The Rocky Mountain News is reporting there might be some discrepancies where Churchill's tenure is concerned:
Churchill had been working for more than a decade in a program that helps minority students when then-Vice Chancellor Kaye Howe recommended him for a one-semester appointment teaching Indian studies.
Eleven months later, Churchill leaped to a coveted tenured position.
"This just doesn't compute for me," Howe said Wednesday of Churchill's quick rise to tenure. "I don't understand that."
Tenure is usually granted only after a "laborious" process, she said.
A discussion point at that time was over the fact that Churchill didn't have a doctorate...
"I'm sure that what I was thinking was that Ward, with his involvement in scholarship in Native American areas was one of those people who should probably . . . be given the opportunity to demonstrate that he might have the credentials to be a successful faculty person."
But, Howe said, she wasn't talking about tenure when she recommended Churchill for a job.
"It was for one term. Why not give somebody an opportunity when it looks like they have been very active in scholarship?" she said.
Curiouser and curiouser...
DR
