DENVER â A jury ruled Thursday that the University of Colorado wrongly fired the professor who compared some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi, a verdict that gives the professor $1 and a chance to get his job back. "What was asked for and what was delivered was justice," Ward Churchill said outside the courtroom. Then-Gov. Bill Owens was among the officials who had called on the university to fire Churchill after his essay touched off a national firestorm, but the tenured professor of ethnic studies was ultimately terminated on charges of research misconduct. Churchill said claims including plagiarism were just a cover and that he never would have been fired if it weren't for the essay in which he called World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader who helped orchestrate the Holocaust. Jurors agreed. When the verdict was read, Churchill hugged his attorney, David Lane, and his wife, Natsu Saito. "I can't tell you how significant this is," Lane said. "There are few defining moments that give the First Amendment this kind of light." A judge will decide whether Churchill gets his job back. Lane said a reinstatement motion would be filed within 30 days and a hearing would likely be scheduled in June. "What's next for me? Reinstatement, of course," Churchill said. "That's what I asked for. I didn't ask for money." University spokesman Ken McConnellogue said the university will review its options before deciding whether to appeal. Story continues below "(The verdict) doesn't change the fact that more than 20 of his faculty peers found that he engaged in plagiarism and other academic misconduct," McConnellogue said. He said the jury's $1 damage award sends a message about the merits of Churchill's civil claims. Lane said the university will also be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in Churchill's legal bills. Churchill's essay was written in 2001 but attracted little attention until 2005, when critics publicized it after Churchill was invited to speak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Churchill testified last week that he didn't mean his comments to be hurtful to Sept. 11 victims. He said he was arguing that "if you make it a practice of killing other people's babies for personal gain ... eventually they're going to give you a taste of the same thing." Betsy Hoffman, who was president of the university at the time, had testified that Owens pressured her to fire Churchill and said he would "unleash my plan" when she told him she couldn't. In his testimony, Owens denied threatening the university. University officials concluded that Churchill couldn't be fired over the essay because of his First Amendment rights, but they launched an investigation of his academic research. That investigation, which didn't include the Sept. 11 essay, concluded he had plagiarized, fabricated evidence and committed other misconduct. He was fired on those allegations in 2007. The university has maintained that the firing was justified. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/02/ward-churchill-wrongly-fi_n_182619.html
He lied on his application that he was an indian which he is not. end of story, let him join the real world.
zzz aka option, You would think that you, being a champion of liberalism and minority rights that since ward churchill lied on his application and ultimately stole a set aside teaching position from a native american that you would be outraged. Liberals are a funny breed.
The jury saw through to the witch hunt and right wing hatchet job... They did the right thing. The conservative motto is "The end justifies the means" and the liberals look to the principles take precedent over opportunity to abuse power. The jurors saw it the same way in this case, and it really sticks in the craw of the right wing...
Well then you are just a hyprocrite and don't believe the garbage you spew here. The end game is that he lied on his application to get the job and ultimately he stole that job that was set aside for a native american. By your answer it's clear that you don't care about minority rights and righting past wrongs it's all about towing the line for the anti bush crowd and you will make any excuse to justify it. If you really cared about minority rights, the reason wouldn't matter, you would see the point that a native american got screwed because ward churchill is a liar and that's the wrong that should be addressed.
So now you are a mind reader... LOL! The end game is that this was a witch hunt, and the jury saw it for that. Classic spin job by a right wing Johnboy...
That's funny. I guess it's ok to lie and steal a job from a minority as long as when you are caught it's by republicans MLK would be very proud.
Heck yes, quoting the Huffington Post tells us all we need to know, nearly. Ariana herself was on the Phil Hendrie show a week or two ago, he asked her a couple of tough questions and would not let her evade. She hung up on him. She was quoting CIA facts and he asked her why she believes the CIA for one case and refused to believe them for another case that did not suit her political agenda... she's completely irrational and proof that liberalism is a mental disorder and nothing else but that... As an Amerind, I sort of would like to scalp that idiotic professor though... In America, all one has to do is use the jury system... i'd think the school could appeal that garbage.. or better yet reinstate him and then fire him for lying on his application and give the job to a real Indian with an education, there are plenty of us.
"Heck yes, quoting the Huffington Post tells us all we need to know, nearly." Shoot the messenger, ignore the message... You sound like you are reading Michael Savage's script and talking points, am I wrong?