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March 02, 2005
Ward Churchill: Just a Soloist in the Choir
During the initial Ward Churchill fracas I made the point that, once the lurid hyperbole is stripped from his pronouncements, Churchill's underlying message is standard issue in the liberal arts academy.
Now Glenn Reynolds has found this nugget over at the Rocky Mountain News:
The acting chair of the University of Colorado ethnic studies department seems in some respects to be picking up where her predecessor, Ward Churchill, left off. In a slightly disjointed, poorly written essay for Counterpunch, a leftwing Web newsletter, Emma Perez suggests criticism of Churchill is a "neo-con test case for academic purges." In other words, Churchill is under siege from a vast rightwing conspiracy. [...]
How appropriate that Ms. Perez invokes the word "purge". The relentless suppression of skeptical inquiry and intellectual diversity by the academic street gangs that control the academy is nothing if not Stalinist.
Then there is this remarkable assertion: "The general strategy in forcing and then manipulating this 'investigation' of Ward's scholarship shares key tactics with the neo-con sinking of Emory historian Bellesiles in 2001 . . ." In fact, Michael Bellesiles resigned after a panel of scholars from places such as Harvard and Princeton concluded his failure to cite sources for material in his book, Arming America, "does move into the realm of 'falsification.'" Hardly a poster boy for the so-called new McCarthyism.
"Ward's scholarship"? What scholarship? Paul Campos, a law prof at CU, demolishes the stupid assertion that Ward's "scholarship" has any validity.
Professor Reynolds concludes:
It appears that Churchill may sing more loudly, and off key, but that he's fundamentally part of the chorus.
Exactly. Professor Perez' words illustrate how replacing Ward Churchill is like pulling a shark's tooth: there is an inexhaustible supply of identical replacements lined up to assume the position.
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Comments
Ward's scholarship"? What scholarship? Paul Campos, a law prof at CU, demolishes the stupid assertion that Ward's "scholarship" has any validity.
You should work on that reading comprehension. It can come in handy, believe it or not. I know, I know, when you were getting your GED it probably seemed like fractions or gym, but it really is helpful.
Anyways, Campos makes the case that Ward has lied a few times. He alludes to another article in which it's observed that Churchill got a fact wrong in an trial brief.
One could make the case that this stuff, taken together, is evidence of dishonest character, but it really doesn't touch on his scholarship.
Posted by: jpe at March 2, 2005 11:19 AM
See this analysis of Churchill’s claim the the U.S. Army deliberately caused a smallpox outbreak among the Sioux in 1837.
And see this dissection by John LaVelle of Churchill’s Indian’s Are Us?. LaVelle is a law prof at the University of New Mexico. (both links via Volkh.)
Churchill’s “scholarship” is based on his supposed insight into Native American issues. As far as I know, not one tribe claims him as a member. If you know of one, please let me know.
You are correct in questioning my citing of the Campos article—although my lack of reading comprehension was due to haste, not lack of education. I should have used the two sources above to begin with—thanks for the lesson in being careful.
Posted by: Jeff at March 2, 2005 02:18 PM
And thanks for the lesson in being graceful in reacting to my ranting.
Posted by: jpe at March 2, 2005 03:13 PM
The LaVelle review looks pretty damning, by the way. Thanks for the link.
Posted by: jpe at March 2, 2005 03:33 PM
