Letters

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 4, 2006

WARD CHURHILL

Professor's firing will liberate students

If those on the panel recommending the termination of Ward Churchill are concerned that his firing will chill political speech on University of Colorado campuses, they needn't be ("CU takes 1st step to fire professor Churchill", June 27). If anything, his dismissal will probably make it easier for those who take his classes and don't fall in line behind the "little Churchills" who agree with his anti-American rantings to finally be allowed, without fear of repercussions or ridicule, to voice their dissenting opinions.

I have seen this man in interviews. His demeanor and attitude are appalling, even with those interviewers who are sympathetic to his situation.

He is belligerent, smug, arrogant and over-bearing; he is almost Mussolini-like in his reactions to questions.

I can't help but wonder what chance a student would have voicing an opposing opinion in one of his classes, given his dominating and oppressive nature.

Considering the fact that conservative views seem to be the minority in most college campuses, and University of Colorado campuses in particular, those individuals who fit this category will be relieved and grateful for the academic freedom they will now be afforded with his departure.

Churchill's academic freedom is irrelevant in this situation. He gets paid by taxpayers and students who attend CU to impart real knowledge and to facilitate discussion of ideas and theories of an academic nature among the students he teaches, not to use his classroom as a bully pulpit to advance his agenda or academic career.

The final decision to fire Churchill should be swift, just and final. And it should be based on his attempt to defraud the CU institution and the taxpayers who fund it, with shoddy, bogus research tactics and results, in order to further his stature and academic career. He should not be permitted to exploit the very system that he criticizes, ridicules, and condemns to exalt himself as some sort of martyr.

Tina West

Widefield

FIRM MOORINGS

Independence Day a time to honor Founders

The Fourth of July marks our independence from Great Britain, a defiant finale to our forefathers' exodus from the oppression of Europe.

In an age when the hallowed halls of most universities are now hollow, we must rebel, as Franklin and 55 follow signers did, and as Moses and the Israelites did.

As the Israelites on and off lost their moral moorings in response to Egypt's slavery and in response to weaknesses that tax all of us, we Americans intermittently lose ours. How do we find our way back to the wise harbor our Founders gave us?

At the Passover Seder, each year for millennia Jews have combined remembering with food, fun and celebration. Jews recall the burning bush and the parted sea, so as to remember who they are, the one who guides them, and what they stand for.

At our Fourth of July "Seder," we, too, add remembering to the food, fun and celebrating. We sing as many songs in appreciation of America as we can think of, take turns reading from the Declaration of Independence, and tell our American family stories.

We live in a time when declaring English to be America's official language is called "racist" by the U.S. Senate minority leader, when having intact borders to preserve America as an intact nation is depicted as unreasonable, and when we are being trained to feel ashamed of being American. In such times, by merely appreciating our country openly, we become rebels.

Please join me and others in rededicating America this July 4. Independence day is calling. Join the rabble.

Deane Berson

Chipita Park