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Ward Churchill

Ward Churchill

Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer, activist, and academic. He is a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and author of over a dozen books and many essays.

Background

Early life and education

Churchill was born and grew up in a blue-collar family in Elmwood, Illinois. His parents, Maralyn and Jack Churchill, divorced while Ward was still a toddler. In March 1950, his mother married Henry Carlton Debo, an employee of Caterpillar in downstate Peoria, as a result of which Churchill has two half-brothers, Tom and Danny, and a half-sister, Terry. When he enrolled in Elmwood High School, Churchill went by the name Ward Debo, taking his stepfather's surname, but when he graduated in 1965, he was listed in his yearbook, the Ulmus, as Ward L. Churchill. He was drafted by the U.S. Army and saw active service in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1968. Military records through the Freedom of Information Act show he was trained as a projectionist and light truck driver. Radio host Bob Newman published these military records to dispute alleged 1987 claims by Churchill that he had served as a paratrooper trained in reconnaissance. Churchill later received his B.A. and M.A. in Communication from Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois at Springfield. In 1990, he joined the University of Colorado at Boulder as an assistant professor and was granted tenure the following year.

Writing

As a scholar, Churchill has written on Native American history and culture, and is particularly outspoken about what he considers the genocide inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America by European settlers — repression that he argues continues to this day. In Fantasies of the Master Race (1992), Churchill examines the portrayal of Native Americans and the use of Native American symbols in popular American culture. He focuses on such phenomena as Tony Hillerman's mystery novels, the film Dances with Wolves, and the New Age movement, finding what he sees as examples of cultural imperialism and exploitation. Churchill calls author Carlos Castaneda, who claims to reveal the teachings of a Yaqui Indian shaman, the "greatest hoax since Piltdown Man." Churchill's Indians 'R' Us (1993), a sequel to Fantasies of the Master Race, further explores Native American issues in popular culture and politics. He examines the movie Black Robe, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation killings, Leonard Peltier, sports mascots, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and blood quantum laws, calling them tools of genocide. Churchill is particularly outspoken about what he characterizes as New Age exploitations of shamanism and Native American sacred traditions, and what he scorns as the "do-it-yourself Indianism" of certain contemporary authors. Struggle For The Land (reissued 2002) is a collection of essays in which Churchill asserts that the U.S. government systematically exploited native land and permitted the killing or displacement of the Native Americans who once inhabited it. He details Indian efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries to prevent defoliation and industrial practices such as surface mining they considered destructive. Churchill's A Little Matter of Genocide (1998) is a survey of ethnic cleansing from 1492 to the present. He compares the treatment of North American Indians to a number of genocides in history, such as those in Cambodia and Armenia, and those of the Gypsies, Poles, and Jews by the Nazis. In Perversions of Justice (2002), Churchill argues that the U.S. legal system was adapted to gain control over Native American people. Tracing the evolution of federal Indian law, Churchill argues that the principles set forth were not only applied to non-Indians in the U.S., but later adapted for application abroad. He concludes that this demonstrates the development of America's "imperial logic," which depends on a "corrupt form of legalism" to establish colonial control and empire. In Agents of Repression (1988), co-authored by Jim Vander Wall, the authors describe what they term "the secret war" against the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement carried out during the late 1960s and '70s by the FBI under the COINTELPRO program. The COINTELPRO Papers (reissued 2002), also with Jim Vander Wall, examines a series of original FBI memos that detail the Bureau's activities against various leftist groups, from the U.S. Communist Party in the 1950s to activists concerned with Central American issues in the 1980s.

Activism

Churchill has been active since at least 1984 as the co-director of the Denver-based American Indian Movement of Colorado, a breakaway chapter of the American Indian Movement. In 1993, he and other local AIM leaders—including Russell Means, Glen Morris, Bob Robideau, and David Hill—broke with the national AIM leadership, including Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt and Vernon Bellecourt, claiming that all AIM chapters are autonomous. The schism continues, with the AIM claiming that the local AIM leaders are tools of the government being used against Indians. Churchill has been a leader of Colorado AIM's annual protests in Denver against the Columbus Day holiday and its associated parade. These protests have brought Colorado AIM's leadership into conflict with some leaders in the Denver Italian-American community, the main supporters of the parade. Churchill and others have been arrested while protesting for acts such as blocking the parade. Local American Indian support and advocacy organizations in the Denver metro area believe that the activities of the Colorado AIM chapter damage the work of the Colorado Indian Commission and Denver Indian Center. These organizations are allegedly relunctant to speak out against Churchill. [http://www.westword.com/issues/1994-02-09/news/feature.html] In April 1983, Churchill traveled to Tripoli and Benghazi as a representative of the AIM and the International Indian Treaty Council to meet Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya while a U.S. travel ban to that country was in place. The visit was intended to seek support from al-Qaddafi regarding the U.S. government's alleged violation of Indian treaties. [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3540067,00.html] Libya]

Artwork

Apart from his academic position and writing, since the 1970s, Churchill has attained a certain noteriety as a visual artist. Works by Churchill, such as lithographs, woodcuts, and drawings are fairly widely exhibited in galleries of the American Southwest, and to some degree elsewhere. As with the work "Winter Attack", discussed below, Churchill frequently takes as subject matter of visual compositions historical photographs or other past works, particularly ones associated with Native American figures. Screen prints and other signed works by Churchill are [http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&fstype=1&from=R10&satitle=Ward+Churchill&sacat=550%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&ftrt=1&ftrv=1 often available on eBay]. The online journal Artnet [http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/artnetnews2/artnetnews3-15-05.asp mentions Churchill's artwork].

