Thursday, July 19, 2007

"High Noon" for Ward Churchill on July 24


Wow, a big hat tip is in order to Dr. Peter N. Kirstein of Chicago's St. Xavier University. Right next to a post of mine that is sympathetic to trial lawyers. Who would've thought?

Okay, Professor Kirstein, I've linked to your site. Are you finally going to speak out on the Thomas Klocek case?

From Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom, an obviously pro-Ward Churchill group:

JOIN OUR VIGIL & OBSERVE REGENTS’ MEETING:

When: Tuesday July 24 at 7:30 a.m.

Where: meet up in the plaza in front of the UMC
student center (Euclid Ave entrance just east of Broadway)

From there, we’ll walk over and attend the Regents’ meeting:
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

* We are using this meet-up plan because the location of Regents’ meeting has not yet been announced. The UMC is close to UMC parking and centrally located on campus.

Why Mobilize:

The Regents of the University of Colorado have scheduled a meeting on the C.U.-Boulder campus on July 24, 2007 to vote on the dismissal of Professor Ward Churchill.

The University is pretending to fire him for his scholarship, but it’s clearly in retaliation for his comments about 9/11. To see what’s wrong with the so-called research misconduct charges, visit www.wardchurchill.net or www.defendcriticalthinking.org.

Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom call upon all those who care about free speech and academic freedom to join us in protesting this charade.

The Regents will open with a “public” meeting at 8:00 am. They will go into a closed session to hear arguments from Prof. Churchill and his attorney, as well as the University’s lawyers. They say they will re-open for their public vote at 4:00 p.m.

As we know, a “public” meeting doesn’t mean that the public will have a chance to speak. (Witness the arrests at their February 2005 meeting.)

Our plan is to have observers at the meeting and hold a vigil outside. It is critical to be there to convey our message:
* Don’t Fire Ward Churchill
* Defend Critical Thinking
* Preserve Academic Freedom

We may not change the Regents’ vote, but the world is watching. This is a test case: The easier they think it is to fire Ward Churchill on bogus charges of research misconduct, the more attacks we’ll see on professors and students, on ethnic studies programs, and on critical thinking.

As usual, this decision will take place when most of the students and faculty are away from campus. And, of course, the Regents may change their plans at the last minute to avoid any real public input. So, spread the word, stay tuned, and check out last minute developments at: www.wardchurchill.net.

The argument in favor of firing Ward Churchill is a strong one. This is not about free speech. There is a compelling evidence that the University of Colorado Ethnic Studies professor is a fabricator of research and a plagiarizer.

Related posts:

October 20: One year ago, Ward Churchill spoke at Chicago's DePaul University

Ward Churchill to be fired

Technorati tags:

No comments: