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February 25, 2005

Ward Churchill: Ground Zero

The following is from Emma Perez, the Chair of Ethnic Studies at U of Colorado

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" (http:// www.goacta.org/programs/govproject.html). 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/nl/2003feb/wiener.html. 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.

Posted by sparks at February 25, 2005 2:58 PM

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