Ward Churchill and the Law of Unintended Consequences
David J. Rothman

The Ward Churchill controversy was replaced in the increasingly manic American popular imagination by the Schiavo affair, the final illness of the Pope, and more recent groundswells. A quick internet search suggests that relatively few major articles have been appearing in the national press on Churchill, with only the Colorado papers continuing to give it some play since the University of Colorado Board of Regents "Report on Conclusion of Preliminary Review in the Matter of Professor Ward Churchill" concluded that no action can be taken against Churchill for what he has written or said.

So, now that we have a moment, I would suggest that a couple of things have become clear as a result of this case, but a number of others of great importance to anyone who cares about higher education have been somewhat obscured, if they were ever fully known.

Churchill, as probably everyone reading this knows, is the radical, tenured professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado who, in an essay titled "Some People Push Back," compared victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to "little Eichmanns."

Let me make it clear. Churchill is a loathsome character, an embarrassment, but, as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) asserted in a sober commentary on the CU report, all legal precedent supports the university's decision that Churchill's speech is fully protected by the First Amendment. FIRE went on to say that whenever universities try to take punitive action against the free speech rights of faculty, staff and students, "an 'investigation' of protected speech is itself improper and has a chilling effect on the free exchange of ideas." In any event, such censuring is likely to drag on for years, at taxpayer expense, of course.

Betsy Hoffman, CU's former president, in February urged lawmakers not to go after Churchill for his comments, as "a misstep could land the university in court and make the embattled teacher 'a very wealthy man at our expense'" (scroll down from top of this page to find the AP report titled "University Leader Urges Calm in Professor Decision"). President Hoffman resigned on 7 March under pressure from a number of Colorado legislators, including Colorado House Minority Leader Joe Stengel (R-Littleton), but what she foretold has come to pass.

I know Betsy Hoffman slightly. She holds a double PhD in Economics (Cal Tech) and History (Penn). The titles of her published work suggest that she is not an ideological firebrand of any kind.

In the fall of 2003, Hoffman visited Crested Butte Academy, the private school in Colorado where I was then headmaster. She did this as part of her outreach to Colorado high schools, to try to attract the best possible students for CU. As far as I could tell, Hoffman visited us because she happened to be in town (she had contacted us first), because she cared about her university, and because she genuinely liked kids. They liked her too. She was enthusiastic, thoughtful, engaging, and the conversation did not even touch on anything that could be construed as politically fasionable.

After her presentation we talked about a range of subjects. She was candid about her fears for the Colorado system of public higher education. As amply documented in the press for anyone to see who hasn't been blinded by apoplectic demagoguery and football scandals -- important as they may be, a combination of events threatens to gut the entire system. Hoffman was doing everything in her power to prevent it.

Here's the opener of an article on CU's financial woes by Dave Curtin from the 19 December 2003 Denver Post which lays out the problem. Note the broad consensus on the issue:

Four college presidents warned Wednesday that state funding for higher education will be so low in five years that Colorado public colleges and universities either will not survive or will be forced to privatize to stay alive.

Based on current funding patterns and constitutional mandates, funding will fall from today's $686 million to $83 million in 2009, according to calculations by the University of Colorado Office of Budget and Finance.

The presidents' warning came 20 days before the 2004 Colorado legislature convenes. Lawmakers and state Treasurer Mike Coffman agreed Wednesday that CU's predictions are sound . . . . Since July 2002, more than $170 million has been cut from state colleges and universities in the midst of a state budget crisis.

The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights -- TABOR -- passed by voters in 1992, and Amendment 23, passed in 2000, are choking the state's higher-education system to death, the college presidents said . . . . "If we don't address the funding challenges posed by TABOR and Amendment 23, there will be no funding left for higher education," CU president Betsy Hoffman said during a news conference at the state Capitol.

These issues are still very much alive. See a 21 April 2005 Denver Post article by Jim Hughes, subtitled "State lawmakers differ on whether the resignation of school president Betsy Hoffman will hinder or help the university's chances to win legislative brawls this spring."

A university in crisis -- with the president resigning because of the failure of a department that gave a professor tenure long before she came on board -- is unlikely to win any legislative battles on anything. Wouldn't it be ironic if Ward Churchill's legacy became, in relevant part, the fact that he only helped to divert attention from its imminent financial destruction? Ward Churchill hardly threatens America -- but an overreaction to his malicious behavior certainly hurts CU. Presumably we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater -- after all, CU has, for example, one of the highest ranked physics departments in the world, with two Nobel laureates (Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman).

It's a shame that the only real victims in this passion play so far seem to be Betsy Hoffman and a very fine university whose mission is to serve the public good. Churchill is a bonehead, the Department of Ethnic Studies needs some serious attention. Indeed the culture that allowed a Churchill to become a professor there, let alone chair, needs some very serious attention. Agreed! Now, excuse me, could we please work on saving CU?

NAS4:04 PM