9/11 essay controversy

The essay

Artnet Churchill wrote an essay called "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens" about the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which he argued that American foreign policies provoked the attacks, describing the "technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire" working in the World Trade Center as "little Eichmanns." [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html] [http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines05/0201-05.htm] Churchill argued that the impact on the population of Iraq of decade-long economic sanctions, together with the Middle East policies of President Lyndon Johnson, and the history of Crusades against the Islamic world, had contributed to a climate in which 9/11 was what he called a "natural and inevitable response." [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/18/157211] The "roosting chickens" phrase comes from Malcolm X's comment about the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy that Kennedy "never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon." Churchill explained what he meant in a February 2005 interview with Democracy Now!:
If you want to avoid September 11s, if you want security in some actual form, then it's almost a biblical framing, you have to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As long as you're doing what the U.S. is doing in the world, you can anticipate a natural and inevitable response of the sort that occurred on 9/11. If you don't get the message out of 9/11, you're going to have to change, first of all, your perception of the value of those others who are consigned to domains, semantic domains like collateral damage, then you've really got no complaint when the rules you've imposed come back on you. [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/18/157211]
In an allusion to Hannah Arendt's depiction of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann as an ordinary person promoting the activity of an evil system, Churchill referred to the "technocrats" working at the World Trade Center as "little Eichmanns." He wrote:
As for those in the World Trade Center, well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire, the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved and they did so both willingly and knowingly. [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html]
He wrote that the victims were:
... too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it. [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html]
Churchill compared the American people to the "good Germans" of Nazi Germany, claiming that the vast majority of Americans had ignored the civilian suffering caused by the sanctions on Iraq during the 1990s, which he characterized as a policy of genocide. The essay was later expanded into a book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, which won Honorable Mention for the Gustavus Myer Human Rights Award in 2004.

Imbroglio

National attention was drawn to the essay in January 2005, when Churchill was invited to speak at Hamilton College as a member of a panel during a debate entitled "Limits of Dissent". The text of the essay was quoted on the January 28, 2005 edition of the Fox News Channel program The O'Reilly Factor. Bill O'Reilly initiated a campaign against Churchill, imploring his viewers to e-mail the college to cancel Churchill's invitation. A flood of 6,000 e-mails resulted. In the ensuing uproar, the lecture was changed to a larger venue, but was ultimately cancelled by the college's president, Joan Stewart, because of what were called "credible threats of violence". Churchill has written that he received threats against his life as a consequence of the news coverage. [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/ward_churchill_responds.html] In response to what he called "grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning [his] analysis of the September 11, 2001 attacks," Churchill clarified his views:
I am not a "defender" of the September 11 attacks, but simply pointing out that if U.S. foreign policy results in massive death and destruction abroad, we cannot feign innocence when some of that destruction is returned. I have never said that people "should" engage in armed attacks on the United States, but that such attacks are a natural and unavoidable consequence of unlawful U.S. policy. As Martin Luther King, quoting Robert F. Kennedy, said, "Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable."
He continued:
It is not disputed that the Pentagon was a military target, or that a CIA office was situated in the World Trade Center. Following the logic by which U.S. Defense Department spokespersons have consistently sought to justify target selection in places like Baghdad, this placement of an element of the American "command and control infrastructure" in an ostensibly civilian facility converted the Trade Center itself into a "legitimate" target. Again following U.S. military doctrine, as announced in briefing after briefing, those who did not work for the CIA but were nonetheless killed in the attack amounted to no more than "collateral damage". If the U.S. public is prepared to accept these "standards" when they are routinely applied to other people, they should not be surprised when the same standards are applied to them. [http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_3512084,00.html]
On January 31, 2005, Churchill resigned as chairman of the Ethnic Studies department at the University of Colorado, but remains a tenured professor. Colorado Republican governor Bill Owens and other Democrat and Republican state lawmakers publicly called for Churchill's dismissal. The Colorado House of Representatives, with unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats, adopted a resolution condemning Churchill's statements. The Board of Regents of the University of Colorado, meeting in executive session on February 3 2005, adopted a resolution apologizing to the American people for Churchill's statements, and ratifying interim chancellor Phil DiStefano's review of Churchill's actions. DiStefano was directed to investigate whether Churchill had overstepped his bounds as a faculty member, whether his actions were cause for dismissal, and whether his writing is protected by the First Amendment. The university's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct agreed that his words were protected by the First Amendment, but agreed to investigate subsequent charges made against Churchill of plagiarism, falsification, fabrication and ethnic fraud (see below). [http://newmedia.colorado.edu/silverandgold/messages/4421.html] In response to the cancellation of Churchill's speech at Hamilton, Hawaiian Studies professor Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask invited him to speak at the University of Hawaii on February 22, 2005, where Churchill responded to his critics.

A "new McCarthyism"?

When Churchill's comparison of the 9/11 victims to a notorious Nazi was first widely publicized in early 2005, a media firestorm erupted, driven by Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and other conservative pundits. A number of academics and activists on the left mounted a counter-offensive. One of Churchil's fellow professors in the Ethnic Studies department at the University of Colorado, Emma Perez, alleges that the attacks on Churchill are an organized "test case" by neo-conservatives to stifle liberal criticism of the War on Terror, and to undermine the funding of ethnic studies departments nationwide. [http://www.counterpunch.org/perez02282005.html]. Campus Watch and many other organizations have similarly characterized the efforts to negatively characterize Churchill, and anyone who defends him, as a "witch hunt". For example,
[Former CU President] Hoffman went on to express her support for academic freedom. She said she feared a "new McCarthyism" in the uproar over Ward Churchill, and added, "We are in dangerous times again," to the applause of the faculty.
This was enough. A cry arose for her to resign.
After all, this campaign against Ward Churchill has been endorsed and given official legitimacy by the governors of Colorado and New York and other elected officials at every level, from one end of the country to the other. It has been promoted by the prominent Republican strategist Newt Gingrich, by the editorial pages of many major newspapers, and by the screeching Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, and by the whole rightwing radio and TV talkshow circuit.[http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1744]
The conservative Denver newspaper, Rocky Mountain News has run numerous and ongoing articles alleging misconduct. Supporters of Churchill's academic free speech take the frequency, content and tone of these articles as evidence of Churchill's having become a political [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b%C3%AAte_noire bête noire] among Colorado conservatives. See external references section. In the spring of 2005, Ward Churchill received a majority of votes from the students at the University of Colorado at Boulder who voted for its Teaching Recognition Award. The University of Colorado Alumni Association, which sponsors the award, announced that they would withhold the award from Churchill until the investigation on the charges that he committed research misconduct had been concluded. Given annually for 44 years, this is the first time the award's was withheld from the person who won it.[http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/buffzone_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2448_3810241,00.html], [http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:KwlUqrNHT1QJ:www.dailycamera.com/bdc/buffzone_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2448_3810241,00.html] The University of Colorado has reaffirmed Churchill's right to academic free speech, and has declined to pursue any actions against him based on his controversial statements about the 9/11 victims.

