The big push back

Despite winning a lawsuit against
his former employer, Ward Churchill
says he’s still seeking justice

ONE DOLLAR RICHER: Churchill

by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

To say that left-wing academic and political activist Ward Churchill is a controversial figure would be an understatement. Lauded by admirers as a courageous voice in the struggle for indigenous rights and a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy, his detractors question everything from the quality of his scholarship to the veracity of his claims to native-American ancestry.

Earlier this month, the former chair of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado won a lawsuit against his former employer for wrongful dismissal after he was fired in 2007 for alleged academic misconduct. He argued that he was let go because of his political views and a jury agreed, but awarded him just $1 in damages.

“I wanted justice, it’s not about money,” says Churchill over the phone from Colorado. “In this particular instance, justice equates to restitution, that is the restoration of my position.”

Churchill was a tenured professor when he was fired after controversy erupted over an essay he penned in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. In Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, Churchill described some of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks as “little Eichmanns,” a reference to the Nazi officer considered the architect of the Holocaust. He accused them of being “a technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire.”

Though it attracted little attention at the time, in early 2005, Churchill’s essay exploded onto the national scene after being discovered by right-wing bloggers and Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly. Before long, death threats started rolling in and Churchill found himself under investigation by the university administration, which accused him of plagiarism and academic fraud in his work on American Indians. Following his dismissal, his case became something of a rallying point for advocates of free speech and academic freedom.

Churchill says he doesn’t regret making the now-infamous Eichmann reference. On the contrary, he says that he believes he’s been vindicated by everything that’s happened since. “This whole process and experience has more thoroughly confirmed me in the accuracy of that analogy than ever,” he says. “People reacted so violently. Precious few had either read the essay or had the least clue who Adolph Eichmann actually was. [But they were] threatening all manner of violence towards me simply for making that statement.”

Unchastened and philosophical about his recent troubles, Churchill makes no apologies for his contentious views or abrasive style. “It’s confrontational. But if you don’t confront, the only alternative is acquiescence or capitulation,” he says. “If there’s a foundational message in this whole thing, it’s that you don’t have to buckle and bend and accommodate. It’s important not to simply give way in the face of these sorts of cases of exemplary repression.”

Despite his legal victory, it’s not yet clear whether the court will force the U of C to reinstate him. In any event, it’s unlikely that Churchill will be welcomed back with open arms by his former colleagues.

“I’ve never been what you’d call a close or convivial fit with the faculty,” he says. “I’m not contingent on the goodwill of the faculty to do what I do. My position is, if they’re uncomfortable with it, they’re free to leave.”

WARD CHURCHILL SPEAKS ON
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, AT CONCORDIA’S
HALL BUILDING (1455 DE
MAISONNEUVE W., ROOM H-110), AT
7 P.M., FREE. FOR MORE INFO, CALL
QPIRG CONCORDIA AT (514) 848-7585