Another Ward Churchill court appearance, another opportunity for KHOW talk-show hosts Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman to portray the controversial professor, who yesterday argued for reinstatement to his University of Colorado at Boulder job, as the gray roots of all evil. Kudos, then, to a caller bold enough to present a contrarian view. She argued briefly (because "briefly" was the best she could manage in this forum) that putting Churchill behind a CU podium again would be appropriate punishment for the school -- a daily reminder not to violate someone's rights as egregiously as officials did in this case.
Has CU already figured that out? It's certainly a possibility considering the horrendous expense incurred during years of litigation, not to mention the bad press associated with its de facto loss to Churchill at trial -- a public-relations hit epitomized by the new HBO documentary Shouting Fire: Stories From the Edge of Free Speech, which lionizes the very man the conservative establishment prefers to excoriate. But what better way to make certain than for Churchill to be back on campus, the biggest celebrity instructor at a school that spent years trying to jettison him? Such a lesson would be mighty hard to ignore, and CU may start learning it as soon as next week -- giving Caplis and Silverman a treasure trove of new material. A win-win situation?
