How Many Ward Churchills?

Ever since tenured ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill called victims of 9/11 “little Eichmanns,” he has become the veritable poster boy for extremism in American academe. In this report, ACTA places Churchill in context and finds—based on a broad survey of publicly available materials—that Ward Churchill is not only not alone; he is quite common. The study concludes that throughout American higher education, professors are using their classrooms to push political agendas in the name of teaching students to think critically. The study offers concrete steps colleges and universities can take to ensure a balance between students’ academic freedom to learn and professors’ academic freedom to teach, research, and publish.