[Ppnews] Judge rules Churchill will not get job back

Tue Jul 7 15:17:51 EDT 2009

Judge rules Churchill will not get job back

posted by: 
<mailto:sara.gandy at 9news.com?subject=viewer%20question%20about%20an%20article&body=Link:http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=119009&catid=339>Sara 
Gandy written by: 
<mailto:chris.vanderveen at 9news.com?subject=viewer%20question%20about%20an%20article&body=Link:http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=119009&catid=339>Chris 
Vanderveen
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=119009&catid=339

DENVER - Former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill's 
request for reinstatement has been denied in Denver District Court. 
Front pay has also been deemed inappropriate in the case.

CU fired the controversial ethnic studies professor in 2007 after an 
exhaustive faculty review found instances of academic misconduct on 
Churchill's part.

Immediately following his 2007 dismissal, Churchill and his attorney 
David Lane filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court. In that lawsuit, 
Churchill argued he was illegally fired in retaliation for an essay 
he penned in 2001 in which he compared victims inside the World Trade 
Center to an infamous Nazi.

That essay was thrust into the national spotlight in 2005, years 
after it was written. The political firestorm that erupted had 
politicians such as then-Governor Bill Owens demanding action. 
Churchill believed the intense, outside political pressure corrupted 
the academic environment in such as way it blinded CU's leadership.

In 2005, CU began a process that started looking into allegations of 
academic misconduct and fraud. In 2007, the CU Board of Regents voted 
8-1 for dismissal.

In April, a Denver jury agreed with Churchill's premise that he was 
illegally fired, but it stopped far short of awarding Churchill a 
high dollar figure. Instead it awarded Churchill $1.

Last week, Lane and Churchill were back in Judge Naves' courtroom 
arguing that their legal victory in April was enough for the judge to 
order reinstatement. Calling CU leaders, "constitutional law 
violators," Lane told Naves he had essentially no other choice but to 
reinstate the embattled professor.

CU's lead attorney Patrick O'Rourke argued that the $1 judgement in 
April should, in essence, speak for itself. O'Rourke suggested that 
reinstating Churchill would further damage the university's reputation.

The Chancellor of the CU-Boulder campus is expected to talk about 
this latest development at 1:45 p.m.

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