Allegations against Churchill

As a result of the controversy over the essay, additional allegations became the subject of debate in the media and on Internet weblogs. These included disputes over his claim of partial Native American heritage, and allegations of academic fraud and plagiarism. University of Colorado administrators ordered an investigation, which is currently underway, into the allegations of research misconduct, which include plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. He has also been accused of intimidating his colleagues, and has allegedly made remarks advocating that soldiers kill their commanding officers.

Questioned ethnicity

Churchill has said that he is less than one-quarter Indian [http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/23/news/index2.html], and that he was an associate member of the Keetoowah tribe. In an article in Socialism and Democracy magazine, he stated, "I am myself of Muscogee and Creek descent on my father's side, Cherokee on my mother's, and am an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians." [http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm] [http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2005/02/ward-churchill-story.html] The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, on May 19, 2005, issued a Final Statement from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians Regarding Ward Churchill which indicates that he is a not a current member of their tribe, but was formerly an honorary associate member:
Ward Churchill received an “Associate Membership” from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB) council in May, 1994. He was not eligible for tribal membership due to the fact that he does not possess a “Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood” (CDIB) which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Interior / Bureau of Indian Affairs. Because Mr. Churchill had genealogical information regarding his alleged ancestry, and his willingness to assist the UKB in promoting the tribe and its causes, he was awarded an ‘Associate Membership’ as an honor. However, Mr. Churchill may possess eligibility status for Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, since he claims 1/16 Cherokee. [http://unitedkeetoowahband.org/newsarchive.htm]
The Denver Post reported that a review of Churchill's matrilineal genealogy on Ancestry.com shows no evidence of Native American ancestry going back to his great-great-grandparents. Based on Census and Social Security Administration records all matrilineal ancestors of Ward Churchill are listed either as "White" or as "race unknown." [http://media.mnginteractive.com/media/paper36/0213churchillg.gif] The Rocky Mountain News did a similar a review of Churchill's family records and reached the conclusion that Churchill's claims of American Indian ancestry are not supported, writing that "an extensive genealogical search by the Rocky Mountain News identified 142 direct forebears of Churchill and turned up no evidence of a single Indian ancestor among them."[http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3841949,00.html] In an interview in The Rocky Mountain News, Churchill stated: "I have never been confirmed as having one-quarter blood, and never said I was. And even if (the critics) are absolutely right, what does that have to do with this issue? I have never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull". [http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3525487,00.html] Moreover, it is not unusual for Americans who have some Native American blood, but whose families live within the mainstream community, and who know their heritage only from family tradition, to encounter difficulty proving their ethnicity to the satisfaction of administrators of affirmative action programs. Many universities use membership in a recognized tribe as the legitimate marker of Indian identity for AA purposes.[http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/proof.html] [http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm] [http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2005/02/ward-churchill-story.html] Some members in the Native American community also question Churchill's claim of partial Indian heritage. Indian activist Suzan Shown Harjo indicated that Churchill could not name his family members that are enrolled in the Creek Tribe. [http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410335] [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_3554608%2C00.html] Creek-Cherokee historian Robert W. Trepp did not find Churchill's family members on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation rolls. [http://indian.senate.gov/2002hrgs/071702hrg/trepp.PDF] Dennis Banks a co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and opponent of the breakaway American Indian Movement of Colorado which Churchill and fellow AIM co-founder Russell Means founded, has stated that Churchill does not represent the American Indian Movement and is not an Indian.[http://www.aimovement.org/moipr/churchill05.html]

Effects on career

Churchill's critics argue that his assertion of Native American ancestry without the ability to prove it might constitute misrepresentation and grounds for termination. [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3540067,00.html] The University has stated in response that they do not hire on the basis of ethnicity:
[G]iven the fact that equal opportunity is the law of the land and that positions in the public sector are to be awarded to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and based only on their ability to do the job, the university does not believe that any attempt to remove Mr. Churchill because of his ethnicity or race would be appropriate.
Even if Mr. Churchill is not an American Indian, as he claims, Title VII protects Caucasians as well as persons of color. Further, it has always been university policy that a person's race or ethnicity is self-proving. [http://insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3554608,00.html]
However, there is indication that Churchill's asserted ethnicity indirectly influenced his hiring. Communications chair Michael Pacanowsky, in an email on Jan. 10, 1991 wrote: "Ward's file was circulated to sociology and political science, and they did not agree to roster him in their departments. Because Ward's graduate degree, an MA, was in communications, we were contacted next." Pacanowsky characterizes Churchill's work as not being part of the "mainstream in our discipline," then argues that by appointing Churchill, the department would be "making our own contribution to increasing the cultural diversity on campus (Ward is a native American)." (Rocky Mountain News, Febrary 19, 2005) The University of Colorado's Research Misconduct Committee conducted a preliminary investigation into whether Churchill misrepresented his ethnicity in order to "make his scholarship more widely accepted." However, the Committee declined to pursue ethnic fraud charges against Churchill, as such issues are not covered in the official definition of "research misconduct." [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3859253,00.html]

