Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

California Screaming: Ward Churchill Says Zionism = Nazism

Disgraced former University of Colorado ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill — best known for labeling the victims of the World Trade Center attacks “little Eichmanns” — has found a second life. Since being fired by his university for “serious research misconduct,” Churchill has cultivated a diverse fan base of left-wing extremists, Chicano extremists and Muslim extremists.

Churchill spoke earlier this week at the University of California at Davis on the topic “Zionism, Manifest Destiny and Nazi Lebensraumpolitik: Three Variations on a Common Theme.” His appearance, according to the campus newspaper, sponsored by Students for Peace & Justice with the co-sponsorship of Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Student Association and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan.

Two things are (particularly) troubling: First, that this crank who sees the victims of 9/11 as the villains (Nazis even!) is being sponsored by the campus’s mainstream Muslim group. (Although this isn’t the first time Churchill has found an eager audience among Muslim students on a California campus.) Second, that the only two groups that bothered to protest were the pro-Israel and Republican student clubs. Are Churchill’s views any less offensive to campus Democrats and students who aren’t pro-Israel activists? (I sort of fear the answer to this question in a campus — and general political — climate in which every issue becomes partisan and polarized.)

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.