The jury in the Ward Churchill trial decided in favor of the defendant yesterday. The members agreed after a day and a half of deliberation with the so-called 9/11 professor’s claims that he was wrongfully dismissed from the University of Colorado — that he was fired, basically, to appease national outcry over his controversial writings on the 9/11 attacks.
In awarding him a mere $1, the jury chose not to compensate him in cash but paid him instead the kind of compliment he will likely appreciate: The minimal cash award suggests the jury concluded that Churchill, although unlikeable or unsympathetic, was right.