April 01, 2005

More On Ward Churchill's Hypocrisy

Front Page Magazine has an article today by Mary Grabar regarding Ward Churchill and it ain't pretty.

For a man who seems bent on bringing down "America's global empire," he sure doesn't seem to be hurting for cash. According to Grabar,

With only a masterÕs degree in communications from a now-defunct college that was liberal in its grading policies, he [Churchill] was promoted to department head over several faculty members with Ph.D.Õs.

He was earning over $100,000 in salary and over $3,000 per speaking engagement.

He has generous health and retirement benefits.

He enjoys the typically light course load awarded to tenured faculty at flagship universities, with time not only to pen the original essay attacking American
citizens but to expand it into a book titled On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. For this, like-minded colleagues rewarded him with his third honorable mention for a human rights award from the well-connected and well-funded Gustavus Myers Center in Boston.

Given the extraordinary working conditions of Professor Churchill, his complaints about a ÒsystemÓ that purportedly rewards an insular elite and exploits marginalized workers is a sore test of patienceÑespecially for someone like me, whose circumstances make for an illuminating comparison.

I hold a Ph.D., but labor as an adjunct at a small public college in Georgia.

My salary stands at less than one-fifth of what Churchill makes, $2100 per class.

I have no benefits, perks, or job security.

The adjunct teacher forms a crucial base in the higher education system. To sustain the hours and privileges of the elite professors, we handle the influx of entering students by teaching the large, labor-intensive classes like freshman composition and surveys, without pension or medical benefitsÑor, one might add, academic freedom.

Grabar then asks, "Where is ChurchillÕs anger over the exploitation in his own back yard?"

That's a wonderful question, but I don't think Grabar will be getting an answer anytime soon.

The irony of the situation, of course, would be lost on Churchill and his ilk even if they took a nanosecond to look into it. Far from working hard, tenured faculty like Churchill have plenty of time to indulge in their main passion, which is undermining the infrastructure of our country. (Think of how much time they have for this when they are on summer break and those lovely leaves-of-absence called "sabbatical" that come around every few years!)

In fact, throughout history, many of our "radicals" have come from privileged backgrounds. While the everyday man spends most of his time making a living, these "revolutionaries" have plenty of time to "build Utopia" via socialism, Marxism and the like because their basic needs are taken care of...and then some.

So the next time you hear one of Churchill's radical speeches about corporate bigwigs grinding the faces of the workers in the name of money and greed, just look at who is doing all of the talking.

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