Churchill Wins $1 Jury Verdict for Wrongful Termination

Former University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill won his wrongful termination case against the school, but the jury awarded only $1 in damages.

According to 9News,

The jury ruled in Churchill's favor today, deciding that when he was fired in 2007 it was because a majority of CU's Regents were responding to political pressure stemming from outrage over an essay he wrote after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In the essay, he compared Sept. 11 victims inside the World Trade Center towers to an infamous Nazi. CU had maintained the ethnic studies professor was dismissed for plagiarism and academic misconduct. The jury also ruled Churchill would not have been fired over the plagiarism and academic misconduct allegations alone. The judge will now decide whether Churchill will return and begin teaching at CU again. His attorney, David Lane, says that is what Churchill wants. Lane says if CU opposes, there will be a hearing.

Some might call this a bittersweet victory for Churchill. But the case is not over yet. See the rest of the great 9News reports and Churchill trial coverage.

Ward Churchill / CU Trial Underway

Former professor Ward Churchill has sued the University of Colorado after the school terminated his employment as a tenured professor of ethnic studies.

He says they fired him because he expressed controversial views.

CU says they terminated him for plagiarism.

Interesting that the plagiarism allegations only surfaced after Churchill made the provocative statements he says referred to the workers in the financial sector "greasing the wheels of American oppression." Do you think the plagiarism allegations could have resulted from a retaliatory investigation? 9News is covering the civil trial as it unfolds this week, and the reporting is excellent.