Local News

There has got to be something wrong with you, when even a university’s communications department is wary of you:

BOULDER – Ward Churchill was rejected by two University of Colorado departments in 1991 before the communication department agreed to give him tenure.Even in the communication department, the chairman-elect was “uncomfortable” with the decision, according to documents released Friday by CU.

At the time, CU officials were shopping for a department that would accept Churchill, fearing they would lose him to another university.

Forget what it says about Ward Churchill, that he had to be shopped around before finding some place to take him.

Instead, ask yourself what it says about CU-Boulder, that

“Ward’s file was circulated to sociology and political science, and they did not agree to roster him in their departments,” Pacanowsky wrote in an e-mail dated Jan. 10, 1991. “Because Ward’s graduate degree, an MA, was in communications, we were contacted next.”

Pacanowsky goes on to say that Churchill’s work was not “mainstream in our discipline,” but by appointing Churchill, the department would be “making our own contribution to increasing the cultural diversity on campus (Ward is a native American).”

In other words, even the lowly communications department took Churchill in mostly because of his ethnicity. Of course, like much of his work, Churchill’s ethnic claims are questionable, too.

UPDATE: Related news.