Jan 22, 2006 6:47 pm US/Mountain
Churchill Receives Straight A's From Fall Class
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) ―
University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, who is being investigated for alleged plagiarism and other academic offenses, was given straight A's by his fall semester class on the "American Holocaust," the Boulder Daily Camera reported Sunday.
The newspaper said the evaluations were posted Friday.
"I am not surprised. Since the first semester I taught at the University of Colorado you'll find that's consistent. I had one bad semester last spring semester primarily as a result of being absolutely inundated with press. We had reporters sitting in the classroom," he said in a telephone interview Sunday morning.
The Camera said that after Churchill was criticized students gave him his three spring courses last year lower ratings than in prior years -- A's, B's, C's and a D-plus in one class for accessibility.
"It took a toll," Churchill said.
Asked to describe the class, Churchill said, "It's a class that first of all takes up the genocide convention and the underpinnings which establishes what the legal and sociological definitions of genocide actually are. And then examines the sweep of American history through that lens, primarily but by no means exclusively with regard to Indians. It takes into consideration the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the importation of coolie labor, and so on and so on."
In September, a University of Colorado panel recommended a full investigation of Churchill for alleged research misconduct. The decision came in the wake of national criticism of Churchill for likening some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi.
The faculty committee called for investigating Ward Churchill on seven allegations involving plagiarism, misuse of others' work and falsification and fabrication. Conviction could lead to his dismissal.
Churchill says the charges are a political attack, and he has violated no rules.
The newly posted grades were for a 13-student "American Holocaust" class in fall 2005 included one A plus for instructor rating. Twenty-eight students gave him all A-pluses except for one B for accessibility for his summer course.
The Camera reported that the school's tenured and tenure-track professors typically score a B for the instructor rating under the current student-feedback system
Churchill has argued that the United States Army committed genocide against Native Americans through methods such as handing out small pox infected blankets.
The university's rating system for professors, meanwhile, is being changed. Beginning next fall professors will be rated on a scale of 1 to 6.
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