Research Misconduct

Federal regulations that define "research misconduct" specify three types of misconduct: fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Churchill is currently under investigation by CU for all three types of misconduct. In the article "The Genocide That Wasn't: Ward Churchill's Research Fraud", sociology professor Thomas Brown accused Churchill of fabrication and falsification based on several books by Churchill in which he wrote about an incident in which Churchill accuses the U.S. Army with deliberately infecting Mandan Indians with smallpox in 1837. [http://hal.lamar.edu/~browntf/Churchill1.htm] Brown's article argues that Churchill has fabricated the incident and falsified the sources he cited to substantiate his claims. Historian and political scientist Guenter Lewy agrees that Churchill has mischaracterized his sources, and calls Churchill's claim of 100,000 deaths from the alleged smallpox incident "obviously absurd".[http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html] One of Churchill's sources—the Cherokee scholar Russell Thornton, who is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA—has publicly objected to Churchill's citation of his book in support of the smallpox genocide hypothesis. Thornton characterized Churchill's claim that the U.S. Army perpetuated a smallbox blanket genocide against the Mandans as "out-and-out fabrication. It depends on how you want to look at it, but in one sense, it's just making up of data, and that kind of thing shouldn't be tolerated in scholarship or science." [Rocky Mountain News, June 6, 2005] In two articles published in the 1990s, University of New Mexico law professor John LaVelle alleged that Churchill made false claims about the General Allotment Act. Allegations also reappeared that Churchill had plagiarized the work of Fay G. Cohen of Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. An internal Dalhousie University report concludes that "[t]he article ... is, in the opinion of our legal counsel, plagiarism," Dalhousie spokesman Charles Crosby said, summarizing the report's findings in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7156384/] Cohen also accused Churchill of telephoning her and threatening her after she made the complaint. There are allegations that "Winter Attack", a 1981 serigraph signed by Ward Churchill, may be a copyright infringement of a 1972 drawing by Thomas E. Mails. [http://news4colorado.com/topstories/local_story_055200531.html], [http://michellemalkin.com/archives/001596.htm]. Churchill has responded that "[t]he whole issue is utterly contrived." He said he spoke to Mails about adapting the imagery before using it, an adaptation which he said "[t]here was nothing unusual about." [http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4242051/detail.html] Ryan Mails, the son of the late Thomas Mails, said that he could not imagine that his father "would ever grant permission to anyone to copy one of his pieces."[http://news4colorado.com/topstories/local_story_055200531.html] Three other authors have come forward to accuse Churchill of publishing their work without their permission. [http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/buffzone_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2448_3830231,00.html] Robert T. Coulter, a lawyer and member of the Potawatomi Nation, has accused Churchill of taking a class that Coulter taught on the status of American Indian nations and having those notes published without written permission in a book of essays that Churchill had published. In addition, Churchill allegedly added endnotes to the article that were not in the original article. Coulter has not only criticized Churchill's use of the article without permission, but also the addition of the endnotes. He said: "I would never have permitted that — especially Ward Churchill. He's not a lawyer. He doesn't have the skill or expertise to add [endnotes] to a paper on my own subject." [http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/buffzone_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2448_3830231,00.html] The University of Colorado's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct has declined to pursue the various charges of copyright violation related to Churchill's use of Thomas Mails' artwork, and to Churchill's republication of other scholar's work without their permission. The Committee has defined its jurisdiction narrowly in Churchill's case, limited to the three dimensions of research misconduct that are specified in the federal regulations. Copyright violations that do not meet the legal definition of "plagiarism" are not covered in the federal misconduct regulations. The Committe has appointed an investigative subcommittee to look into the various charges of plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification, brought by Professors Brown, Lavelle, and Cohen. The investigation is ongoing at present.

The Governor calls it treason

In an April 2004 interview with Satya magazine, Churchill said:
If I defined the state as being the problem, just what happens to the state? I've never fashioned myself to be a revolutionary, but it's part and parcel of what I'm talking about. You can create through consciousness a situation of flux, perhaps, in which something better can replace it. In instability there's potential. That's about as far as I go with revolutionary consciousness. I'm actually a de-evolutionary. I don't want other people in charge of the apparatus of the state as the outcome of a socially transformative process that replicates oppression. I want the state gone: transform the situation to U.S. out of North America. U.S. off the planet. Out of existence altogether. [http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/churchill.html]
Colorado governor Bill Owens called this comment "treasonous," arguing that "Churchill has clearly called for violence against the state, and no country is required to subsidize its own destruction. That's what we're doing with Ward Churchill." On February 6, 2005, the Denver Post reported that this comment would be included by the university in its review of Churchill's tenure. [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2693730,00.html] Although there has been some suggestion that the constitutionally overturned Smith Act should be invoked in order to prosecute Churchill for his remarks, the debate is mostly focused on whether the First Amendment protects the tenure of a professor of a public university. Many, including Governor Owen, argue that the University of Colorado (or any other public university) is not required to support faculty that support the overthrow of the government. On June 23, 2005, Churchill told an audience in Portland, Oregon:
For those of you who do, as a matter of principle, oppose war in any form, the idea of supporting a conscientious objector who's already been inducted in his combat service in Iraq might have a certain appeal. But let me ask you this: Would you render the same level of support to someone who hadn't conscientiously objected, but rather instead rolled a grenade under their line officer in order to neutralize the combat capacity of their unit? ... Conscientious objection removes a given piece of cannon fodder from the fray. Fragging an officer has a much more impactful effect. [http://www.pirateballerina.com/blog/entry.php?id=167]
When asked by a member of the audience about the officers' families, Churchill responded, "[h]ow do you feel about Adolf Eichmann's family?"

Works

Books


- Marxism and Native Americans, edited by Churchill (South End Press, 1984, paperback: ISBN 089608177X, hardcover: ISBN 0896081788)
- Culture versus Economism: Essays on Marxism in the Multicultural Arena (Indigena Press, 1984)
- Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, co-authored with Jim Vander Wall (South End Press, 1988, paperback: ISBN 0896082938, hardcover: ISBN 0896082946)
- The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret War Against Domestic Dissent, co-authored with Jim Vander Wall (South End Press, 1991, ISBN 0896083594)
- Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America (Common Courage Press, 1992, ISBN 1567510000, hardcover: 1993, ISBN 1567510019). Released in a revised and expanded edition as Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Colonization (City Lights Publishers, 2002, hardcover: ISBN 0872864154, paperback: ISBN 0872864146)
- Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, Cinema, and the Colonization of American Indians (Common Courage Press, 1992, ISBN 0872863484)
- Cages of Steel: The Politics of Imprisonment in America, co-edited by Jim Vander Wall (Activism, Politics, Culture, Theory, Vol. 4, Maisonneuve Press, 1992, ISBN 0944624170). Re-released as Cages of Steel: The Politics of Imprisonment in the United States (AK Press, 2004, ISBN 1904859127).
- Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America (Common Courage Press, 1993, paperback: ISBN 1567510205, hardcover: ISBN 1567510213)
- Since Predator Came: Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation (Aigis Press, 1995, ISBN 1883930030)
- From A Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism 1985-1995 (South End Press, 1996, ISBN 0896085538)
- Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians (South End Press, 1997, paperback: ISBN 0896085678, hardcover: ISBN 0896085686, out of print). Re-released, co-edited by Sharon Venne (South End Press, 2005, hardcover: ISBN 0896087387).
- Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America, with Mike Ryan, an introduction by Ed Mead (Arbeiter Ring, 1998, ISBN 1894037073)
- A Little Matter Of Genocide: Holocaust And Denial In The Americas 1492 To The Present (City Lights Books, 1998, hardcover: ISBN 0872863433, paperback: ISBN 0872863239).
- Draconian Measures: The History of FBI Political Repression (Common Courage Press, 2000, out of print, hardcover: ISBN 1567510590, paperback: ISBN 1567510582)
- Acts Of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader, (Routledge, 2002, paperback: ISBN 0415931568, library binding: ISBN 041593155X)
- Perversions of Justice: Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law (City Lights Publishers, 2002, paperback: ISBN 0872864111, hardcover: ISBN 0872864162)
- On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality (AK Press, 2003, ISBN 1902593790)
- Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools (City Lights Publishers, 2004, ISBN 0872864340).
- Speaking Truth in the Teeth of Power: Lectures on Globalization, Colonialism, and Native North America (AK Press, 2004, ISBN 1904859046)
- Confronting The Crime Of Silence: Evidence Of U.S. War Crimes In Indochina, co-edited by Natsu Saito (AK Press, 2005, ISBN 1904859216)
- To Disrupt, Discredit And Destroy: The FBI's Secret War Against The Black Panther Party (Routledge, 2005, paperback: ISBN 041592958X, hardcover: ISBN 0415929571).

