Chancellor: This is about research misconduct
University of Colorado at Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano issued the following statement about the ruling by Denver District Judge Larry Naves, which stipulated that fired CU Professor Ward Churchill was not entitled to reinstatement or compensatory damages, and that the Board of Regents was immune from Churchill’s suit against CU because it dismissed him as part of a quasi-judicial proceding:
The judge’s decision today is a victory for faculty governance. It reinforces the idea that faculty set the standard for academic integrity on our campus and all campuses across the country. His decision reinforces the notion that faculty establish research standards, abide by them and enforce them.
The judge elected not to expose us to a double standard. Professor Churchill was found to have committed research misconduct by a number of committees. The judge recognizes that we cannot hold one faculty member to a different standard than we hold the rest of the faculty and the students. To have that double standard would have been very harmful to the campus.
This is not an issue about free speech or about academic freedom. This is an issue about research misconduct. I said back in 2005 and again in 2006 that Professor Churchill’s speech is protected. However, there were numerous allegations of research misconduct that needed to be investigated and we did so. A number of faculty committees reached a consensus there was research misconduct.
July 7, 2009
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