ACTA in the NewsFree Speech
ASU professors fail to cancel Christian speaker’s ‘dangerous’ guest talk titled ‘Family Under Attack’
Arizona State University hosted an event yesterday featuring attorney Mary Hasson, whose Christian […]
WASHINGTON, DC—Anne D. Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and a First Amendment attorney, released today the following statement in response to recent allegations made at the Ward Churchill trial in Denver:
In recent days, it has been alleged that the American Council of Trustees and Alumni demanded Ward Churchill be fired because he compared the victims of September 11 to Nazis. These irresponsible accusations have been repeated by respected media outlets including The Denver Post and the Associated Press. These charges are categorically false.
On February 11, 2005, ACTA publicly urged, in a news release, that the University of Colorado not punish Churchill for his statement on the victims of the World Trade Center attacks and that CU grant him due process.
Churchill did receive academic due process. After numerous committees of his peers probed his scholarship, culminating in a finding of “multiple acts of plagiarism, fabrication and falsification,” then-President Hank Brown reviewed the findings and recommended that the Board of Regents fire Churchill due to his clear dereliction of academic standards. ACTA supported this decision.
It is indisputable: ACTA insisted from the beginning that Churchill be granted due process, not that he be fired because of his views, objectionable as they may have been.
It is disappointing that journalists covering the Churchill trial have not made any efforts to contact ACTA regarding allegations made.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is an independent non-profit dedicated to academic freedom, academic quality and accountability.
Arizona State University hosted an event yesterday featuring attorney Mary Hasson, whose Christian […]
Like many universities, Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh are struggling to protect free expression, encourage a plurality of views and foster habits of civil discourse on their campuses.
As a new administration comes into office and Congress begins its first session, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) calls on our representatives to turn their attention to American higher education and finally take decisive action. There is much to be done, but change is most urgently needed in the following five areas: […]
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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