[IPSM] Churchill fighting for his job -- no buyout

[Macdonald Stainsby]

The rumored buyout was just University officials looking for an out.
Fred Feldman

The Denver Post

Churchill likely to be at CU for years
Any proceedings begun against the fiery professor would be protracted
By Dave Curtin Denver Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 -

With negotiations for a university-funded early retirement buyout of
Ward Churchill's contract all but dead and prospects for a privately
funded settlement dim, it appears increasingly likely that the
incendiary professor will be on campus for the foreseeable future.

Short of early retirement, any other options will trigger protracted
proceedings that could easily take the 57-year-old professor into his
retirement years at age 62.

"Ward Churchill likes his job. He's not going anywhere," Churchill's
attorney, David Lane, said Monday.

CU on Monday confirmed that a review of Churchill's scholarship will not

be completed before March 28.

After that review, interim CU-Boulder chancellor Phil DiStefano will
have three options: do nothing, issue an intent to dismiss Churchill for

cause, or forward the matter to a faculty research misconduct committee.

In any case, Churchill would continue to draw his $94,000 annual salary.

And the last two scenarios could result in months of review and appeal,
according to university bylaws governing faculty who have tenure - which

Churchill received in 1991.

"The goal of due process is not speed but fairness," CU Regent Michael
Carrigan said.

"There is a lot riding on this. There is quality control on one hand and

someone's career on the line on the other hand," said Lloyd Burton,
chairman of a CU-Denver tenure committee for the Graduate School of
Public Affairs.

"The faculty takes its role of self-policing the profession very
seriously, but I also think given the gravity of the situation, it won't

be on anyone's back burner."

And if the university dismisses Churchill after all that, Lane has
promised to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary,
which has held that tenure is a "property right" and cannot be taken
without due process.
[snip]

The review of Churchill's work conducted by DiStefano, arts and sciences

dean Todd Gleeson and law school dean David Getches began Feb. 3, after
the university and public became aware of a 3-year-old Churchill essay
in which he compares some victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to a Nazi. The

expected 30-day review has now been pushed back three times.

So far, the committee has not asked the professor to explain his side of

any of the complaints it might be reviewing.

"If they are investigating Ward Churchill, you would think they would
want to talk to Ward Churchill. Apparently they are not troubling
themselves with that," Lane said. "I can only presume this is being put
together by people only interested in posturing CU in the best position
possible for future litigation."

Meanwhile, the possibility of a privately funded buyout of Churchill's
contract dimmed Monday.

"Given the current situation, I don't envision or see a way the
foundation would be approached about a financial settlement," said CU
Foundation president Michael Byram. "It's an internal university matter
that's not appropriate for the foundation to be involved in."

Any individual could approach Churchill and persuade him to leave for a
cash payment - with or without university involvement. Failing that
unlikely scenario, if DiStefano decides to initiate dismissal
proceedings, Churchill will request a hearing before the Faculty Senate
Committee of Privilege and Tenure, Lane said. That committee is composed

of representatives from all colleges and campuses.

If Churchill chooses to have a formal hearing, CU must immediately
contribute up to $20,000 to provide Churchill with an attorney,
according to CU documents. Lane said he is ready for that process if it
comes to that.

"If it goes all the way to a tenure-review committee, the regents - the
politicians - will be taken out of the loop," Lane said. "It will be
reviewed by professors, who are more inclined not to be swayed by
politics, who believe in academic freedom, tenure and the First
Amendment."

DiStefano also could decide there is insufficient cause for dismissal
and decide on a lesser sanction such as referral to a faculty Standing
Committee on Research Misconduct - another months-long process, which
could end in nothing or send the matter to the Privilege and Tenure
Committee for dismissal proceedings.

Staff writer Dave Curtin can be reached at 303-820-1276 or
dcurtin at denverpost.com.


_______________________________________________
Rad-Green mailing list
Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green


-- 

Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
	--Bertholt Brecht.