In a stunning and incomprehensible decision, the judge in the Ward Churchill case has ruled that
the fired professor will get neither money nor reinstatement. He ruled that since the jury awarded
Churchill only a token damage, he could not ignore the jury's presumed wishes (this is false since jury members said
after the trial that all but one favored a large money award). And he ruled that since the relationship between
the university and Churchill was beyond repair he could not order reinstatement. Plus Churchill did not make
a good faith effort to obtain comparable employment since his firing.
The university and the local talk shows are ecstatic. A college official in an amazing act of newspeak said that this
was a victory for faculty governance!
Our universities have sunk to such a low state in almost all respects that they appear beyond fixing. If anyone can offer me a hopeful sign,
I'd love to hear it.