I think the University of Colorado is about to sell Ward Churchill down the river.  Some of my vast throng of reader may recall that I used to work for the UC system; I'm still on the staff e-mail distribution list, and this letter from UC President Betsy Hoffman just came in:

Dear Colleagues:

In the wake of what has been a difficult time in the life of this university, I wanted to clearly state my position and the position of my administration on issues surrounding academic freedom. First, I want to thank the Regents for upholding the Laws of the Regents and the traditions of the academy.  I have the utmost confidence in Interim Chancellor DiStefano’s leadership to handle this matter.

All of us are aware that the discussion surrounding recent events strike at our core values and the bedrock on which all higher education institutions in America are built.

Like all of you, I have relied on the principles and tenets of academic freedom as I pursued my scholarly work. But this ideal is not merely a set of rules and rituals; it is the heart that gives life to the body of any university. My administration is, and always has been, firmly committed to the protection of this lifeblood of scholarly debate and discovery.

According to the faculty handbook, a faculty member’s “efforts should not be subjected to direct or indirect pressures or interference from within the university, and the university will resist to the utmost such pressures or interference when exerted from without.” I pledge to you to do all within my power to uphold this important statement.

But the rights afforded those of us in the academic community to pursue our scholarly work come with a heavy responsibility to behave with integrity and professionalism and to meet the highest ethical standards our disciplines demand. These standards create the boundaries within which academic freedom rests. Our work does not happen in a vacuum, but rather is regularly put to the test of scholarly debate and dissection creating another set of boundaries within which our freedom to discover, research and write lies.

When faculty members meet the measure and the moral and ethical boundaries of their disciplines they do and should expect the full support of their university. This relationship between the faculty member and his or her university creates the environment necessary for the nurture of groundbreaking research, essential scholarship and educational advancement that modern society relies upon.

True higher education – the process of debate, discovery and learning – only functions when both sides of this equation uphold their responsibilities. It is my pledge to you today that this administration will do its part.

While this debate has been and will continue to be difficult as we work through issues involved with the situation before us, I believe it will ultimately prove beneficial to all of us in the university community and to those who view it only from outside. Rarely does the issue of academic freedom garner so much attention and reflection. Ultimately, it will be these painful conversations and buttressing of arguments that will ensure the long-term health of academic freedom for generations to come.

Betsy

This reads to me like "we believe in academic freedom but we think the Wardster crossed the line."  I think they're going to fire him. I don't think they ought to fire him for what he said.  He is a person with vile and contemptible views, and they never should have hired him; his brand of scholarship is an anti-intellectual, politicized, garbage scow of worthless identity politics and eighth-grade Marxist doubletalk.  But they did hire him, and now they have to extend the same protection of academic freedom that the non-feces-for-brains faculty have. They might fire him for lying about his Indian ancestry, but that's another matter.

(As far as I can recall, this is the first time my blog has ever actually broken news.  Woohoo!  I'm a CITIZEN JOURNALIST!  I demand a fried egg sandwich.)

Update:  Welcome Instapundit readers!  Take your shoes off and set a while. 

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