Audio and video


- Doing Time: The Politics of Imprisonment, audio CD of a lecture, recorded at the Doing Time Conference at the University of Winnipeg, September 2000 (AK Press, 2002, ISBN 1902593472)
- Life In Occupied America (AK Press, 2003, ISBN 1902593723)
- In A Pig's Eye: Reflections on the Police State, Repression, and Native America (AK Press, 2002, ISBN 1902593502)
- US Off The Planet!: An Evening In Eugene With Ward Churchill And Chellis Glendinning, VHS video recorded July 17, 2001 (Cascadia Media Collective, 2002)
- Pacifism and Pathology in the American Left, 2003 audio CD recorded at a AK Press warehouse in Oakland (AK Press Audio)
- [http://www.zmag.org/churchillaudio.html Z Mag Ward Churchill Audio]
- [http://www.c-span.org Ward Churchill talking at the University of Colorado, 2/9/2005, search the C-Span website]
- [http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050209_news.html Churchill Speaks About Academic Freedom] - Free Speech Radio News February 09, 2005
- [http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050203_news.html Ward Churchill Under Fire ] - Free Speech Radio News, February 03, 2005
- [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/18/157211 The Justice of Roosting Chickens: Ward Churchill Speaks] The [http://www.pacifica.org Pacifica] Network Show, [http://democracynow.org/ Democracy Now!] from February 18, 2005 features extended Audio/Video exclusive interview with Churchill

External links

General


- [http://www.colorado.edu/EthnicStudies/faculty/w_churchill.html Ward Churchill's Faculty page at University of Colorado]
- [http://www.zmag.org/bios/homepage.cfm?authorID=62 Ward Churchill ZNet Homepage]
- [http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200503240801.asp The Seven Faces of Ward Churchill] by Victor Davis Hanson writing for National Review.
- [http://lawschool.unm.edu/faculty/lavelle/allotment-act.pdf "The General Allotment Act "Eligibility" Hoax: Distortions of Law, Policy, and History in Derogation of Indian Tribes"] (by John P. LaVelle) (PDF file)

Articles related to 9/11 essay


- [http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_3512084,00.html Churchill's answer to criticism of his 9/11 remarks]
- [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_3501617,00.html "CU prof's essay sparks dispute: Ward Churchill says 9/11 victims were not innocent people"] (Rocky Mountain News)
- [http://students.hamilton.edu/2005/jrick/churchill.htm "Take a Good Look at Kirkland Project"]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/education/02hamilton.html? "College Cancels Speech by Professor Who Disparaged 9/11 Attack Victims"] (New York Times, February 2 2005)
- [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/31/professor.resigns.ap/ "Professor resigns chair after 9/11 essay prompts protests"] (CNN, January 31, 2005)
- [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E2686093,00.html Ward Churchill Press Statement] (Denver Post, February 01, 2005)
- [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=456606&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 ABC News/Associated Press Colo. Regents Weigh Prof's 9/11 Comments January 30, 2005]
- [http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/23/news/index2.html Corrected remarks from University of Hawaii speech]
- [http://www.hamilton.edu/news/wardchurchill/amendment.html Hamilton College Statement]
- [http://www.independenceinstitute.org/article.aspx?ID=1109 "CU leader chills speech"] (by Jon Caldara, OpEd, February 27, 2005
- [http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4135 "Professor Ward Churchill, The First Amendment and Free Speech on Campus"] (Capitalism Magazine)
- [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html Complete Text "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens"] plus other links
- [http://www.nypress.com/18/9/news&columns/krassner.cfm Professor Stoolpigeon]
- [http://www.claremontcolorado.org "No License to Lie"] (a legal case for firing Churchill)
- [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~61~2688100,00.html Text of Colorado State House resolution Ward Churchill] (Associated Press/Denver Post, February 02, 2005)

Rocky Mountain News on the "Churchill affair"


- Churchill's essays lack originality, says N.M. law professor By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News February 11, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3540066,00.html]
- Red-flagged career Churchill's tenure at CU marked by warnings of trouble By Charlie Brennan And Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News February 17, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3554608,00.html]
- Churchill's quick rise 'doesn't compute' Former CU official who backed his hire surprised by tenure By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News February 17, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3554563,00.html]
- Shadows of doubt (Rocky Mountain) News finds problems in all four major areas before CU panel By Charlie Brennan, Kevin Flynn, Laura Frank, Berny Morson and Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News June 4, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3830149,00.html]
- The charge: Plagiarism Did Ward Churchill publish the work of others as his own? By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News June 7, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3836139,00.html]
- 'Connect the dots' a wild goose chase By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News June 9, 2005 Ward Churchill provided some cryptic directions 11 years ago when questions were raised on the University of Colorado campus about his Indian heritage. [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3841642,00.html]
- CU asks for more info on professor Documents sought to pursue alleged research misconduct By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News July 27, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3956944,00.html]
- Complaints by former wife's family sent to Churchill panel By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News August 27, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_4034888,00.html]
- Charges of Research Misconduct at CU, 7 of 9 charges forwarded to a more thorough investigation by experts, 2 charges deemed inappropriate, charge by former wife also considered outside the mandate of the initial investigating committee. Churchill claims to be unfazed, but will be denied sabbatical. September 10, 2005 [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4070123,00.html]
- [http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3525487,00.html Rocky Mountain News article on Churchill's heritage, February 5, 2005]
- [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/cda/article_print/0%2C1983%2CDRMN_86_3530404_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT%2C00.html Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News: "Truth Tricky for Churchill"]
- [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3519179,00.html Keetoowah band's statement that Churchill is not a member of their tribe]
- [http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/cda/article_print/0%2C1983%2CDRMN_15_3522240_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT%2C00.html UKB: Churchill was Honorary Member]

