"What you're putting out will blow back on you and that's what happened," he said, referring to the 9/11 attacks, adding rhetorically: "Why do they hate us?' Why shouldn't they?"
Churchill resigned as chair of CU's ethnic studies department in January as controversy intensified. But a parade of critics didn't stop complaining about him. Some American Indian scholars questioned the accuracy of his writings. Professor Fay G. Cohen of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, accused Churchill of plagiarizing an article she wrote about Indian fishing treaty rights, while Thomas Brown of Lamar University has alleged Churchill inaccurately asserted that the U.S. Army deliberately distributed smallpox-infested blankets to Mandan Indians. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma tribe disowned him, saying Churchill's 1994 "associate membership" does not mean he is a member. A scathing investigation by the Rocky Mountain News in June found there is little in genealogical records to substantiate Churchill's claim to Native American blood. Rhonda Kelly, the sister of Churchill's late wife, Leah Renae Kelly, has also alleged Churchill mischaracterized Leah's upbringing as a Canadian Ojibway Indian. And others wondered how Churchill was given tenure in 1991 without the customary six-year review period required for most faculty members. The controversy spurred the CU Board of Regents to approve in March a comprehensive review of how faculty members at CU are awarded tenure. And all the while, "PirateBallerina" blogger Jim Paine and filmmaker Grant Crowell barbed the University of Colorado for keeping Churchill on the faculty. Supporters also rushed to Churchill's defense. Russell Means, longtime American Indian Movement leader, decried media questions about Churchill's ethnicity. "We are the only ethnic group in the world that has to prove our degree of blood like dogs and horses," he said in February. "I don't care what Clear Channel or the Internet says about his one-sixteenth or three-sixteenths." Despite continued criticism, Churchill did not shy from the public eye. He continued to teach classes, and he traveled the country for speaking engagements. And he fired back at his critics. "Is he a Zulu seven-footer ready to go out for the NBA or is he a dwarf? Can he walk? Nobody knows anything about Thomas Brown," Churchill told the Colorado Daily in May. In a preliminary report released in March, CU-Boulder Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said the "content and rhetoric" of Churchill's essay about 9/11 is speech protected by the First Amendment. DiStefano then forwarded allegations of misuse of other scholars' work and accusations that Churchill falsely claimed to be an Indian to the CU-Boulder Standing Committee on Research Misconduct for inquiry. The faculty committee then sent the allegations - except questions about copyright infringement and Churchill's ethnicity - to a smaller five-person committee for a full investigation. That investigation is ongoing. The charges could lead to his dismissal. Colorado Daily features editor Erin Wiggins and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Last updated on January 23, 2006