Fundamentalism versus Academic Freedom: More on Ward Churchill

I recommend this excellent commentary from Marc Tyrell about the meaning of the judgment against Ward Churchill by Judge Larry Naves, along with a video concerning the verdict. Readers will know that Marc is certainly tolerant of radical leftists, but no great admirer of their positions, and he has been a steady advocate for applied military anthropology in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he recognizes the issues that this trial raises for all of us: in certain universities, Marc might be banished if this judgment were adopted and applied; in other universities, I would be the one to suffer the fate. In this situation, Churchill is the first test case. What are we going to do about it?

The point is that regardless of your politics or your feelings about Churchill, Naves’ “judgment” is universally repugnant, only praised by those whose obsessions have driven them to the feed on the bottommost residue of their ideological septic tanks. While the lead legal blog covering the trial argued that Churchill had been denied even a Pyrrhic victory, the fact is that the Pyrrhic victory belongs now to the University of Colorado, its ruling clique, and all academics who support or abide by this decision, since it represents the loss of free speech and academic integrity.