University of Colorado Professor fired over Essay comparing 9-11 victims to Nazis

I remember when this first blew up and am surprised they are just now firing him. It's arrogant knuckleheads like this guy who think they are accountable to no one that give "academic freedom" and "free speech" a bad name.

 

While his comments regarding 9/11 are offensive I didn't think he should've been fired over him. Free speech doesn't just protect popular speech and I think on a university faculty should be allowed to express even an offensive POV. Without more info its hard to tell how much truth there is to him being fired for plagarizing but that certainly is grounds for firing. Intellectual integrity is central to academia while not offending people isn't.

 

College professors are supposed to be smart. The topic may be controversial... Whatever, I don't care. Thats not the point. The point is he is obviously a jackass. He should be fired for being a jackass.

 

Whatever, rookie.






It just never gets old

 

Here's the deal: he would have NEVER been investigated if it wasn't for his inflammatory comments regarding the 9/11 attack. Meaning what, you ask? That this was nothing short of a witch hunt to try and 'dig dirt' on the guy just to find an excuse to get rid of him. It's pathetic and a travesty to academic freedom. I could give two sh**s if you agreed with the guy or if you despised the guy, that's no good reason to go on a full-blown witch hunt to find 'alternative' means of bringing him down, because you know you can't legally fire him over what he said/wrote.

That being said, the saddest part is that some of his fellow academics used this opportunity to kick the guy while he was down.

Personally, I don't feel one ounce of sympathy for him, it's the whole idea of seeking to destroy those with unpopular speech that I find pretty disturbing. It's fascist groups such as "Campus Watch" and others that do their best to intimidate professors into 'silence' about issues they feel strongly about that I find pretty chilling.

What a load of crap! Who cares if you disagree with the guy? You're telling me that's a good enough reason to fire him? If so, you clearly have no grasp of what academic freedom is all about.

 

The guy had his speech defended. He wasn't fired over that, and if he did plagarize and falsify info, then he deserves to be fired.

I am a staunch defender of free speech, but I never say you can't fire someone over legitimate breeches of their job function. That's fair game. He messed up and is a bad professor and academic and deserves to be fired.

He didn't lose his job, and no one has to listen to his idiotic remarks which really shows that there's something messed up in his head. Had he not broken the rules of his job, he would still be employed. Case closed.

 

but that is how it works
I don't fire you because you are <Insert something I don't Like that would get me sued for being discriminatory]
I put you under the microscope until you do something I can fire you for . .. even if other people are doing .. that is irrelevent. . . even if other people are doing more and worse. . . it is irrelevent. . .because if you did it it .. i can fire you and not really have to justify why i did not fire the others. . .

This is like when cops follow you for about 10 miles until
they 'think' you rolled a stop sign and then pull you over and search your car
technically you may have broken the law .. but the three cars that rolled it
in front and beside you were not stopped. . i guess that is irrelevent too

Rocket River

 

My guess is that is the case. At the sametime though if you are going to say something that is patently offensive you should be prepared that people will come after you. A witch hunt it probably was but if he did plagarize its his fault for being either sloppy or disingenuous with his work.

 

Just how many professors do you think plagiarize? I've always thought that kind of thing was sort of looked down upon in the academic community. It's not like he ran a stop sign...

 

nah man. plagiarism is cool. all the kids are doing it.

9/11 attacks or not this guy seemed to be a poor professor. Plus, its not like this was a rushed spur of the moment decision, they did do research and the vote was very one sided. Also, its UC, a very liberal school (always funny to see "hippies" sporting range rovers though)

 

I think his Nazi comparison is appropriate. But, the plagarism and falsification are not. Are those accusations legitimate or trumped up because no one's allowed to make Nazi comparisons?

 

Here's the deal with Ward Churchill. I've had the pleasure (or unfortunate pleasure) of reading several of his works during high school. He's a big advocate for Native Americans and writes some rather inflamatory things about American policy towards Native Americans. Now I actually don't disagree with him on a lot of those points but he tends to use crazy rhetoric and inflammatory comments that in my opinion really diminish his credibilty and turn off a lot of people.

He's been a thorn for UC for years but thanks to the tenure system they really can't do a damn thing to him. He's never really ever generated any positive publicity for the university and this pretty much pushed the administration over the edge and they went hunting for something to take him down.

Now firing him over his comments is just stupid. It goes contrary to the very idea of tenure which is a way to protect academics and provide them the freedom to write and say whatever they want. Academics are about academic freedom and your ability and right to make and defend whatever position you choose.

Now the research thing basically did him in and there's no defending that but its pretty clear about the motivations as to why they made an investigation into his research.

 

yeah, its a shame that someone has to make such a commotion for the institution to actually start to look at their work and wonder if its really legit.

 

Funny ain't it?
I guess once you tenured .. .you just something they sit in the corner and don't look at until they have too.

I feel like. . if he was doing what they got him for. . . that should have been
why they went after him. . . .
not because of what he said

Now I question how many other Profs are doing the same thing .. .cause they not being looked at either.

Rocket River

 

i love it when people outside the profession/business criticize the inner workings of it without having any knowledge.

i'm not saying things shouldn't be regulated. but when people who haven't obviously taken a government class in college hate on the tenure system...it makes me chuckle.

 

i agree with you completely. those other "bad" tenured profs are smart enough not to at least lay low and they probably dont try to draw too much attention to themselves.

 

plagarism is plagarism...falsifying is falsifying.

even in govt class.


no one is hating on the tenure system, but you should at least occasionally make sure the teacher is producing VALID work, even if controversial.

 

Not only should he get fired, he should also receive a physical ass kicking.

 

F*ck him. Who cares?

He was way off base with his little Eichmann comparison of those who worked in the towers. Where does he get off? He should be strung up by his balls and... . Forget it.

He still exercised his free speech. The university didn't like it, though, and fired him for it although they claim to be firing him over something else.