'Nothing is so risible—or so dangerous—as an intellectual with good intentions.'
— Jim Paine

CNews 5February10

OT: A most excellent critique of the latest Federal budget. The opening quote from Alexis de Tocqueville is priceless: "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."

CNews 2February10

According to this website, Professor Doctor Indian Scholar Ward Churchill will be offering "his expert judgment and wide knowledge of struggles for food sovereignty and indigenous cultural survival worldwide" at what promises to be the bestest Cultural Genocide Conference ever. Mendocino College in Ukiah on March 13. Clear your calendar.

CNews 27January10

When one discovers Ward Churchill described as a "lanky, long-haired fifty-eight-year old with movie-star good looks" one might suspect one has stumbled upon some weird academic form of Internet porn—and one would be right. The American Association of University Professors continues its slob-job of The Perfesser in its AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom (vol. 1) with Yeshiva University history professor Ellen Schrenker's "Ward Churchill at the Dalton Trumbo Fountain: Academic Freedom in the Aftermath of 9/11" (pdf).

For most of her 44 pages (including footnotes) Schrenker resolutely and expertly tosses Churchill's salad, accepting the assertions of Churchill's fellow fabulists like Cheyfitz and Johansen as ex cathedra declarations, but treating those of Churchill's detractors inevitably as examples of either right-wing hysteria or academic cowardice (or both). But then, would one expect anything less from an AAUP publication (and further, one Schrenker admits in footnote 1 is based on "a collection of clippings and documents in the personal possession of Evelyn Hu-DeHart, the former chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado")?

The conclusion one is required to draw from Schrenker's piece is that intellectual honesty and academic freedom are not concurrent and reinforcing imperatives; they are not even simply conflicting tenets of opposing ideologies; rather, they are antipodes of vastly unequal worth, and after 44 pages, only a fool would fail to understand which Schrenker considers the lesser. To preserve academic freedom, it seems, inconsequentials like intellectual honesty must be sacrificed. Such exquisite examples of burning the village in order to save it are to be treasured. (big perpetual ht to the ever-clever Leah)

Meanwhile, Drunkablerg entertains us with Churchill on the campaign trail.

From our Pining For The Fjords department: The Ward Churchill of American History, Howard Zinn, is extinct.

CNews 23January10

Quote of the Day: "[I]f you had suspicions Obama was the Anti-Christ, put them out of your mind. Satan wouldn't be such a fuck-up."—Ace

The ever-alert Leah alerts us to AAUP prez Cary Nelson's new book, No University Is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom, which is searchable on Amazon, mostly to find the bit where Nelson talks about CU professors going on strike to save Ward Churchill's phony-baloney job. We haven't searched it ourselves, partly because to do so requires a recent purchase on Amazon, but mostly because with the possible exception of a suicide note, we can't imagine Nelson producing anything worth reading.

CNews 20December09

From our Hold Out Both Hands department: The Delegate Assembly of the Modern Language Association condemns CU for violating Ward "If there's consequences it ain't free" Churchill's free speech rights and demands CU rehire The Perfesser forthwith. (via DrunkaBlech, from whom we steal all our news when Leah isn't forthcoming. With the news, we mean. Not that we'd turn her down or anything, but you know—hey! We're being serious here! Stop giggling! Cheez Whiz! You're, like, so immachur!)

Update (31December09): A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Quorum (from DrunkaBerk, now with Snapple-y Freshness)

CNews 19December09

DrunkaWiseGuy finds better video of The Perfesser's historic lout-shouting at Glendale Community College in Arizona w-a-y back in November. If we had to pick a favorite part, it would be where Churchill magnanimously absolves a hypothetical white person of feeling guilt for something done to the Indians back in 1620—and then insists the hypothetical person should feel responsible for what was done to the Indians back in 1620.

CNews 22November09

From our Successful Comedy Taps Zeitgeist, or, Really: Just How Obscure Is That Ethnic Studies Professor, Anyway? department: Kids re-enact the First Thanksgiving with smallpox blankets (ht Leah)

CNews 16November09

Courtesy Leah (who else?), here's video of The Perfesser lout-shouting in Arizona last Friday. (just click the "On Demand" button and select "Live Show Fri Nov 13 2009"; there are two videos so-titled; pick the one with "06:20:55 PM" as the second title line)

Update: DrunkaHegemonist has more on this, plus news of a Ward Churchill Teach-In (supporting the release of incarcerated Tupac Shakur père Mutulu Shakur) scheduled for November 28th. Where, you might ask? According to the site D-a-B references, it's at "Sisters of Color 2895 8th Ave, Denver, CO (8th and federal across the street from the bus yard)".

CNews 16October09

Looks like Professor Doctor Indian Scholar Ward Churchill has landed on his feet: He's the opening act for hip-hop and punk/"tribal grind core" bands. (ht Leah)
Excerpt:

Activist Ward Churchill will speak at a benefit for the traditional O'odham resisting oppression and abuse by US Border Patrol agents and protesting the construction of the US/Mexico border wall in their traditional homeland.

[...]

Churchill will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, 4831 W. 22nd St., on November 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Churchill's talk is part of the "Apartheid in America: Surviving Occupation in O'odham Lands" gathering, which features a concert by Resistant Culture, a punk rock/metal band from Southern California.

What? No punch and pie?

A delicious vegetarian meal will be served at 6:30 p.m.

Guess that'll have to do.

CNews 14October09

CU asks court to bill Churchill for $52,000 in legal costs
Excerpt:

A Denver jury found that CU unlawfully fired [Professor Doctor Indian Scholar Ward] Churchill for exercising his right to free speech, but only awarded him $1 in damages. After considering the jury's ruling, Chief Denver District Court Judge Larry Naves declined to award Churchill his job back or any compensation. Churchill has vowed to appeal the ruling.

Colorado law requires the court to award the "prevailing party," in this case CU, "reasonable costs."

Now CU has finished tallying up its expenses, which amount to $52,181.71, and the school has filed a motion in Denver District Court requesting compensation from Churchill.

52K. Looks like a grueling marathon of Direct Action & Solidarity Pancake Fly-In Breakfasts ahead for The Perfesser.

Thought for the day: Hope and change.

Victor Davis Hanson reveals our President's cultural foundation: Barack Obama, College Administrator