Should Radical U of C Professor Get the Axe?

As seen splashed across the news these past few days, there is a debate raging. Recap:

Students and faculty members at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., have been protesting a speaking appearance scheduled for Feb. 3rd by Professor Ward Churchill, Chairman of the University of Colorado Ethnic Studies Department. It was discovered that the Professor, an activist for Native American rights (of questionable native lineage himself), had written an essay shortly after the 9-11-01 attacks. In his essay, Churchill portrays America as a murderous empire that deserved the retribution (and still more) it received from brave "combat teams" on September 11, 2001. Some key points he makes:

• "Meet the "Terrorists:" Of the men who came (on 9-11)...They did not, for starters, "initiate" a war with the US, much less commit "the first acts of war of the new millennium.""
• "The men who flew the missions against the WTC and Pentagon were not "cowards." That distinction properly belongs to the "firm-jawed lads" who delighted in flying stealth aircraft through the undefended airspace of Baghdad, dropping payload after payload of bombs on anyone unfortunate enough to be below..."
• "...America and Americans were only receiving the bill for what they'd already done. Payback, as they say, can be a real motherfucker (ask the Germans)."
• The attacks on Sept. 11, he said, were "a natural and inevitable consequence of what happens as a result of business as usual in the United States. Wake up."

Heard enough? If not, read the full transcript; On the Justice of Roosting Chickens

Now, he has resigned from his chairmanship of the Ethnic Studies Department, but the question is this: Should this tenured professor be fired from his teaching job at a STATE UNIVERSITY (Read: Tax Payer Supported) for writing this essay?

The answer: As much as it pains me to say it, no. But as with Michael Moore and Howard Stern, a boycott of their services and a good ass-kicking might be in order! (First Amendment...we don't always like who it protects, but it works for them too).

However, if he got his professorship using what appears to be a dubious story about his own heritage, then he might just be in hot water.