Churchill committee
includes supporters

Two members of the University of Colorado committee reviewing Ward Churchill's work to determine if he should be fired, following statements that the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks were not innocent, have repeatedly praised the controversial professor and signed off on his pay increases, according to the Denver Post.

According to documents released yesterday, the committee's head, acting chancellor Phil DiStefano, approved glowing evaluations of Churchill and OK'd raises that took his salary from $56,086 to $94,242 since 1998. Todd Gleason, also a member of the review committee, approved the raises and a 2003 retention package, and offered Churchill the ethnic-studies department chairmanship.

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"We are pleased to recognize your outstanding contribution to scholarship and teaching in the area of Native American studies," Gleeson wrote when offering a $92,000 salary with the retention package. "Retaining you as a valued member of our faculty is a high priority for both the Department and College."

Churchill, who does not have a doctorate, was hired to teach a semester-long class in 1991 and received tenure the following year, bypassing the mandatory seven-year review. At the time, the program sponsoring his Native American Studies could not grant tenure, so the university sought to place him in one of its departments. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Churchill was rejected by two University of Colorado departments before being accepted into the communication department.

Then-chairman of the communication department, Michael Pacanowsky, was under pressure to make a decision on Churchill, according to a memo released yesterday.

"I apologize for the manner in which we are having to deal with this, and I am uncomfortable with it, but under the circumstances of the time pressures we are now operating under, I could think of no other way to handle the issue," Pacanowsky told the faculty.

Pacanowsky also indicated Churchill was "overwhelmed" by his new position. "Ward does not seem to me to be the kind of person who fits our mold of a department focused on interpersonal and organizational communication," Pacanowsky wrote.

Churchill's record shows that he has received positive evaluations from supervisors and students throughout his tenure at the university.

Six years following his appointment as associate professor, Churchill received a full professorship in 1997, and he was appointed to chair the ethnic-studies department in 2002.

"Associate Professor Ward Churchill has followed an unusual career path," wrote dean Peter Spear in 2002. "Although he does not have a Ph.D., he is an extremely prolific scholar with nineteen authored books and many scholarly and popular essays."

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Despite Churchill's strong support among University of Colorado administrators, the school's regents have ordered a full review of his work. Colorado Governor Bill Owens has called for him be fired.

Rep. David Schultheis, a Colorado Springs Republican whose legislative resolution demands Churchill's firing, says he's not surprised people who have praised Churchill in the past are part of the committee reviewing his writings.

"My general feeling is that those departments tend to be so incestuous in the sense that they all protect each other's backs," he said. "I hope they will clean it up."

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