Back to school

The Boulder Daily Camera notices that Ward will be "teaching" on campus next week:

Fired University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill will return to the Boulder campus next week to begin teaching an unsanctioned course that's being organized by his student supporters.

University officials have distanced themselves from the planned lecture series — slated to begin Tuesday night — and say that Churchill remains terminated.

They didn't use a wooden stake, though.

The students organizing Churchill's teachings say the series is intended for those who "missed out" on his years as an American Indian studies professor and as head of the ethnic studies department at CU. . . .

"He's a professor, he likes to teach people — so that's what he's doing," said David Lane, Churchill's attorney, who was unaware of his client's planned lecture series.

Hmmmm.

CU officials released a statement Thursday afternoon emphasizing that any students who attend Churchill's discussions will not receive credit and the lectures aren't endorsed by the university or considered to be sanctioned academic coursework.

"Any CU student is at liberty to invite Ward Churchill to campus to speak, but this should not be viewed by anyone as a resumption of employment or of his former professorial role at the University of Colorado at Boulder," campus officials said in the statement.

According to details posted on several Churchill-tracking blogs, the former professor's [heh--ed.] free lecture series — expected to run this fall and next spring — begins with a session from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. Tuesday in Humanities room 1B80. Syllabi will be handed out to students along with a schedule of class times and locations.

No mention, naturally, of the restrictions on who can attend.

Churchill's supporters can hold the classes on campus because the university allows student groups to reserve classrooms when they are not in use.

Churchill supporter Ken Bonetti, an adviser at CU, said he's interested in attending the student-organized classes and said there is a need to have Churchill's teachings on the campus.

"There needs to be diverse opinions at the university, and it's important to have a voice like this, whether or not one agrees with him," Bonetti said. "I certainly appreciate a variety of opinions and approaches that were available."

Bonetti said he supports the students' organization of the classes.

"Students have a right to reserve rooms," he said. "I certainly hope the university doesn't try to stop them. That would be a travesty."

Bonetti is such a weasel boy. He's also somewhat less restrained in a comment on the Camera story (if "Kenecon" is him, which it is):

How many of Churchill's critics have read the investigative report or the critiques of that report by real experts in American Indian Studies such as Eric Cheyfitz of Cornell University, Robert K. Wilson an expert on plagiarism, Anthropologist Gary Witherspoon at the U of Washington or Tom Mayer of CU? Only Dr. Mayer knew Churchill before the CU administration began its inquisition. They all agree that the falsification, fabrication and plagiarism charges are themselves inaccurate, transform a legitimate debate into an indictment of Churchill's position or trivial [nice sentence]. The CU administration wanted to eliminate Churchill for his 9/11 essay and little more. All I see are parroted statements mimicking biased media accounts. To those who harp on Churchill's ancestry: they come either from his enemies among Native Americans who side with Bellecourt and his Minnesota AIM faction or non-native bigots. I'd like to see some of these folks 'prove' their ancestry on paper.

Well, that means I'm in the "non-native bigot" category, and I can "prove" it on paper. Better that than a lickspittle for Wart like Bonetti (aka Tommy Mayer, Jr.), who, by the way, witnessed AIM leadership council member Josh Dillabaugh's threatening to kill me before the Regents' meeting to fire Churchill and then lied about it to my face. (Everyone around Ward is such a sterling character.)