Shamed pseudoscholar Ward Churchill - that charming mix of self-proclaimed Native American, left-wing militant, radical feminist, 9/11 Truther, and every other oppressed subgroup fashionable in identity politics - has finally been terminated.

Remember - though his politics are distasteful to most, the impetus for his discipline came from scholarly plagiarism and fabrication. I don’t care how inflammatory or mundane your politics are, there’s no place in scholarship for cheating.

There’s no need for me to parse Churchill’s circumstances [I highlighted Anne D. Neal’s take on it a few weeks ago]. That one’s been around the Victrola more than a few times. There is, however, an excellent - and, at times, troubling - discussion in the comments of InsideHigherEd.com’s coverage of the firing. One need not be a particularly interested party to find value in the exchange.

Robert at Casting Out Nines threw his hat into that comment ring and gives his opinion, as well as some reasoning for his comment on IHE, on his own site.

UPDATE at 7.26.07, 4.18pm: Want to know why UC President Hank Brown terminated Churchill? Read his explanation called “Why I Fired Professor Ward Churchill” on the Wall Street Journal Online, no subscription required.

And, since I’m feeling slightly pedomorphic and snarky this afternoon, I can’t help but post the following video - it’s not unlike Ward Churchill’s wake-up call when the ruling came down from the Board of Regents. [If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, just give a click here]