Churchill says 'plagiarism occurred,' it wasn't him

DENVER - Former University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill denied again on Tuesday during his testimony that he was guilty of plagiarism and insisted he was fired because he compared some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi.

CU says Churchill was fired because of research misconduct and plagiarism.

He says it was because of a controversial essay written just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks where he called some of the victims "little Eichmanns." He was referring to Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann.

Churchill is suing to get his job back and on the stand says he was fired because outside political pressure, partially caused by the news media, which erupted in 2005. CU maintains it fired Churchill because of academic misconduct.

"They want to intimidate people," added Churchill. "They're trying to nullify me."

"From day one this was being tried in the media," Churchill told the jury. "[And] every step of the process was being marked by being publicized by the institution."

He said the university posted one investigative report about him on its Web site before he could read it.

Churchill gained national notoriety in 2005 when his controversial 9-11 essay was being widely discussed on radio talk shows and cable television.

Churchill went on to tell the jury that he believes a number of other scholars have been scared to speak out after seeing what happened to him.

This is "ultimate disrespect," he concluded.

"Are you sitting here asking this jury for money?" asked Churchill's attorney David Lane.
"No," replied Churchill. "I want my job. I want restitution."

While on the stand, Churchill did concede that sections of an essay by Fay Cohen, a professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, was used without giving her credit in the book "State of Native America," but he said that someone else - he's not sure who - was responsible for the content of the writing.

"Plagiarism occurred," Churchill said as he faced cross-examination by CU attorney Patrick O'Rourke

O'Rourke also asked Churchill whether he thought it was right to compare the World Trade Center victims to Eichmann.

Churchill said some of the Sept. 11 victims had acquiesced to the practice of chaining 13-year-olds to their work stations in Indonesian sweatshops.

The courtroom was packed for the second day in a row as Churchill testified.

O'Rourke got his first crack at Churchill at 10 a.m. and he bored in on both the Cohen essay and another piece, published under the name Rebecca Robbins, which the former professor contends he wrote.

O'Rourke pointed out that Churchill edited Cohen's essay for inclusion in a book he was publishing, and noted that they passed drafts back and forth. In one of them, according to O'Rourke, Cohen made changes on nine different pages and to 15 separate footnotes.

Later, he said, after Cohen withdrew permission for the essay to also be published in a second book that Churchill was editing, large portions of her essay appeared without her name on it.

At one point, O'Rourke asked Churchill whether he was telling the jury that when he edited the second book just months after the first he didn't recognize Cohen's prose.

"Yes, that's what I'm telling them," Churchill said.

But O'Rourke's questioning backfired when he asked Churchill a second time how he could not have known both essays were written by Cohen when they had the same name. After Churchill challenged that assertion, O'Rourke had the two essays put up on a big screen in the corner of the courtroom, and that showed the two articles were, indeed, titled differently.

"You know what professor, you are right, I am wrong," O'Rourke said.

Later, he questioned Churchill at length about ghost-writing, pointing out that Churchill contends he wrote the piece that was published under Robbins' name and then later cited it as a source in other writings of his.

Asked if he disagreed that that was deceptive, Churchill replied, "Yes, I disagree."

Churchill argued that ghost-writing is an entirely accepted practice in the academic world, and he said he could bring numerous witnesses to the courtroom who would testify that way.

O'Rourke pointed out that none of the professors Churchill had called as witnesses had agreed with that assertion.

"That's the point that I was trying to make, is that you need to look at what you're doing in the world," he said.

During his cross examination O'Rourke asked Churchill why he said that he preferred to be called doctor at the start of his testimony on Monday when he has only earned a master's degree.

Churchill: "I have an honorary doctorate.

O'Rourke: "They gave you an honorary title?"

Churchill: "You wish to dishonor it?"

O'Rourke: "No."

Click here to read the Denver Post.com's live blog of the trial.