EDITORIAL
UH steps into it with speaker choice

The folks at the University of Hawai'i received more attention than they had imagined — much of it negative— over their public symposium on civil liberties this week.

Among those speaking today is Colorado professor Ward Churchill, who has stirred a national firestorm over a now infamous essay he wrote in the wake of the attacks on 9/11.

In essence, he argues that those killed in the Pentagon were "military targets" and that some of those killed in the World Trade Center were "little Eichmanns," referring to Adolf Eichmann, one of the key Nazis who helped Adolf Hitler execute his plan to murder Jews during World War II.

The Sept. 11 victims, Churchill's essay argues, are participants, at one level or another, in global activities that naturally spurred retaliation of this sort.

Churchill's critics are right on target in asserting that his remarks are hurtful, inaccurate and appear designed more to inflame than inform.

Deepening the ire are assertions and allegations that Churchill won the tenured position at the University of Colorado through false pretenses, including exaggerating his academic credentials and by falsely claiming Native American heritage to win a spot in the Ethnic Studies Department. Earlier this month, Churchill resigned his chairmanship of Colorado University's Ethnic Studies Department because of the controversy.

During a news conference at the Manoa campus yesterday, Churchill defended the legitimacy of the process by which he won tenure and reacted angrily to questions about his ancestry, adding later that he does consider himself Native American. The drama and resulting extension of Churchill's dubious brush with fame raise the question: With so many well-credentialed and thoughtful academics to choose from, why invite this particular individual to our campus?

Clearly, they could have made a better choice.

Yet as UH President David McClain rightly pointed out, allowing Churchill to speak points to the basic mission and function of a university. It is a place for inquiry, discussion and freedom of speech.

One way to understand and properly respond to thinking such as that implied in Churchill's essay is to hear it firsthand and respond or refute those ideas. Or to choose not to attend at all.

In the battle of ideas, good ideas will triumph over bad ones if they are met head-on rather than ignored or suppressed.