"Ward Churchill is a far more profound, original, knowledgeable, productive and important scholar than any of his critics," University of Colorado sociology professor Tom Mayer insisted as recently as last month.

Mayer is correct to this extent: Yes, Churchill was original and productive. He was original to the point of inventing his material and productive to the point of lifting the work of others. The voluminous evidence is all available, for anyone to see, in the 124 pages of the "Report of the Investigative Committee of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct" that was issued in May 2006.

Thus far the Rocky Mountain News today, commenting on the firing of pseudo-professor Ward Churchill.

It didn't have anything to do with free speech, of course. It had to do with whether the peopl e of Colorado could decide that a liar, thief, and all around vagabond should be paid by the tax-payers and provided a forum for his self-aggrandizement.

The regents decided that the people didn't want to pay anymore. Now the courts will get a chance, I suppose, to affirm the right of contracts. Given some court decisions, however, they may decide to invent new rights for the basest of us.