References


- Cesarani, David. Adolf Eichmann: The Mind of a War Criminal, (BBC.co.uk, February 1 2002) Retrieved May 31 2005
- [http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2005/0205/021105-ward-churchill.htm Newman, Bob. 'Ward Churchill's Military Claims Proven False', Mens News Daily (Guerneville, CA: Java King, February 11 2005)]. Retrieved August 11 2005. Churchill, Ward Churchill, Ward Churchill, Ward Churchill, Ward Churchill, Ward

1947

1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - British mines nationalized
- January 1 - Nigeria gains limited autonomy
- January 1 - The Canadian Citizenship Act went into effect
- January 3 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time
- January 10 - United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste
- January 15 - Elizabeth Short (the "Black Dahlia") is found murdered
- January 16 - Inauguration of Vincent Auriol as a president of France
- January 24 - Demetrios Maximos founds monarchist government in Athens
- January 25 - Philippinean plane crashes in Hong Kong with $5 million worth of gold and money
- January 30 - February 8 - heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg to Calgary

February


- February 3 - In Snag, Yukon Territory, -63 degrees Celsius
- February 3 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press gallery.
- February 5 - Boleslaw Bierut becomes president of Poland
- February 10 - Paris peace treaties signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria: Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia
- February 12 - A meteor creates a crater into Sikhote-Alin, Soviet Union
- February 17 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
- February 20 - State of Prussia ceases to exist
- February 20 - Explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co in Los Angeles, California - 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, 22-foot crater
- February 21 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
- February 23 - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
- February 28 - USA gives France a military base in Casablanca
- February 28 - In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.

March-May


- March 1 - The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
- March 1 - Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
- March 1 - Japanese city Tsushima, Aichi is founded
- March 6 - USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
- March 12 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- March 15 - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab
- March 21 - Homer Collyer of the Collyer brothers is found dead in their house in Harlem, New York City. His brother is found April 8
- March 25 - A coalmine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
- March 28 - WW2 Japanese booby trap explodes in Corregidor - 28 dead
- March 29 - Rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar
- April 16 - The Texas City Disaster - Ammonium nitrate cargo of SS Grandcap explodes in Texas City, Texas - 552 dead, 3000 injured, 200 lost, 20 city blocks destroyed
- May 1 - Gang of Salvatore Giuliano opens fire on a labor parade near Portella Della Ginestra, Sicily; Eleven killed, thirty wounded
- May 3 - New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- May 22 - Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an act implementing the Truman Doctrine. The act granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.

June


- June 5 - Secretary of State Gen George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to Europe.
- June 10 - Saab produces its first automobile.
- June 15 - Portuguese government orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors to resign accused of revolutionary activity
- June 20 - Bugsy Siegel found shot in the Beverly Hills mansion of Virginia Hill
- June 21 - A Seaman named Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island. The next morning Dahl reports the first modern MIB encounter.
- June 23 - The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.

July

Taft-Hartley Act
- July 1 - The Australian real estate franchise L. J. Hooker lists on the Australian Stock Exchange
- July 7 - Downed UFO believed to be found in the Roswell UFO incident
- July 10 - Princess Elizabeth announces engagement to Philip Mountbatten
- July 11 - Exodus (ship) departs France to Palestine with 4500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees
- July 18 - Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, Exodus (ship) is captured by British troops and refused entry to Palestine in the port of Haifa
- July 18 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
- July 19 - Murder of Burmese nationalist Aung San
- July 24 - 100 year anniversary of Brigham Young leading 148 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
- July 26 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
- July 29 - After being shut off on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment, ENIAC, one of the world's first digital computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
- July 30 - Thor Heyerdahl sails with Kon-Tiki

August

Kon-Tiki Kon-Tiki
- August 5 - Netherlands stops political actions in Indonesia
- August 7 - Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day, 4,300 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
- August 7 - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
- August 9 - Beginning the 6 Scout World Jamboree - see [http://www.jamboree1947.com Jamboree Scout 1947] (in French)
- August 14 - Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14 compared to India on the 15th. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the first Governor General of Pakistan.
- August 15 - Following decades of nonviolent resistance and periodic civil unrest from 1919, India gains independence from the British Empire. Pakistan splits from India. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as first Prime Minister of India.
- August 15 - The Khan of Baluchistan declares independence (acceeds to Pakistan in 1948)
- August 16 - In Greece, General Markos Vafiadis takes over
- August 23 - Prime Minister of Greece Dimitrios Maximos resigns.
- August 27 - When the French government lowers the bread ration to 200 grams, it causes riots in Verdun and Le Mans

September-October


- September 4-September 21 - Hurricane in southeast Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama - 51 killed
- September 9 - "First actual case of (a computer) bug being found" - a moth lodged in a relay of a Mark II computer at Harvard.
- September 13 - Nehru suggests transfer of 4 million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.
- September 18 - The United States Army Air Forces, along with some components of the United States Navy's air arm, becomes the United States Air Force.
- October 14 - American test pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
- October 20 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 begins
- October 30 - The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is founded.

November


- November 2 - In California, Designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built (flight lasted only eight minutes).
- November 2 - Earthquake in Chilean Andes - 233 dead
- November 10 - Arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a communist rioting that spreads to Paris
- November 16 - 15.000 demonstrate in Brussels against the relatively short sentences of Nazis.
- November 16 - British begin to withdraw their troops from Palestine.
- November 20- Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.
- November 20 - Paul Ramadier resigns as Prime Minister of France - he is succeeded by Robert Schuman. Schuman calls 80.000 reservists to quell the rioting miners
- November 24 - Red Scare:The United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of U.S. Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10 after the 10 had refused to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, (the 10 were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios the next day).
- November 25 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
- November 27 - In Paris, police occupy editorial offices of communist newspapers.
- November 29 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

December


- December 3 - French communist strikers derail Paris-Tourcoing Express train because of false rumors that it was transporting soldiers - 21 dead
- December 3 - Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway.
- December 4 - French interior minister Jules Moch secures emergency measures against riots after six days of violent arguments in the national assembly
- December 9 - French labour unions calls off the general strike and begin negotiations with the French government
- December 23 - the Transistor is invented.
- December 30 - King Michael of Romania abdicates

Unknown dates


- Prussia is legally abolished in March by the Allied Control Council following World War II and the establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as Germany's eastern border.
- The House Un-American Activities Committee begin their investigations of communism in Hollywood.
- Cambridge University begins to admits women as full students.
- Mikhail Kalashnikov designs the AK-47 assault rifle.
- Walter Morrison invents the Frisbee.
- Raytheon produces first commercial microwave oven.
- Women's suffrage is granted in Argentina.

