We never learn

Re “Free speech and 9/11,” editorial, April 4

Your defense of Ward Churchill, former ethnic studies professor at the University of Colorado, spells out all that’s wrong with many American universities today. Not only is Churchill offensive, as you admit, but he’s also a lousy professor -- he falsified research, and he is a second-rate academic.

But from your perspective, his poor academic credentials can be forgiven because of his “right to freely express unpopular views.” I highly doubt this paper would forgive a second-rate professor who publicly espoused that blacks were inferior or homosexuals should be arrested.

Hiding bad performance under the cloak of free speech infuriates those of us paying tuition for our children to hear garbage like Churchill’s.

Phil Cooke

Burbank