JonECat
03-25-2005, 03:27 PM
Churchill keeps his job
Faculty will weigh charges of plagiarism, fabrication
By Arthur Kane
Denver Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 25, 2005 -
A committee investigating controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill found enough questions about his research and whether he misrepresented his Native American heritage to refer the matter to the university's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct.
But CU-Boulder interim chancellor Phil DiStefano, arts and sciences school dean Todd Gleeson and law school dean David Getches found that incendiary statements Churchill made about 9/11 victims and his advocacy of violence were protected by the First Amendment.
"We have concluded that the allegations of research misconduct related to plagiarism, misuse of others' work and fabrication have sufficient merit to warrant further inquiry," DiStefano said after a nearly two-month probe into Churchill's work.
The decision, which could extend the Churchill case for as long as three years while it is reviewed by faculty and administrators, drew mixed reactions from students, faculty and politicians around the state.
And while the referral to an academic committee will now give Churchill the opportunity to formally defend himself, he complained that the university's unique three-person initial review gave him no chance to be heard.
"If anyone had talked to me in the course of this preliminary investigation, they would have been fully apprised of the frivolous nature of the charges," he told 9News.
Jerry Rutledge, chairman of the CU Board of Regents, said Churchill cannot be fired immediately based on what administrators found.
MORE (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2781061,00.html#)
Faculty will weigh charges of plagiarism, fabrication
By Arthur Kane
Denver Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 25, 2005 -
A committee investigating controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill found enough questions about his research and whether he misrepresented his Native American heritage to refer the matter to the university's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct.
But CU-Boulder interim chancellor Phil DiStefano, arts and sciences school dean Todd Gleeson and law school dean David Getches found that incendiary statements Churchill made about 9/11 victims and his advocacy of violence were protected by the First Amendment.
"We have concluded that the allegations of research misconduct related to plagiarism, misuse of others' work and fabrication have sufficient merit to warrant further inquiry," DiStefano said after a nearly two-month probe into Churchill's work.
The decision, which could extend the Churchill case for as long as three years while it is reviewed by faculty and administrators, drew mixed reactions from students, faculty and politicians around the state.
And while the referral to an academic committee will now give Churchill the opportunity to formally defend himself, he complained that the university's unique three-person initial review gave him no chance to be heard.
"If anyone had talked to me in the course of this preliminary investigation, they would have been fully apprised of the frivolous nature of the charges," he told 9News.
Jerry Rutledge, chairman of the CU Board of Regents, said Churchill cannot be fired immediately based on what administrators found.
MORE (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2781061,00.html#)