Births

January


- January 1 - Afeni Shakur
- January 2 - Ai
- January 2 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist
- January 3 - Patricia Anthony
- January 6 - Sandy Denny, British vocalist (d. 1978)
- January 8 - David Bowie, English musician
- January 8 - Jenny Boyd
- January 8 - Samuel Schmid, Swiss Federal Councilor
- January 16 - Laura Schlessinger, American psychologist and radio talk show host
- January 18 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese film director and actor
- January 23 - Thomas R. Carper, U.S. Senator from Delaware.
- January 24 - Warren Zevon, American musician (d. 2003)
- January 29 - Linda B. Buck, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 30 - Les Barker, English poet
- January 30 - Steve Marriott, British musician (The Small Faces) (d. 1991)
- January 31 - Nolan Ryan, baseball player

February


- February 1 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
- February 2 - Farrah Fawcett, American actress
- February 2 - Melanie, American singer
- February 3 - Paul Auster, American novelist
- February 4 - Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States
- February 5 - Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and broadcaster
- February 10 - Louise Arbour, Canadian jurist
- February 13 - Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball coach
- February 18 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands
- February 18 - Dennis DeYoung, American musician (Styx)
- February 20 - Peter Osgood, English footballer
- February 20 - Peter Strauss, American actor
- February 24 - Edward James Olmos, American actor
- February 25 - Lee Evans, American athlete
- February 25 - Doug Yule, American singer and musician (The Velvet Underground)
- February 27 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist

March


- March 3 - Miyamoto Teru, Japanese author
- March 4 - Jan Garbarek, Norwegian musician
- March 6 - Kiki Dee, American singer
- March 6 - Dick Fosbury, American athlete
- March 6 - Rob Reiner, American actor, comedian, and producer
- March 7 - Matthew Fisher, British singer-songwriter, and producer
- March 7 - Walter Röhrl, German car racer
- March 7 - Richard Lawson, American actor
- March 8 - Carole Bayer Sager, American composer
- March 10 - Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada (1993)
- March 12 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist
- March 13 - Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist
- March 14 - Pam Ayres, English poet
- March 14 - Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian
- March 15 - Ry Cooder, American guitarist
- March 19 - Glenn Close, American actress
- March 20 - John Boswell, American historian (d. 1994)
- March 24 - Louise Lanctôt, Canadian terrorist and writer
- March 25 - Elton John, English singer
- March 27 - Walt Mossberg, American newspaper columnist

April


- April 1 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
- April 2 - Emmylou Harris, American singer
- April 2 - Camille Paglia, American writer
- April 6 - John Ratzenberger, American actor
- April 8 - Tom DeLay, American politician
- April 11 - Deem Bristow, American video game actor (d. 2005)
- April 12 - Tom Clancy, American author
- April 12 - David Letterman, American entertainer
- April 16 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
- April 18 - Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
- April 18 - James Woods, American actor
- April 19 - Murray Perahia, American pianist
- April 23 - Philip Schneider, American structural engineer
- April 25 - Johan Cruijff, Dutch footballer and coach
- April 29 - Olavo de Carvalho, Brazilian philosopher

May


- May 6 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
- May 8 - H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- May 13 - Stephen R. Donaldson, American novelist
- May 26 - Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricket captains
- May 27 - Branko Oblak, Slovenian football player and coach

June


- June 4 - Viktor Klima, Chancellor of Austria
- June 6 - David Blunkett, British politician
- June 6 - Ada Kok, Dutch swimmer
- June 8 - Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 14 - Barry Melton, American musician (Country Joe and The Fish and The Dinosaurs)
- June 15 - John Hoagland, American war photographer (d. 1984)
- June 16 - -minu, Swiss columnist and writer
- June 19 - Salman Rushdie, Indian-born author
- June 20 - The Duchess of Gloucester
- June 20 - Candy Clark, American actress
- June 21 - Shirin Ebadi, Iranian activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- June 22 - David Lander, American actor and baseball scout
- June 22 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (d. 1988)
- June 22 - Mike Stone, American football player
- June 28 - Mark Helprin, American writer

July


- July 2 - Larry David, American actor, writer, producer, and director
- July 3 - John William Carter, son of U.S President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter
- July 7 - Richard Beckinsale, British actor
- July 9 - O. J. Simpson, American football player, actor, and suspected murderer
- July 10 - Arlo Guthrie, American singer
- July 10 - Jackie Lane, British actress
- July 17 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- July 19 - Brian May, English guitarist (Queen)
- July 20 - Gerd Binnig, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 20 - Carlos Santana, Mexican guitarist
- July 21 - Co Adriaanse, Dutch football manager
- July 24 - Peter Serkin, American pianist
- July 30 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born actor, bodybuilder, and Governor of California

August


- August 10 - Ian Anderson, British musician (Jethro Tull)
- August 15 - Raakhee Gulzar, Indian actress
- August 19 - Gerard Schwarz, American conductor
- August 24 - Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian road cyclist
- August 28 - Liza Wang, Hong Kong actress

September


- September 1 - Al Green, American politician
- September 3 - Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of Norway
- September 17 - Tessa Jowell, British politician
- September 19 - Steve Bartlett, U.S. Congressman and Mayor of Dallas, Texas
- September 21 - Stephen King, American author
- September 22 - Norma McCorvey, American abortion plaintiff
- September 27 - Dick Advocaat, Dutch football manager
- September 30 - Marc Bolan, English musician (T Rex) (d. 1977)

October


- October 1 - Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- October 5 - Brian Johnson, English singer
- October 14 - Lukas Resetarits, Austrian cabaret artist and actor
- October 17 - Gene Green, American politician
- October 19 - Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comics artist and illustrator
- October 24 - Kevin Kline, American actor
- October 26 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States and Senator from New York
- October 26 - Trevor Joyce, Irish poet

November


- November 14 - P. J. O'Rourke, American journalist and satirist
- November 19 - Bob Boone, baseball player and manager
- November 19 - Lamar S. Smith, American politician
- November 24 - Dwight Schultz, American actor

December


- December 7 - Wendy Padbury, British actress
- December 8 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 9 - Tom Daschle, U.S. Senator
- December 14 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
- December 18 - Rod Piazza, American musician
- December 16 - Vincent Matthews, American athlete
- December 21 - Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
- December 26 - Carlton Fisk, baseball player
- December 28 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (d. 2000)
- December 29 - Ted Danson, American actor
- December 30 - Michael Burns, American actor
- December 30 - Jeff Lynne, British musician (Electric Light Orchestra)
- December 31 - Tim Matheson, American actor
- December 31 - Burton Cummings, Canadian Musician Songwriter

Unknown date


- Florence Anthony, American poet

Fictional

None yet. Please erase this and put a name when one goes up here.

