Judge rules Churchill will not get job back

Judge rules Churchill will not get job back
posted by: Sara Gandy written by: Chris Vanderveen
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=119009&catid=339

DENVER - Former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill's request for reinstatement has been denied in Denver District Court. Front pay has also been deemed inappropriate in the case.

CU fired the controversial ethnic studies professor in 2007 after an exhaustive faculty review found instances of academic misconduct on Churchill's part.

Immediately following his 2007 dismissal, Churchill and his attorney David Lane filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court. In that lawsuit, Churchill argued he was illegally fired in retaliation for an essay he penned in 2001 in which he compared victims inside the World Trade Center to an infamous Nazi.

That essay was thrust into the national spotlight in 2005, years after it was written. The political firestorm that erupted had politicians such as then-Governor Bill Owens demanding action. Churchill believed the intense, outside political pressure corrupted the academic environment in such as way it blinded CU's leadership.

In 2005, CU began a process that started looking into allegations of academic misconduct and fraud. In 2007, the CU Board of Regents voted 8-1 for dismissal.

In April, a Denver jury agreed with Churchill's premise that he was illegally fired, but it stopped far short of awarding Churchill a high dollar figure. Instead it awarded Churchill $1.

Last week, Lane and Churchill were back in Judge Naves' courtroom arguing that their legal victory in April was enough for the judge to order reinstatement. Calling CU leaders, "constitutional law violators," Lane told Naves he had essentially no other choice but to reinstate the embattled professor.

CU's lead attorney Patrick O'Rourke argued that the $1 judgement in April should, in essence, speak for itself. O'Rourke suggested that reinstating Churchill would further damage the university's reputation.

The Chancellor of the CU-Boulder campus is expected to talk about this latest development at 1:45 p.m.

To read the full text of the judge's ruling, click here.