Comments on Quick Takes: Panel Favors Suspension Over Dismissal for Ward Churchill, Stable Enrollments for Virginia Tech, Earning Big Gifts in Texas, New Access to Nazi Archives

• Nazi Documents
• Posted by R. F. on May 17, 2007 at 8:30am EDT

• Why did it takes so long to release these documents,WWII has been over for 60+ years? Which eleven countries were involved? Withholding of documents and incomplete reporting of news stories such as this one fuels the post Nazi conspiracy theorists.

  Can anyone shed some light on this?

• Only in higher ed...
• Posted by Kevin on May 17, 2007 at 9:15am EDT

• ...could someone like Churchill be found to have committed multiple, "deliberate" acts of academic misconduct and one year later we find ourselves getting around to disciplinary action - and it's potentially a slap on the wrist.

  Wake up Coloradoans! You're paying for this nonsense...

• Access to Nazi Archives
• Posted by Chauncey Jackson on May 17, 2007 at 9:15am EDT

• ....try waiting another 60 years to gain access to ALL of the George Bush documents that will likely be housed in the Presidential Library at SMU.....

• Posted by TRM on May 17, 2007 at 9:15am EDT

• The beauty of the world wide web is that authors can embed "links" to information located elsewhere in the world and a reader has only to click on that link (with their mouse) to follow it and obtain the relevant information. Since you appear to be new to this concept, if you look in the paragraph about the Nazi archives, I believe you will find a link (often in blue text) that will take you to a New York Times article with the answers you seek

• Ward Churchill
• Posted by Leah on May 17, 2007 at 10:40am EDT

• Churchill's lawyer provided incorrect information to the Denver Post. The Denver Post obtained a copy of the committee's report. The committee recommended a one year suspension and demotion to the rank of associate professor. (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5913865)

  According to the AP, the report stated that:

  Churchill's work was "below minimum standards of professional integrity and ... requires severe sanctions," the committee concluded. It said Churchill "committed multiple acts of plagiarism, fabrication and falsification."

  In a list of arguments against dismissal, it said his case "shows misbehavior, but not the worst possible misbehavior."

  The committee said he did not fabricate data to obtain grant money, did not endanger people's lives by ignoring research standards and did not damage the progress of important research.

• Posted by JBM on May 17, 2007 at 11:40am EDT

• The Churchill fiasco reflects the truly fallen state of contemporary colleges: Open fraud is now completely acceptable.

  It is stunning that threatening lives is now the standard for dismissal. Tenure must be abolished. It has destroyed the academy.

• Ward is no Winston, but...
• Posted by West Coast Prof on May 17, 2007 at 12:50pm EDT

• What is the usual penalty when a tenured professor plagiarizes? I know only of cases in which there was a retraction and apology, but none where the tenured apparent plagiarist was dismissed.

• Dismissal for plagiarism
• Posted by Thomas Brown on May 17, 2007 at 5:05pm EDT

• One of Churchill's defenses is that other professors have committed plagiarism without getting fired. As with most of Churchill's claims, that's only half true. Some academics get away with it, and some don't.

  But of course, Churchill's personal corruption goes way beyond a few instances of plagiarism. He's also committed serial acts of fabrication, falsification, copyright violation, impersonating a member of the Keetowah Tribe, and physically threatening and intimidating female students and colleagues.

  Churchill also claims that he has done nothing wrong, and that he'll keep on doing it. That to me is the most disturbing aspect of the P&T commmittee's decision. They know that he is guilty, they know that he claims that his actions are not improper, and yet three out of the five committee members still want to keep him around. And their best argument is that he hasn't killed anyone so far. Holy smokes.

• Great White Deceiver: no standards in academia
• Posted by L.L. on May 17, 2007 at 5:05pm EDT

• " .. none where the tenured apparent plagiarist was dismissed .."

  Well, gee, why not let the ENRON, WorldCom, Qwest, and Tyco felons off? Why pick on them, and not Great White Deceiver? Heck -- just let everyone out of prison -- they all say, they are not guilty, either.

  And did the other ivory tower phonies (who managed to get caught) anger authentic American Indians (e.g., those on reservations), an army of other academics, and Italian-Americans? Just asking.

  Bob Dylan had it right in 1964. Academia's pompous double-talk doesn't deserve a penny of the public's tax monies.

  http://bobdylan.com/moderntimes/songs/backpages.html

• VT Shocker
• Posted by JLL on May 17, 2007 at 7:05pm EDT

• If anything, I would be surprised if Virginia Tech's enrollment did not increase. After all, the likelihood of a repeat performance on that campus any time soon is very slim. VT is probably among the safest campuses in the country these days.