Ward Churchill, that wacky and wonderful University of Colorado professor who usually goes for shock effect, is now turning toward understated satire.
Spoofing his detractors, embattled professor files complaint against himself
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - In a swipe at his critics, embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill said Friday he has filed a formal complaint against himself, demanding that school officials investigate a spurious claim that he failed to acknowledge research help from graduate students.
With a broad smile, Churchill told The Associated Press he has never had a research assistant. But in a letter to university officials dated Monday, he said "that ... should by no means deter you."
Churchill, who touched off a firestorm with an essay that likened some of the World Trade Center victims to a Nazi architect of the Holocaust, is under investigation by the university on allegations that he committed plagiarism, fabricated some research findings and falsely claimed to be an American Indian.
Churchill denied the allegations and compared them to the claims about failing to credit research assistants, which appeared in a Berkeley, Calif., magazine called Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed.
"They are no more credible than that," he said. The magazine has no listed phone number and editors did not immediately respond to e-mails.
University spokeswoman Pauline Hale said the school has received Churchill's complaint against himself and "is taking it under advisement."
The university's investigation could result in his dismissal after reviews by two committees, the administration and the university's governing Board of Regents.
Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, said the initial review will probably go against him because the committee is stacked with faculty from the hard sciences, which has different standards for evidence and interpretation than social sciences.
What was it that Mark Twain said about fools? Oh yeah: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."