Former professor Ward Churchill won’t be rehired at the University of Colorado, according to a ruling on Tuesday by a Colorado judge.
In a reinstatement ruling, District Judge Larry Naves ruled that CU’s board of regents could not be sued. Furthermore, Churchill will not be entitled to any further damages other than the $1 bill he waved around in the courtroom after a jury ruled that he had been wrongfully terminated. Additionally, Churchill lawyer David Lane will not receive any money from the state for defending Churchill since he lost the case for his client. I’m not sure who had the more in-your-face defiant attitude, Churchill or Lane.
In previous statements, Lane said once his client was rehired, if anyone so much as looked at Churchill cross-eyed, they could be assured of yet another lawsuit.
As a former Churchill student and CU graduate, I’ve long taken a stand against Churchill who I’ve maintained was an academic fraud who pretended to be a Cherokee. I’ve always had a hard time understanding why any Native man or woman would stand beside him and defend such a vile man who has repeatedly shown hate against Native people. If anyone read the affidavits written by Native people they could see the disdain he had against people he purported to defend.
Are Native people really that desperate for a hero?
Jodi Rave
Heidi
I don’t think Native Peoples are desperate. It’s desperate Native People’s who need the hero, any hero, even a fraud and plagarist.
Sean Nordwall
As an actual ENROLLED member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, I am very happy with the fact that Churchill will not be re-instated, and be able to continue his charade as an ‘indian’ academic; much less one who is Keetoowah Cherokee. I myself went to UC Berkeley where I always fought against bringing Ward to campus, as I knew he was not an enrolled indian person. I also remember during the time of his controversy, many of the UKB were upset because they did not approve of Ward, nor did many even know who he was. It took some time and research, but they remembered him as promising to write the UKB history, and promote the UKB which he never did. More research found that the UKB discontinued to recognize their honorary ‘associate’ memberships, and so they believed that any controversy of him being ‘indian’ or enrolled as a Keetoowah should have ended there. Again, I just wanted to state my satisfaction with the fact that Ward will no longer be teaching at CU, Boulder and that Ward has never been accepted by the UKB community. Many of the urban indian groups in Colorado claim Ward, which is their right. I take issue with the fact he claims to be a Keetoowah, and my suggestion to these groups that wish Churchill were native is to try and enroll him in your tribe, but leave the UKB out of it as our community has dissavowed him over and over again.
GENO1492
Kudos to the Judge! He made a wise decision that begs the question of Justice. The imposter–Ward Churchill got what he deserved. He can keep his $1 bill for all we care. But he shall never set foot in a CU classroom again. The man is hoax from the start. He desecrates the truth of Native American studies. That would be tantumount to learning from a Holocaust denier about the atrocities of WW2.
Gyasi
DANNNNNNGGGGG GIRLL!!!
Good girl…I’ve always thought this dude was a clown…I wrote as much, but different publications were enamored with him, and wouldn’t run the articles.
Cornball.
Thanks for the article.
G