Ward Churchill reminds me of those academic frauds who peopled my college life back in the late '60s and early 70s. They made wild statements that whipped us gullible students into a frenzy, particularly against the Vietnam War and the establishment. We followed them around like they were tin gods, hanging on every word of theirs. All the while, many of them were lazy and looking for a good time with the coeds.

I remember one prof, in particular, an English teacher known for his radicalism, if anyone at party school Chico State could be called a radical. Every lecture, this Luddite would bring up his contempt for modern society, often going off on monologues about machinery -- and how all of it made noise similar to flatulence. If you kept your mouth shut, you got a good grade. I can't remember a thing about that class other than a kid reading his awful, profanity-laced poetry to the class.

When I read of college kids flocking to hear Churchill's spiel and college profs defending his right to nab a check for a 20-minute rant at EWU, I realize few things have changed on campus in the ensuing three decades. When all the world has changed around us. P.T. Barnum was right.

DFO

P.S. Toadman points out in the "comments" section that Churchill spoke to the Indian studies for an hour and the 20 minutes to the other impressionable collegians was a bonus. Wonder if any of the Indian studies types asked him to prove his questionable claim that he's a Native American. You'd think that would be important to them, if they weren't star struck.

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