FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—February 28, 2005 Contact: Michael Avery, National Lawyers Guild President, 617-573-8551 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DEFENDS PROF. WARD CHURCHILL’S RIGHT TO SPEAK New York. The National Lawyers (NLG) announced today that it was urging the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado and the Academic Committee under Chancellor Phil DiStefano to reaffirm their commitment to academic freedom and to refrain from joining in the witch hunt now targeting Prof. Ward Churchill for the exercise of his constitutionally protected right of free speech under the First Amendment. The NLG stressed that the right to dissent from popular opinions and government policies was particularly important in institutions of higher learning. The NLG noted that reckless accusations of treason, sedition and incitement to violence have been leveled by others against Prof. Churchill, and that the threats of real violence against him have already led at least two colleges to cancel his appearances. Cancellation of Prof. Churchill’s speeches interferes not only with his rights, but with the rights of students and the general public to be exposed to his views. NLG President Michael Avery said, “More than sixty years ago, in upholding the right of school children to refuse to salute the flag during World War II, the Supreme Court wrote that the test of the substance of the right to dissent, ‘is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.’ It is particularly important during the current assault by many on civil liberties that academic institutions recognize that controversial statements are as protected by freedom of speech as orthodox opinions.” The Guild underlined that it was not using the term “witch hunt” lightly in connection with the campaign against Prof. Churchill. Prof. Nancy Rabinowitz has already been removed from her position as Director of the Kirkland Project at Hamilton College, New York, after defending the Project’s invitation to Prof. Churchill to speak there. The smear campaign against Prof. Rabinowitz went so far as to defame her father-in-law, Victor Rabinowitz, a respected attorney and long-time member of the NLG, simply because he defended radicals and was himself a victim of McCarthyism in the 1950’s. The Guild noted that Prof. Churchill has not been alone in warning that US foreign policy that results in massive death and destruction abroad is one of the causes of violence directed against the United States. The causes, consequences, and remedies for tragic events such as those on September 11, 2001 are issues of deep concern, and critical analyses are more vital today than ever. An open society requires that no one may dictate the roster of participants in public debate over issues of war and peace. Founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States, with more than 200 chapters. Over 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers work together “in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests,” as members of the National Lawyers Guild.