Contact: Brian Mattmiller
(262) 472-1194
churchill.response@uww.edu
Chancellor Decides to Continue Ward Churchill Lecture
http://www.theweekextra.com/Statement by Jack Miller, Chancellor of UW-Whitewater
February 10, 2005
A tremendous amount has been written and spoken about an invitation issued by a student organization to University of Colorado ethnic studies Professor Ward Churchill to speak at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus March 1 about “Racism Against the American Indian.”
This invitation was issued six months ago as part of a four-speaker Native American lecture series reflecting diverse viewpoints on the Native American experience. Whether to continue planning for his presentation, to rescind his invitation, or to delay his presentation pending other investigations is related to a complex range of issues and to great passions. It is also a decision that I accept at the outset will be met with much dissent and cynicism, regardless of the outcome. Personally, I find the decision to be repugnant because of the offensive nature of his remarks.
There is no need to review or attempt interpretation of the offensive passages made by Churchill regarding the victims of 9/11 attacks. They are available for all to read. These comments, which some people—including some who lost loved ones, family members, and colleagues on 9/11—would call “hate” speech are obviously deeply hurtful. This is not to negate or criticize the professor’s larger argument about violence begetting violence. Reading the commentary does explain what has fanned the flames to a level that has prompted security issues at other campuses.
Some people paint the decision as a simple matter of academic freedom or First Amendment rights. Clearly those principles are involved, but such a simplistic view ignores factors such as safety concerns; a lack of obligation to invite, pay and provide a forum to any guest; and the justifiable outcry against those who indulge in hateful speech against victims and the invoking of the specter of the Holocaust. Others say no one should be subjected to such unpopular and perhaps despicable commentary, thus trivializing the role of the academy as a place where all forms of commentary can be heard and challenged intellectually........
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