Friday
December 5, 2008
Advertisement
News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
May 17, 2007
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
- A key faculty panel has recommended that Ward Churchill, the controversial University of Colorado professor found guilty of misconduct, be suspended but not fired, The Denver Post reported, citing Churchill’s lawyer. The university’s president and board could still move to fire Churchill without the committee’s blessing, but administrators at the university have placed a high priority on having faculty members take the lead in investigating Churchill. Churchill’s lawyer did not reveal the rationale behind the faculty panel’s recommendation.
- Despite widespread speculation that Virginia Tech would lose enrollment because of the tragic shootings there, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The university announced Wednesday that 5,215 accepted applicants had sent in deposits to enroll as freshmen in the fall, and that the university did not use its waiting list. That number is above the target of 5,000 students, and slightly above the 5,185 freshman deposits that had been received a year ago at this time (also with a target of 5,000).
- The T. Boone Pickens Foundation on Wednesday announced two unusual gifts of $50 million each — to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston. The campuses will need to wait to spend the money until they make their gift worth $500 million — counting the original, interest on investment earnings, and additional fund raising.
- An agreement of 11 countries this week should allow the release of millions of documents about the Nazi period and the terrors inflicted on those in concentration camps, The New York Times reported. Serious limitations on access to the archives have frustrated scholars until now.
Want it on paper? Print this page.
Know someone who’d be interested? Forward this story.
Want to stay informed? Sign up for free daily news e-mail.
Advertisement
Comments
Only in higher ed...
...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...
Kevin, at 9:15 am EDT on May 17, 2007
Access to Nazi Archives
....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.....
Chauncey Jackson, at 9:15 am EDT on May 17, 2007
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
TRM, at 9:15 am EDT on May 17, 2007
Ward Churchill
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.
Leah, at 10:40 am EDT on May 17, 2007
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.
JBM, at 11:40 am EDT on May 17, 2007
Ward is no Winston, but...
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.
West Coast Prof, at 12:50 pm EDT on May 17, 2007
Dismissal for plagiarism
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.
Thomas Brown, at 5:05 pm EDT on May 17, 2007
Great White Deceiver: no standards in academia
” .. 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
L.L., at 5:05 pm EDT on May 17, 2007
VT Shocker
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.
JLL, at 7:05 pm EDT on May 17, 2007
Advertisement
Jobs Related to 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
or search for jobs directly.
Tenure-Track Faculty, Management — Financial Management/Investment
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota is a premier employer and a talent magnet attracting leading faculty and staff from around the ... see job
Three Part Time Positions-Industrial Technology
University of Texas, Brownsville
[ Position Number: P/T FY 08-3 ] Reports to: Chairperson of Industrial Technology Department Scope: Position: Automotive ... see job
Admission Counselor
Roosevelt University
Job Summary Roosevelt University seeks an Admission Counselor for the Admission Office at the Chicago ... see job
Research Technician I
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Founded in 1898, and affiliated with what is now New York-Presbyterian Hospital since 1927, Weill Cornell Medical College ... see job
Assistant/Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University seeks applications for the Assistant/Associate Professor of Communication Studies. see job
School of Medicine Fiscal Planning Director D/E
University of Pennsylvania
The nation’s first university, Penn is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. Situated on a ... see job
Lecturer — Musicology
University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA Department of Musicology keeps on file until the end of each academic year (but does not acknowledge) all applications ... see job
Coordinator of Assessment and Evaluation
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota is a premier employer and a talent magnet attracting leading faculty and staff from around the ... see job
Professional Research Assistant — Biorepository
University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center-Downtown Denver
Posting Description: The UCD Biorepository in the Dept. of Pathology has an opening for a full-time ... see job
Chair, Behavioral Sciences & Social Work
Winston-Salem State University
WSSU’s College of Arts and Sciences invite applications for the position of chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences ... see job
Home
| Sign up | Log in
| About us
| Work for Us
| Press Releases
| Rights and permissions
| Contact us
| Advertise
| Partners
| RSS 
| Podcasts
| Links
| Privacy
| My Account
© Copyright 2008 Inside Higher Ed
Nazi Documents
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?
R. F., at 8:30 am EDT on May 17, 2007