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Will The Real Ward Churchill Please Stand Up?
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Will The Real Ward Churchill Please Stand Up? |
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Mistletoe Angel 
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
This time it's the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Kevin Barrett. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/21/Sept.11.prof.ap/index.html * Barrett believes the most likely theory about the 9/11 plot is that the attacks were staged or coordinated by Dick Cheney in a sort of "inside job". * I am just shaking my head here in why anyone could believe such things, when me and virtually every American believes we were attacked on September 11th, by al-Qaeda operatives, period. Now, I have my reservations of this administration on many fronts on foreign policy, in that I do believe they hastily and irresponsibly rushed to war in Iraq, in a battle separate from those directly responsible for attacking our nation on 9/11, and that their war has overstretched our military in result. I do believe that. But this claim is absolutely proposterous, and I pity that people like him are more interested in dwelling in these conspiracy theories all the time rather than seeking and brainstorming of positive ways to strengthening and bettering America and the world. * Having said that, I also don't like how some are making some sort of witch-hunt effort to fire him or such, regardless of how insane Churchill's views are, like what was initially done on Ward Churchill (and then later we so happened to discover he was a plagiarist and phony as well, which Churchill to be fired on those grounds.) If, coincidentally, Kevin Barrett turns out to be a plagiarist or something of sorts as well, yes, he should be fired too. But regardless of how insane his opinions are and how I'll never take them seriously, he has the right of freedom of speech too, just as any student in Madison, Wisconsin has the right not to listen to him. * Now, with that also said, I don't like how it's our own tax dollars at work going to allow professors like him to speak their minds and such, and hope we can seek some sort of reform where they have the opportunity to teach without our hard-earned dollars filling the pockets of the Churchills and Barretts and what not. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
quote: That's a sure fire way, Noah, to be absolutely certain young adults never hear anything except state-approved ideas. Yea, the protections afforded our teachers, like free speech and tenure, will always result in a morass of ultra-liberals and crackpots, but it is within just such a quagmire that we inevitably find the great ideas of the future. Besides, learning to separate the wheat from the chaff is what college is all about.  |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
I agree with Ron on this, Noah. Reminds me of a professor I had for Biology in college who was teaching evolution and genetic principles. He definitely did not believe God created the universe and was convinced man could ultimately create man. He was so atheistic in his approach that it made some of us (who might not have been giving God a lot of thought at the time or maybe were questioning our own beliefs) lean more over to the the creation theory. So....you never know how a certain professor will impact a student...you just never know. Noah, if you do a search on the internet, you'll find all kinds of conspiracy theories regarding 911, including videos put together by scholars and scientists for the truth or something like that. The 911 Commission did leave many questions unanswered and, in my mind, this would make an interesting course...to determine if the 911 Commission did its job or not. I am still questioning why the passport of one of the terrorists was found in the rubble when the Twin Towers themselves were pulverized...I mean, how is that possible, that one paper passport could survive when the heat from the fire created by the airplanes crashing into the buildings was supposedly so intense that it melted steel girders? I remember thinking to myself when I saw that on the news shortly after the event that it was very odd. I can understand why there are still some questions.  ....jo |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
No, I do agree with both of you that universities are of great value because they are centers of myriads of great ideas and information, where education truly is the pursuit of truth to a higher level, where al sorts of theories can be discussed and debated. And by all means I do believe our universities should be funded as they are. I admit that when I began this thread I was still dwelling in that immediate aesthetic reaction often anyone can have when they see a headline and read a story that can make you shake your head and all, and so I do plead both that my thoughts weren't as well organized as I intended, and both in ignorance about exactly how the college board operates to an extent. I guess what I meant and failed to argue initially was that we're facing an issue where it's too easy for professors to seek and receive tenure, and in result professors like Ward Churchill have moved up from outsider-status to chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department in no time. Then you wake up and learn that his rise was to a large extent based on fabrications and lies. So there's just little oversight here, and I believe there are likely a considerable number of others who've done just like what Churchill has done. I don't know if Barrett is one of them. I absolutely believe a wide majority of professors are admirable individuals who have a true, genuine love of teaching and put their love for their job over power. Every teacher I've had thus far at both the University of Colorado in Boulder and Portland State University has been great, often even very open-minded. It's true most of them have political views that lean left, and their politics will occasionally come up in class, but they give dissenters the right to speak as well. In the Winter Trimester of this year, I had a professor in a class titled "Ecology of War and Peace" named Tom Hastings, who is a pacifist activist and even once co-organized some protest with nuns to attempt to dismantle a nuclear warhead or something of sorts. So you can tell he takes his pacifism and disarmament activism very seriously. Anyway, in this class, there was this fellow classmate of mine named Randy Stovall whose views leaned right-ward and would often criticize vocally the teacher in class for being a communist, a "useful idiot", and also made claims that Russia is going to nuke the U.S, that we should have cameras installed at every ATM and other such claims, and Hastings was patient all throughout the ten weeks of the class and never bitter and was willing to let him speak his mind while also arguing with his points afterward. I've also had many professors who weren't political at all. Last trimester I had two of my all-time favorite courses, "Dance In Literature", with Maria DePriest, and "Popular Culture" with Tom Fisher. Wonderful people, and you can absolutely tell they cared for their students by the end of the course, because DePriest was wiping her tears on the final day of class, and on the final day of "Popular Culture", Fisher spoke to me and the class in a softer tone than usual and said, 'Parting is such sweet sorrow!"  It's important that universities continue to prosper, for if they fail to do so our children of future generations will be limited of the tools of knowledge and higher education and creative freedom. But we also have to maintain our universities like we do a garden, and make sure that no one like Ward Churchill, who value power more than anything, exploits any such university and invade our learning centers like kudzu vines. So in a simplistic form, I guess I'm pointing out that professors are too easily getting on tenure, and we need to see to it that only the more genuine, highly-qualified individuals who have a most ambrosial love for teaching are qualified for tenure. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
"So in a simplistic form, I guess I'm pointing out that professors are too easily getting on tenure, and we need to see to it that only the more genuine, highly-qualified individuals who have a most ambrosial love for teaching are qualified for tenure." Noah, I agreed with you on that.  |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
Besides, learning to separate the wheat from the chaff is what college is all about. I'm afraid I have to disageee slightly with parts of your comment, Ron. We are not talking about a man on a soapbox in the park that passersby can either listen to or ignore. We are speaking young minds basically required to sit in a room in front of a man or woman espousing their views for a specific period of time each day. To give the impression that all students are intelligent enough to simply disregard whatever they might not agree with is a nice thought but that is to deny that the personality of the teacher plays any part in a youngster's decision. If a student admires a teacher on a personal level, I consider it likely that theyare more apt to be influenced by their opinions. In my opinion, a good teacher would present more than one side of a subject without injecting their own personal opinion or bias into the lesson. That allows the students to see all sides and yet have no outside influences become determining factors in their own conclusions. If I were King of the world (a post not yet offered me) I would make it a requirement that teachers NOT inject their own personal opinions in their topics, but present all sides equally and allow the students to form their own conclusions.....and idiots like Ward Churchill would be history. |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times: July 22, 2006 * Okay, looks like Barrett's not a tenured professor, though aspiring for a tenured position. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" |
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