On Feb 28, 2005, at 10:15 AM, Michael Dawson wrote:
> Two points:
>
> 1. If you believe this analysis, then you should be in Boulder setting
> up
> rallies, or at least spending huge chunks of energy helping Churchill.
>
> 2. Last week on John Stewart's show, I saw tape of Churchill in Hawaii.
> There, he said in front of the cameras that the job of academics is
> not to
> explain history carefully and strive toward science, but to say
> inflammatory
> things "to provoke response." What would we say if a rightist made
> such an
> insane and simply incorrect thing? That's right: We'd howl and call
> for
> dismissal.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org
>> [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
>> On Behalf Of Carrol Cox
>> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 1:03 PM
>> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>> Subject: [lbo-talk] Ward Churchill is Neocon Test Case for Academic
>> Purges
>>
>> http://www.wbai.org/index.php?
>> option=content&task=view&id=5021&Itemid=2
>>
>> 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.
>>
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