Deaths


- Emil J. Brach, American candy manufacturer (b. 1859)
- January 20 - Andrew Volstead, American politician (b. 1860)
- January 25 - Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
- March 11 - Victor Lustig, Austrian-born con artist (b. 1890)
- March 18 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (b. 1861)
- March 19 - Prudence Heward, Canadian painter (b. 1896)
- March 20 - Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (b. 1888)
- March 30 - Arthur Machen, Welsh-born author (b. 1863)
- April 1 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
- April 7 - Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer (b. 1863)
- April 20 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
- April 24 - Willa Cather, American novelist (b. 1873)
- May 8 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American department store magnate (b. 1858)
- May 16 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1861)
- May 17 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- May 20 - Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- May 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
- July 19 - Aung San, Burmese nationalist (assassinated) (b. 1915)
- July 30 - Joseph Cook, sixth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
- October 4 - Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- October 6 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (b. 1887)
- November 25 - Léon-Paul Fargue, French writer (b. 1876)
- December 1 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist (b. 1875)
- December 1 - G. H. Hardy, British mathematician (b. 1877)
- December 7 - Tristan Bernard, French writer and lawyer (b. 1866)
- December 7 - Nicholas M. Butler, American president of Columbia University, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862)
- December 17 - J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (b. 1879)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Edward Victor Appleton
- Chemistry - Sir Robert Robinson
- Medicine - Carl Ferdinand Cori, Gerty Cori, Bernardo Houssay
- Literature - André Gide
- Peace - The Friends Service Council (UK) and The American Friends Service Committee (USA), on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends Category:1947 ko:1947년 ms:1947 ja:1947年 simple:1947 th:พ.ศ. 2490

Ethnic studies

Ethnic studies is an academic discipline dedicated to the study of ethnic minorities. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English, ethnology, Asian Studies, and orientalism were imbued with an inherently eurocentric perspective. Ethnic Studies tried to remedy this by trying to study minority cultures on their own terms, in their own language, acknowledging their own values. In the United States, the discipline of Ethnic Studies evolved out of the civil rights movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which saw growing self-awareness and radicalization of minority groups such as African-Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans (also known as Latinos), and Native Americans. Ethnic Studies departments were established on many campuses and grew to encompass African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Latino/a Studies (also known as Chicano Studies), and Native American Studies. Courses in Ethnic Studies tried to address the criticism that the role of Asian Americans, Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans in American history was undervalued and ignored because of Euro-centric bias. Ethnic Studies also often encompasses issues of gender, class, and sexuality. There are now hundreds of African American, Asian American, and Latino Studies departments in the US, approximately fifty Native American Studies departments, and a small number of comparative Ethnic Studies programs. [http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/09/4209bd8f7f02c] While Ethnic Studies has always been opposed by some conservative elements, the rise of the conservative movement in the United States during the 1990s saw the discipline come increasingly under attack. Ethnic Studies was seen to reflect an excess of political correctness, whereby the "traditional values" of Western culture, symbolized by the United States, were being undermined by postmodern relativism. Ethnic Studies, it is argued by critics, promotes "racial separatism", "linguistic isolation" and "racial preference". [http://www.acri.org/newsletter/june19993.htm] In 2005, a professor of Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder, Ward Churchill, came under severe fire for an essay he had written about the September 11, 2001 attacks in which he argued that U.S. foreign policy was partly to blame for the atrocity. Conservative commentators used the Churchill affair to attack Ethnic Studies departments as enclaves of "anti-Americanism" which promote the idea of ethnic groups as "victims" in US society, and not places where serious scholarship is done. "The epistemological nadir of any university is found in the wacky world of ethnic and gender studies: black studies, Africana studies, Chicano studies, Latino studies, Puerto Rican studies, Middle Eastern studies, Native American studies, women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, et al.," wrote columnist Mark Goldblatt in the February 9 online edition of the conservative magazine The National Review. "The suggestion that 'studying' is involved in any of these subjects is laughable. they are quasi-religious advocacy groups whose curricula run the gamut from historical wish fulfillment (the ancient Egyptians were black; the U.S. Constitution was derived from the Iroquois Nation) to political axe grinding (the Israelis are committing genocide against the Palestinians; the U.S. is committing genocide against the people of Cuba)". [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/goldblatt200502090753.asp] In face of such attacks, Ethnic Studies scholars are now faced with having to defend the field. "Now, all of a sudden, because of one individual professor we have to undergo this absurd process as a legitimate academic enterprise, and that is grossly unfair," said Carlos Munoz, professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley and one of the founders of the discipline. [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2722200,00.html] Defending the importance of Ethnic Studies for society, Orin Starn, a cultural anthropologist and specialist in Native American studies at Duke University, says: "The United States is a very diverse country, and an advocate would say we teach kids to understand multiculturalism and diversity, and these are tools that can be used in law, government, business and teaching, which are fields graduates go into. It promotes thinking about diversity, globalization, how we do business and how we work with nonprofits." [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2722200,00.html]

External links


- [http://www.jsu.edu/depart/library/graphic/ethnic.htm Index of ethnic studies resources]
- [http://www.asian-nation.org/ Asian-Nation: Asian American Studies] by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
- [http://www.chicano.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=994 "Ethnic-studies divisions across U.S. working to defend their discipline"] (Chicano.org, 24 February 2005) Category:Ethnic Studies Category:Interdisciplinary fields

University of Colorado, at Boulder

The University of Colorado ("CU") System consists of three campuses:
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
- University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, created by the merger of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of Colorado at Denver The University of Colorado System is governed by an elected, nine-member Board of Regents of the University of Colorado.

External links


- [http://www.cu.edu/ University of Colorado System home page] Category:University of Colorado

Elmwood, Illinois

Elmwood is a city located in