Freedom of speech...was 9/11 a foreshadow of our financial crisis?

I don't think he should be fired for airing his political views. But for less developed point-of-view or argument, yes.
His argument that the 9/11 victims were not completely innocent is irrelevant in the sense that - no, they did not deserve to die because they were greedy.
Of course, like Hinduism suggests, none of us are totally free of corruption and absolutely innocent of sin. We have all sinned in some sense or the other - how is that relevant to feeling sad about an accident or an act of terror?

I dont think he should be fired, he has a right to his opinion no matter how twisted and evil it is.

Unfortunately there are alot of people like this in charge of teaching our children, as a parent you should be informed of who exactly is molding their minds.

I don't know that he should've been fired (though that essay really ticks me off), but I don't like it that the SC can force his employers to give his job back.

BTW, CG you come up with the most...interesting...pictures
Where's this one from?

The guy is insane. He should have been fired because students weren't signing up for his class in protest, but sometimes the students don't know what a crackpot their teacher is till its too late.

Though I have to ask, if he wrote a bunch of anti-semitic and racist stuff in his papers, would that be ok with the school? I'm thinking not.

Carrie, Its Lorne from the show "Angel" who is a karaoke singing demon. He was played by Andy Hallet who died sunday at age 33 of heart failure. I met him three times and all three times he was the most gracious, kindhearted man.

I had no idea he died! He was one of the best characters on Angel!

To the topic....I believe that freedom of speech is essential, especially in an academic setting. It is important for people to be able to bring different ideas to the table and discuss them without fear of retribution. Of course, there are some crazy wackos......

There are racist professors who haven't been fired. What this guy said wasn't okay with the school - he was fired after all - but we do have free speech rights in this country.

Don't most universities have a clause in their contracts that says if you do something that could upset the school's reputation you can be fired? I don't know what standards would have to be met to use that clause, but it might be applicable here. But obviously the jury didn't have too much sympathy if they only gave him a dollar.

I think the timing for CU was bad. CU was saying that they fired him for plagiarism and misconducted research. They have apparently used three different panels of his peers and each panel unanimously agreed that he was guilty of that charge. And it just so happened that they pursued this after he was in the center of the tornado of his essay. It is a little sketchy, I must admit, but Churchill seems self-righteous, not morally righteous.

And, the Denver Post reports that he wasn't looking for money, but reinstatement, so I don't blame the jury for the one dollar.

And holy crap, am I happy that this is over with! I live in Denver and ugh, every single day on the news, it's Ward Churchill, Jay Cutler, or both. Here's hoping for some change! LOL

I am with silverpenny that I am glad this phase of the trial is over. I live in Boulder where the university is, and boy has it been dragging on. The university was trying to go a backdoor route to let him go with false charges. I am not a fan of what he said, but you can't fire him for bogus charges.

Now he'll appeal for a reinstatement and the school will have to figure out a better way to get rid of him.

We have free speech absolutely but what is the paper trail? If this guy just got fired out of the blue thats one thing, but if he was consistently disciplined for being a wacko then they were well within their rights to can him.

It sounds like they canned him out of the blue and thats the problem, they should have been smart enough to start a paper trail and wait.

People with his ego always spout off crazy things eventually for the attention.

"Do you think professors should be free to say such things and still keep their jobs?"

No. They have a responsibility to impart truths. His comments were in no way truthful.

Undave: I think your referring to church. A university is a place for open thinking...

...and we all know that church-goers are closed-minded bigots

Of course, sometimes being closed-minded is a good thing.

Wasn't he found to have committed something like 14 counts of plagiarism and falsifying research?

Or you can go to Brigham Young and go straight to the head of the class...

I believe this is the same guy that lied about his Native American roots. He was granted tenure due in part to his ethnicity, which he made up. Stellar guy.

So, A white man in wolves clothing got an affirmative action education...

This guy is a complete skeeze. I know a lot of people haven't paid close attention to him, but having lived in CO, I did. Like piper said, he lied about his roots. That was something he'd utilized in getting tenure, and lying when getting tenure is a big no-no. I'm going to use wikipedia, while not the most reliable source, but a source because there are eight citations in this short excerpt, and I simply don't have time to go through CSU's records, the Muscogee's records, etc.
In 2003, Churchill stated, "I am myself of Muscogee and Creek[16] descent on my father's side, Cherokee on my mother's, and am an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians."[17][18] In 1992, Churchill wrote elsewhere that he is one-eighth Creek and one-sixteenth Cherokee.[19] In 1993, Churchill told the Colorado Daily that, "he was one-sixteenth Creek and Cherokee."[20] Churchill told the Denver Post in February 2005 that he is three-sixteenths Cherokee.[10]
The United Keetoowah Band clarified that Churchill was never an enrolled member, but was awarded an honorary associate membership in May 1994, as were Bill Clinton and others;[21][22] honorary associate membership recognizes assistance to the tribe, but does not indicate Indian ancestry or enrollment.[23]
Having utilized this for his tenure, that alone should have been enough to have him fired.

After several historians and scholars criticized his handling of their work, the university commissioned an investigation. Again, I quote:
The Investigative Committee agreed unanimously that Churchill had engaged in "serious research misconduct," and found him "disrespectful of Indian oral traditions."
Serious misconduct of any sort certainly warrants an end to an employment contract.

I would frankly lose respect for any university which allowed a professor who misuses information for academic works to teach at their school. Certainly a student would be expelled for that - as is outlined in most student handbooks. Shouldn't a professor be held to (at the very least) the same, if not a higher standard?

His award was $1...it think they got his number.

What's the difference between Ward Churchill and Don Imus? The distasteful things they said stirred up different groups...both lost their jobs. Ward sued and Don got a different job.

I think freedom of speech is still intact as they had the right to say what they did, and they faced consequences. It is important that their consequences weren't legal penalty.

Don't get me wrong, I hope this guy dies in a fire, along with anyone who burns an American flag...but they sure as hell have the right to express themselves that way.

Beavis, isn't their reason for burning a flag important? Or do they just all deserve to die horrible, gruesome deaths?

Better yet, do I deserve to die in a fire because I expressed my wish that others' acts of expression warrant their death by fire?

No.

But you certainly deserve to be called out for making an extreme, irrelevant, and violent statement.

It was extreme and violent, but not irrelevant. I used hyperbole to magnify the importance of the freedom of expression. You took it quite literal, and that's okay. Your response to me was a perfect example of how we should react to certain speech. The wrong way to react to offensive speech would be to call it hate speech and try to make laws prohibiting it.

Ah, I see. Too subtle for a Friday afternoon!

Who's Evil?
Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!
It's about time some one speaks of the truth on the reasons America was counter attacked. Immigrant Americans killed the native Americans. Yet, America eliminated harmonious apartheid in South Africa. Now, South Africa is suffering the wishes of America. It's OK to spend more than you have is like stealing. Homosexuality is now good. Dark is light thanks to Day Light Savings time and sweet is bitter; try Sweet-n-Low. Next, Polygamy will be justified. Bestiality will be OK as long as all animals are consenting.
Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!