Ward LeRoy Churchill (October 2, 1947 – August 11, 2026) was an American activist, author and academic. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007. Much of Churchill's work focused on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government, and he expressed controversial views in a direct – often confrontational and abrasive – style.
While Churchill claimed Native American ancestry, genealogical research has failed to unearth such ancestry, and he was not a recognized member of any tribe. In January 2005, Churchill's 2001 essay "On the Justice of Roosting Chickens" gained attention. In the work, he argued the September 11 attacks were a natural and unavoidable consequence of unlawful U.S. foreign policy over the latter half of the 20th century; the essay is known for Churchill's use of the phrase "little Eichmanns" to describe the "technocratic corps" working in the World Trade Center.
In March 2005, the University of Colorado began investigating allegations that Churchill had engaged in research misconduct. Churchill was fired on July 24, 2007. Churchill filed a lawsuit against the university for unlawful termination of employment. In April 2009, a Denver jury found that Churchill was unjustly fired, awarding him $1 in damages. In July 2009, however, a District Court judge vacated the monetary award and declined Churchill's request to order his reinstatement, holding that the university had "quasi-judicial immunity". Churchill's appeals of this decision were unsuccessful.
Churchill was born in Urbana, Illinois, on October 2, 1947, to Jack LeRoy Churchill and Maralyn Lucretia Allen. His parents divorced before he turned two. He grew up in Elmwood, Illinois, where he attended local schools.
In 1966, Churchill was drafted into the United States Army. On his 1980 resume, he claimed to have served as a public-information specialist who "wrote and edited the battalion newsletter and wrote news releases". In a 1987 profile in the Denver Post, Churchill claimed to have attended paratrooper school and to have volunteered for a 10-month stint on Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol in Vietnam. Churchill also claimed to have spent time at the Chicago office of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and provided firearms and explosives training to members of the Weather Underground. In 2005, the Denver Post reported on fabrications in Churchill's service record. Department of Defense personnel files showed that Churchill was trained as a film projectionist and light truck driver, but they do not reflect paratrooper school or LRRP training.
He received his B.A. in technological communications in 1974 and his M.A. in communication theory in 1975, both from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield).
University of Colorado Boulder
In 1978, Churchill began working at the University of Colorado Boulder as an affirmative action officer in the university administration. He also lectured on issues relating to Native Americans in the United States in the ethnic studies program. In 1990, the University of Colorado hired him as an associate professor, although he did not possess the academic doctorate usually required for the position. The following year he was granted tenure in the Communication department, without the usual six-year probationary period, after having been declined by the Sociology and Political Science departments.
Churchill received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Alfred University in 1992.
In 1994, then CU-Boulder Chancellor James Corbridge refused to take action on allegations that Churchill was fraudulently claiming to be an Indian, saying "it has always been university policy that a person's race or ethnicity is self-proving."
In 1996, Churchill moved to the new Ethnic Studies Department of the University of Colorado. In 1997, he was promoted to full professor. He was selected as chairman of the department in June 2002. Documents in Churchill's university personnel file show that Churchill was granted tenure in a "special opportunity position".
In January 2005, during the controversy over his 9/11 remarks, Churchill resigned as chairman of the ethnic studies department at the University of Colorado; his term as chair was scheduled to expire in June of that year.
In 2005, the University of Colorado's Research Misconduct Committee conducted a preliminary investigation into whether Churchill misrepresented his ethnicity to "add credibility and public acceptance to his scholarship". The committee concluded that the allegation was not "appropriate for further investigation under the definition of research misconduct". The university has said that it does not hire on the basis of ethnicity.
On July 24, 2007, Churchill was fired for academic misconduct.
Research misconduct investigation
The quality of Churchill's research had been seriously questioned by legal scholar John LaVelle and historian Guenter Lewy. Additional critics were sociologist Thomas Brown, who had been preparing an article on Churchill's work; and historians R. G. Robertson and Russell Thornton, who said that Churchill had misrepresented their work.
In 2005, University of Colorado Boulder administrators ordered an investigation into seven allegations of research misconduct against Churchill. The allegations included three allegations of plagiarism, allegations of fabrication or falsification regarding the history of the Dawes Act and the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and alleged claims that smallpox was intentionally spread to Native Americans by John Smith in 1614 and by the United States Army at Fort Clark in 1837.
On May 16, 2006, the university released its findings; the Investigative Committee unanimously concluded that Churchill had engaged in "serious research misconduct", including falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism. The committee was divided on the appropriate level of sanctions. Following further deliberations by university bodies, on July 24, 2007, the university regents voted seven to two to uphold all seven of the findings of research misconduct. The regents voted eight to one to fire Churchill.