[News] Ward Churchill is Neocon Test Case for Academic Purges

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Ward Churchill is Neocon Test Case for Academic Purges


(Emma Perez, Chair of Ethnic Studies, U of Colorado, Feb. 15, 2005)

We've done some preliminary research and analysis and it's become clear
exactly what's at stake and what we're up against. CU-Boulder has been
made the national frontline of the neocon battle for dominance in
academe.

CU-Boulder has likely been made their "test case," their break-the-mould
moment in a national strategy. Their local resources and troops
(thinktanks, legislative, rank-and-file followers) are already fully
mobilized and their national resources are mobilizing in our direction
(if not already mobilized), and the infrastructure they already have
here is formidable. On Ward's specific case, they are already *at least*
3 weeks ahead of us in organizing, and they are using tactics they have
been testing since the 90s.

Some details from preliminary research:

* The CO governor, Governor Bill Owens, is no ordinary Republican
governor. He is an activist leader in their battle for higher education
through his role in ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni).

ACTA is Lynn Cheney's organization, which hit the headlines a few years
ago for creating the rightwing National Assoc of Scholars (NAS) and for
proposing post-911 to monitor faculty nationwide for ideological
(liberal/left) bias. Gov. Owens is especially active in ACTA's
"Governors Project". He has already hosted an ACTA-led conference in CO
for state trustees, probably for training them (wouldn't be surprised if
some of our regents aren't in this same loop). He is already
implementing the Governors Project strategy at less visible
institutions. For example, last month the trustee structure at Mesa
State College was revised and he appointed 3 new trustees, one of whom
is "the intermountain coordinator for the American Council of Trustees
and Alumni for teacher preparation reform."

http://www.mesastate.edu/info/media/releases/05/New_Trustees.htm.

Also leading in this "Governors Project" is Pataki in NY-no doubt
connected with the Hamilton College incident that started all of this.

* The general strategy in forcing and then manipulating this
"investigation" of Ward's scholarship shares key tactics with the neocon
sinking of Emory historian Bellesiles in 2001 www.oah.org/pubs. There
are also likely to be parallels with the campaign against Linda Brodkey
at UT in 1991 as well as other campaigns through which they have been
testing and developing their methods and tactics.

* Besides suggesting "treason" on the part of Ward and calling for his
firing, Governor Owens has already requested Ethnic Studies' budget, one
of the most important neocon institutional targets. In a parallel
de-funding move, see their successful campaign to pass H.R. 3077

http://ga.berkeley.edu/academics/hr3077.html.

Further, by going after Ward's tenure, they are essentially targeting
the scholarly legitimacy of the entire field that, through external and
internal review, granted Ward tenure. If Ward's tenure (and his
promotion to Full, and his successful post-tenure review) was a
"mistake," the next question is "who gave it to him?" Ultimately, by
undermining the integrity of tenure in one national field, the neocon
Right will pave the way to an attack on the very legitimacy of tenure as
an institution. CU Regent Lucero did not mince words in his public
statement at the emergency meeting where the 30-day investigation of
Ward was announced:

"My displeasure with Mr. Churchill's essay should be abundantly clear,
however, the issues regarding faculty responsibilities are still my
focus. While the language in the Laws and Policies is in place, setting
the standards for faculty expectations and the grounds for discipline, I
would argue that they are subjective and dependent on the faculty for
interpretation as to whether a professor has crossed a line. I would
suggest that the time has come for a revision to the Policies that
allows for other forms of adjudication that are not reliant on the
faculty for determining subjectively the fate of one of their own. (Feb
3, 2005)"

* Neocon students at CU-B (College Republicans) are likely connected
with CampusWatch and/or AVOT (Americans for Victory against Terrorism);
they are already connected with a very hostile right-wing talk radio
talk show host in Denver (that is then feeding to the national level)
and they have been using tried-and-true CampusWatch/AVOT-type tactics to
create the steady stream of racist, violent hatemail that not only Ward,
but ES faculty and students are receiving.

* While we are confused and disoriented by the barrage of attacks, the
state legislature is already moving to get tenure changes written into
the books. The tactic is for Owens to make radical demands and push the
envelope to the right, opening up space for a conservative Democrat to
propose a more "moderate"-looking bill (Senate Bill 85, which includes
tenure law changes) that should, if they're smart, pass quickly and
easily, possibly even before the next Regents meeting. Reported in the
Colorado Daily on Friday Feb 11, the tenure changes appear minor but
will be used as footholds for the next deeper round(s) of legislative
actions.

* The CU-Boulder administration seems well-intentioned but to have
misjudged the stakes and their opposition. They may have believed they
could keep control of the investigation by doing it in-house but the
Right is already outflanking them by using this investigation to launch
an ideological show-trial; it's a war of public opinion in which the
administration has already been outmaneuvered. By the end of 30 days,
they could easily be backed into a corner, unable to resist the Right's
larger agenda. The Admin's investigation can find whatever it wants (it
could even decide to make no move against Ward), but by that point, it
won't matter because all the legislative momentum/power will be out of
their hands. Ultimately, the neocon agenda doesn't even have to succeed
in getting Ward's tenure revoked; the attack on Ward is only one key
piece of a larger campaign with several objectives beyond the firing of
Ward.

* Ward is a prime target. He is vulnerable and, at the same time, has
extremely high strategic value. In terms of his vulnerability: he can be
isolated from support forces who would traditionally make it hard to
attack a tenured faculty. There are faculty who have problems with his
being American Indian or who have something against Ethnic Studies, etc
etc-these faculty will be reluctant or refuse to defend him (until it's
too late). As a revolutionary, he can be counted on to have a
significant number of colleagues who strongly dislike him and will be
reluctant or refuse to defend him (until it's too late). On top of all
this, in the post-911 climate, moderates who would normally disagree
with his views but then go on to defend his free speech rights and
academic freedom, will hesitate because they are afraid of being cast in
with his "anti-americanism" (much like the McCarthy period). In terms of
his high value as a target (David Horowitz has already written on this):
he's not only tenured, but he's a full prof; he's not only inside ethnic
studies but he was chair; he's not in just any university in CO, he's at
the institutional flagship of "liberalism" in the middle of a red state.

We have to be as clear as possible about the big picture. This is much,
much bigger than an individual attack on Ward. What we're looking at is
a carefully developed, pre-existing national strategy that has been
searching for exactly the right breakthrough "test case." It has found
extremely favorable conditions in Ward's situation and in the post-911
climate. As they've been doing already in other areas they want to
dismantle the structural footholds (academic freedom/tenure, ethnic
studies) that social movements gained for people of color and liberal
and progressive intellectuals inside academe during the 60s & 70s. If
they are successful in Colorado, it could set a precedent like Bakke.
Raising the stakes even higher, Governor Owens has ambitions that reach
as far as the White House. The next phases of his career hang on this
crucial campaign that will give definitive proof of his leadership
ability. If he pulls it off, it's a glorious triple coup-de-grace:
undermine the legal foundation of tenure/free speech, hurt/ruin Ethnic
Studies...and at no less than the strongest "liberal" campus in the
state. His personal investment in this campaign is very high and he is
likely to throw his whole weight behind it.

This is a fight to make history.

http://www.wbai.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5021&Itemid=2

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