For Once, It’s Not Paine’s Fault
February 25th, 2008
Some of you may have noticed Jim Paine’s story on PirateBallerina this morning claiming that an upcoming debate between our own Professor Ward Churchill and the right’s erstwhile “intellectual” icon Victor Davis Hanson, scheduled to occur in CU’s Mackey Auditorium on the evening of April 2, has been canceled.
Why? Because, Paine says, “Churchill unexpectedly pulled out.”
Now that didn’t sound quite right, but Paine attributed the statement to Hanson himself, and provided a link to the man’s website. So we followed up and, sure enough, the quoted verbiage appears thereon.
So, too, the observation that the “cancellation” will last only “until [Hanson] can come up with another opponent.”
At that point, we contacted Churchill, who informed us that there’s a wee bit of a problem with what Hanson’s saying, to wit: It’s a lie.
Better yet, as proof, the Good Prof forwarded us the whole e-mail exchange between himself and a young man named Chad Kifer, Director of Program Advancement and
Collegiate Debates for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a rightwing speakers bureau.
While we now have everything from Kifer’s original overture to Churchill on the idea of debating Hanson, to their discussion(s) of the topic to be debated, to the contractual arrangements involved, the following e-mail, received by the Good Prof last Thursday, shows very clearly that the debate was NOT cancelled because Churchill “pulled out” (”unexpectedly,” or otherwise).
What follows is Mr. Kifer’s message, in full:
Dear Ward,
I am writing to regretfully inform you that we have had to cancel the debate for April 2, 2008 at UC Boulder. This is due largely to matters outside our control. I am grateful for your willingness to participate in the program and I hope that we can find another forum that would be more suitable for this dialogue.
Thank you again and I will be in touch with future prospects as they become available.
Most sincerely,
Chad G. Kifer
Director of Program Advancement and Collegiate Debates
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
800-526-7022
www.isi.org
Churchill also informs us—and has provided a copy of his reply to back up what he’s saying—that he strenuously objected to the cancellation and demanded a detailed explanation as to the grounds upon which the debate was canceled and who, exactly, did the canceling.
He also states unequivocally, in the same e-mail to Kifer, that he himself is ready to proceed with the event, as scheduled, and implies that he is prepared to assert his contractual rights in the matter.
Finally, Churchill says that he’s got several calls in to both Kifer and Hanson, neither of whom have as yet replied.
Stay tuned, guys and gals, because this one’s shaping up to look like more than the usual measure of fun.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Oh, that’s rich. So . . . you think Hanson backed out, or you think the organizing parties were warned off by CU?
Either way, this could be great fun.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Posting this exact language from Hanson’s website so we’ll have it when he takes it down: “Debate canceled until we find another opponent. Ward Churchill unexpectedly pulled out.”
February 25th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Although Hank Brown no doubt gave the order—as a lame duck, he’d be the ideal hatchet man—my money’s on this actually being Bruce Benson’s first display of the manner in which the principle of academic freedom will be handled at CU, now that he’s been confirmed as pres.
That said, Hanson’s attempt to pass the whole thing off as to Churchill’s wimping out speaks for itself, wouldn’t you say?
No wonder Noj, Laurie, and the rest of the Ballerinas express so much admiration for Hanson. He and they share exactly the same “ethics.”
February 25th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
What a fucking farce.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Great read, Metroplex.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Your scenario is perfectly plausible, Metro, although it seems to me that both the ISI and Hanson himself would have had to have agreed in order for this to be playing out the way it is.
Certainly, unless this guy Kifer at ISI lied to HIM, Hanson knows that the debate was NOT cancelled because “Churchill unexpectedly pulled out.”
Then there’s that business about “finding another opponent” besides Ward Churchill to go up against.
All of which points to the possibility that it was actually Hanson who bailed (maybe after watching a rerun of Churchill handing David Horowitz his head during their debate at Georgetown a couple of years ago… And that’s not even to mention that spanking the Good Prof administered to Sean Hannity the same evening).
My best guess? Given the Colorado right’s ongoing campaign to discredit Churchill’s scholarship, Brown and Benson caucused, agreed that Churchill’s kicking Hanson’s ass in a public debate at CU Boulder would look damned bad for their side, and decided to nix the whole thing. One or the other or both of them called Hanson—who was himself suffering cold feet by that point—brought him aboard, and then they collectively enlisted ISI with the promise of future events at CU. The added touch of trying to blame Churchill for it is perfectly in character for everybody involved…
February 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Hanson’s corrected the cancellation notice on his website. Now reads:
“Debate has been canceled at this time and we are working on an upcoming debate. Our apologies to Ward Churchill for misstating the reasons earlier.”
February 26th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
A somewhat similar thing happened when David Horowitz was running advertisements in college papers saying black people owe white people gratitude for saving them from Africa. We wrote Tim Rice and he wanted to debate Horowitz in California, but when we emailed Horowitz, he was all calling Rice irrelevant, and saying his conflict is with the Berkeley community. It wasn’t clear if he meant hapless sophomores at the student newspaper, or some professors, who totally didn’t notice that they had any dialog with Horowitz. Then, his College Republicans club produced a flyer saying “we wanted this to be a debate, but the other side refused”, even though Horowitz really refused. At his talk, they demanded the uni use a metal detector, freaked out the building janitors by telling them that everyone wants to attack Horowitz, and the republicans lined the aisles to threaten anyone wishing to ‘debate’ a point or make noise. Then Horowitz stomped off when this guy asked whether the first amendment requires that private newspapers print any ad (this was long-winded guy at Ward’s AK Press talk).
A sort of similar thing happened when this ridiculous jerk Kevin Flynn staged an appearance, probably 7 years ago. His people flyered the campus with announcements “mumia must fry!! go to biology building room 213 at 7pm”, so a lot of people went to see who was attempting to bait everyone, including many townies over age 35. The guy started insulting the audience on their appearance starting when a student tried to announce an upcoming event before the talk. Then Flynn *refused* to start speaking. He just kept calling people names and inducing people to heckle back. When there were 15 second pauses, he wouldn’t start his prepared talk, and continued provoking. A townie mooned him, and they got photos to print in an attack piece on Berkeley. it was only after an hour of this that a couple people went outside to start burning magazines.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Tim White, not Tim Rice.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Wait also… that is Dan Flynn, not Kevin Flynn. Who the heck is Kevin Flynn. Here is an archive of the cited incident. He totally staged this and brought it about. There is a huge college republican population there and they aren’t oppressed. http://www.dailycal.org/article/3345/shouting_for_mumia
February 26th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
We’ll see how long it takes for Paine to correct his current statement, now that the truth is coming out.
We’ll see if Paine somehow STILL manages to turn the news into a slur against Churchill. That’s the way he normally works. At the slightest sign that he isn’t right about anything, he goes on the attack.
What he currently says:
“As Drunka notes, the great VDH-WC debate has been canceled; according to Hanson (right side, calendar of events), The Perfesser “unexpectedly pulled out.” Reminds us of the 70s joke about Nixon’s dad and early withdrawal.”
February 26th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
As I said earlier, it’s a fucking farce.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:45 am
As of this morning, the post you quoted remains unchanged, Pablo, although Victor Davis Hanson has not only retracted the falsehood Paine highlights but apologized to Churchill for it.
Which means that even Paine’s phrase “according to Hanson” is a lie.