June!

The first day of June brings news that ex-CU professor Ward Churchill will have his termination of employment case heard by the Colorado Supreme Court - probably sometime in 2012. "Every judge that has heard this case has ruled that the university acted appropriately when we terminated Churchill," said CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue. "We believe the Colorado Supreme Court will do the same." (CU's regents voted 8-1 to fire Churchill nearly four years ago because of academic-misconduct violations. Faculty members tasked with investigating Churchill's body of work found patterns of plagiarism, fabricated facts and other academic-misconduct violations they said were deliberate.)
Churchill sued the university, alleging he was really fired because of his controversial speech. The professor's 9/11 essay ignited national furor because it called some victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out Hitler's plan to exterminate Europe's Jews during World War II. Lane expects that oral arguments at the supreme court level -- which have not yet been scheduled -- will happen at the beginning of 2012 and a ruling could be made by that spring. "It's huge," Lane said. "First, they hear a small fraction of cases that come before them. It's more shocking that they've agreed to hear all three issues that Churchill has asked them to hear."
In addition to reviewing whether granting the regents quasi-judicial immunity comports with federal law, the Supreme Court will consider whether CU violated his First Amendment rights and whether Churchill can be given his job back. CU attorney Patrick O'Rourke argued before the Court of Appeals last fall that all of the university's scholars should be able to defend their scholarship should it be challenged on the grounds of plagiarism or findings that aren't sourced. O'Rourke said professors are protected if their work shows a difference of popular opinion or alternative interpretations of data. He said it would be inappropriate for the university to rehire Churchill because he's stated hostility toward the university, and his patterns of misconduct would hurt fellow professors and devalue the degrees of students. - Wow!
Silver Lake Irrigation Ditch has finally opened, and folks who live along the ditch are now able to water their property without using city or county water lines. Rosie and Remy had a super time running in and out of the sprinklers we ran across today. Poor Brandi "lost" me this morning, and stood in the den barking until I went to her. I gave her a treat and loved her, and she was OK again. The kits were happy to see me arrive home - but once I fed and loved them, they have disappeared onto the patio. That's OK - this is the time of year when we start taking our daily siestas in the early afternoon, so we can do more later when it's cooler outside.
I really had to laugh - the Equine Herpes Virus 1 outbreak has been going on since the first of May. But now, at the beginning of June, MSNBC is taking notice of it because of how the outbreak is hurting the sponsors of equine events - not how it's affecting all the local folks who like to trail ride from their home stables, or the deaths of the horses so far... I guess that I really should know, by this age and time, that the old adage is very correct: Money makes the world go around....