Call from Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom

Below is a call from Students and Faculty for True
Academic Freedom urging people to come to the
University of Colorado Regents Meeting on July 24th.
This is the last chance before the Regents decide
Churchill’s fate. How this decision goes down will
have tremendous implications, both for Churchill, and
for critical thinking and dissent more broadly –
particularly in the wake of the denial of tenure for
DePaul professor Norman Finkelstein. The Regents
meeting must take place in an atmosphere which fully
repudiates the entire “investigation” of Churchill and
the agenda behind it. The Regents and those behind the
assault on Churchill need to know that any dismissal
of Churchill will not be allowed to stand – and that
we will not let it become a precedent for launching
further attacks.

If you cannot get to Boulder, there are other
important ways of contributing to this effort:

* Send letters of protest to the CU Board of Regents.
The Regents can be reached c/o Millie.Cortez@cu.edu,
or individually at

Steve.Ludwig@cu.edu, Cindy.Carlisle@cu.edu,
Patricia.Hayes@cu.edu, Michael.Carrigan@cu.edu,
Tom.Lucero@cu.edu, Steve.Bosley@cu.edu,
Kyle.Hybl@cu.edu, Paul.Schauer@cu.edu,
Tillie.Bishop@cu.edu

Please cc: to criticalxthinking@yahoo.com and
wcsn@gmail.com so that they can be used in press
materials.

* If you know people in the Boulder area, contact them
and urge them to go.

* Write letters to the editor, both before and after
the decision.

* If you would like to be available for comments to
the press in the aftermath of the decision, please
contact us.

Please forward this message to others you know.
Thanks.
_____________________________________________

From Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom

Will the CU Regents Fire Ward Churchill?
They vote on July 24. Let’s make our voices heard.

JOIN OUR VIGIL & OBSERVE REGENTS’ MEETING:

When: Tuesday July 24 at 7:30 a.m.

Where: meet up in the plaza in front of the UMC
student center
( Euclid Ave entrance just east of Broadway)

From there, we’ll walk over and attend the Regents’
meeting:
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

* We are using this meet-up plan because the location
of Regents’ meeting has not yet been announced. The
UMC is close to UMC parking and centrally located on
campus.

Why Mobilize:

The Regents of the University of Colorado have
scheduled a meeting on the CU-Boulder campus on July
24, 2007 to vote on the dismissal of Professor Ward
Churchill.

The University is pretending to fire him for his
scholarship, but it’s clearly in retaliation for his
comments about 9/11. To see what’s wrong with the
so-called research misconduct charges, visit
www.wardchurchill.net or
www.defendcriticalthinking.org.

Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom call
upon all those who care about free speech and academic
freedom to join us in protesting this charade.

The Regents will open with a “public” meeting at 8:00
am. They will go into a closed session to hear
arguments from Prof. Churchill and his attorney, as
well as the University’s lawyers. They say they will
re-open for their public vote at 4:00 p.m.

As we know, a “public” meeting doesn’t mean that the
public will have a chance to speak. (Witness the
arrests at their February 2005 meeting.)

Our plan is to have observers at the meeting and hold
a vigil outside. It is critical to be there to convey
our message:
* Don’t Fire Ward Churchill
* Defend Critical Thinking
* Preserve Academic Freedom

We may not change the Regents’ vote, but the world is
watching. This is a test case: The easier they think
it is to fire Ward Churchill on bogus charges of
research misconduct, the more attacks we’ll see on
professors and students, on ethnic studies programs,
and on critical thinking.

As usual, this decision will take place when most of
the students and faculty are away from campus. And, of
course, the Regents may change their plans at the last
minute to avoid any real public input. So, spread the
word, stay tuned, and check out last minute
developments at: www.wardchurchill.net.

____________________________________________________________________________________
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