeks Professor Churchill, former chair of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado and a prominent scholar of Native America, has come under nationwide criticism because of remarks he made more than three years ago about 9/11. In reaction to Churchill's assertions alone, the Governor of Colorado has called for him to be fired from his tenured professorship at CU, while colleges and universities in Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon have canceled his scheduled lectures.

"During the height of the McCarthy era, when politicians and the press were conducting witch hunts for alleged subversives whose speech they labeled un-American, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said: 'Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.'"

"In this spirit, a coalition of University of Hawaii faculty, students, and departments, along with a number of community organizations, has decided to afford Professor Churchill the First Amendment and academic freedom rights he has been denied at other institutions. Joining the American Association of University Professors and the American Civil Liberties Union, we believe that the proper way of dealing with controversial ideas is to engage them, not suppress them."

Many students and some faculty and retired faculty are offended by Churchill’s visit.

One former professor told Hawaii Reporter she and her husband had established a sizeable trust for the University after they died, but will withdraw that support from the University if Churchill is allowed to speak. Other alumni have written to Hawaii Reporter saying they too will withdraw their financial support to the University of Hawaii Foundation over the Churchill spat.

The Hawaii College Republicans at the University of Hawaii, and students from other local universities, will protest Churchill’s visit from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in front of the Art Auditorium on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, holding signs titled "Churchill’s Gallant Warriors." The signs will show pictures of the planes hitting the World Trade Centers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, and portraits of the victims titled "Churchill’s Nazis."

"Churchill is an advocate for terrorism. It is entirely inappropriate to invite a supporter of terrorists when we are fighting a war on terror," says Jame Schaedel, chair of the Hawaii College Republicans.

Churchill recently commented publicly on Hawaii in the Rocky Mountain News. Feb. 2, 2005, Churchill said to potential visitors to Hawaii: "You want to do something constructive for indigenous Hawaiians? Stay home. And if you have to break their kneecaps in order to get them to, do it."

Schaedel of the University College Republicans says the invitation to Churchill is "shocking" especially because he advocates violence against visitors in the state of Hawaii. Hawaii’s biggest industry is tourism.

Churchill did not deny he made those comments to the Rocky Mountain News, but when asked to clarify his statements to reporters in Hawaii, he snorted and said the statement was "ridiculous."

Churchill in Hawaii Before, Also Sponsored by University Groups

This is not the first time Churchill has spoken at the University of Hawaii. In 1994, Ward Churchill was sponsored by the U.H. student senate to Hawaii to discuss his latest book, Fantasies of the Master Race: Racism in the University.

Grant Crowell, then an editorial cartoon columnist for the Ka Leo O Hawaii student newspaper at the University, says in his opinion piece, "Free Speech is Not a One-Way Street" that he was verbally attacked by Churchill, who called him a "vermin" and demanded his dismissal over a "racist cartoon." Crowell says Churchill then shared aloud a story of how an unnamed Nazi cartoonist was tried at the WWII Nuremburg trials, executed, dismembered and then cremated, ending this story saying: "Now, I’m not saying that should happen to Grant, but it would be a good thing.’"

Crowell said, "To me, it's highly ironic that a man with such 'extreme' opinions -- even which can easily be perceived as advocating violence toward individuals -- cannot himself be tolerant of other's opinions, whether they be extreme or even 'mainstream.' Instead, Churchill prefers to pull the 'hate speech' card ... ."

Churchill Pledges Allegiance to the United States, Despite Anti-U.S. Propaganda

With all of his anti-United States propaganda, some critics of Churchill say it is ironic that last week Churchill signed an oath to support the constitutions of the United States and Colorado.

His signature ended a controversy simmering since the public learned just a week ago that he never did take the required oath before being hired at Colorado University.

His signature came after an earlier declaration made during a public speech: "The only thing I can do is to pursue a different slogan ... U.S. out of America, U.S. off the planet, U.S. out of our lives, U.S. into the dustbin of history."

http://mbanna.radio4all.net/pub/archive4/mp3_4/0213planet13.mp3
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Tony in Boulder, Colorado