Churchill's barbs spread widely.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

Controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill told a standing-room only crowd at the University of Oregon Thursday night that academic freedom and free speech are increasingly under fire in the United States.

He also took a jab at higher education, saying that colleges have become glorified vocational technology schools devoid of teaching critical thinking.

"This is not education," Churchill said. "(College's) design is indoctrination. They teach you what to think, not how to think."

About 500 people packed the Erb Memorial Union ballroom to hear the University of Colorado ethnic studies professor whose comments about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center sparked widespread condemnation and calls for his firing.

A committee that formed to investigate his scholarship this week said Churchill had plagiarized the work of other professors and misrepresented facts in his published writings, findings that could lead to his dismissal.

In his 80-minute speech, Churchill alluded to the investigation by saying that college administrators have fired professors in the past for ideological reasons or running afoul of wealthy benefactors to the university.

Dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and blue jeans, Churchill also touched on eco-terrorists, a term he says was invented by the U.S. intelligence community.

"Taking the tops of mountains in Appalachia, that's eco-terrorism," he said, which was met by rousing applause.

Churchill also weighed in on the U.S. Senate vote on Wednesday to build 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the Mexican border.

"Those rabid morons want to build a wall ... Now how the hell do you think they'll do that without Mexican labor," he said.

Churchill gained notoriety for an essay published shortly after the terrorist attacks that used the phrase "little Eichmanns" to describe some of the corporate executives who worked in the trade center.

A group of about 20 people, made up of members of College Republicans and other UO students, stood outside the student union building waving flags and carrying signs that read: "UO Students Against Churchill" and "We Support the Troops," among others.

Anthony Warren, chairman of the College Republicans on campus, called Churchill's appearance on campus a disgrace.

`It's disgusting that he calls the victims of 9/11 `little Eichmanns,' ' Warren said. "He should show support and apologize to the victims."

Standing next to Warren was Josh Lusby, a fellow College Republican. Lusby's sign read: "Churchill Equals Treason."

"He talks about how bad America is and the war on terrorism; yet he reaps the benefits of living in America," Lusby said. "If America is so bad, why is he living here?"

Churchill's appearance was jointly sponsored by the UO Survival Center and local activist John Zerzan, an editor of Green Anarchy magazine.

CAPTION(S):

Ward Churchill speaks at the University of Oregon on Thursday. The controversial writer, liberal activist and academic drew about 20 protesters. Churchill was criticized after writing an essay in which he labeled some of the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks as ``little Eichmanns.'' Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard and this is light text and this is more light text