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William Bradford (professor)
Encyclopedia
William C. Bradford is a writer, professor, and legal scholar.
Dr. Bradford is Chiricahua Apache Indian and served as Ambassador to the United States
for the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana. He is a former Professor at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
, and recently completed a Masters in Business Administration at the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida
. In addition he previously served as counsel to the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana.
from the University of Miami School of Law
, where he served as project editor of the University of Miami Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif
. He also received an LL.M.
from Harvard University
and a Ph.D.
from Northwestern University
. He is Chiricahua
Apache
Indian and served as Ambassador to the United States for the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana.
His 1995 doctoral thesis was "United States foreign policy decision-making in Arab-Israeli crises: The association of United States presidential personality constructs with political and military crisis outcomes" (AAT 9537394)
. He also served at the War Gaming and Simulation Center, National Defense University
, Fort McNair, Virginia
, and was a "self-proclaimed" adviser to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Shalikashvili. At Indiana University, he specialized in teaching international law
, federal Indian law
, property, national security/foreign relations law, and the laws of armed conflict.
Bradford has authored at least 20 law review
articles on international law, the laws of war, and federal Indian law. One of his more recent articles was published in the Notre Dame Law Review, v. 79, (2004), titled, "The Duty to Defend Them: A Natural Legal Justification of the Bush Doctrine of Preventative War
". He is also a frequent commentator in local and national media on laws of war issues regarding Iraq
and the War on Terror
. For instance, on December 16, 2003, he was the top guest on The Big Story
With John Gibson
, commenting on the tactics interrogators were likely to use on the just-captured Saddam Hussein
. He was named a Dean's Fellow in recognition of scholarly excellence in both 2004-2005 and 2005–2006, and was voted Best New Professor by Indiana Law students in 2005.
Before resigning from Indiana University (see below), he was one of fewer than 15 tenured or tenure-track academic legal faculty members of American Indian
origin in the U.S.
of opposing his tenure
because of some of his conservative views. The official reason given was that Prof. Bradford was "uncollegial." The feud became a national one when Fox News and FrontPage magazine.com, among others, continually reported on the controversy. Bradford claimed that his support of the Iraq War and his refusal to sign a letter in defense of Ward Churchill
were contributing factors. "The presumption was that I've got to sign this thing because I'm an Indian, but I can't do that," he said. Roisman has denied most of Bradford's claims and school administrators pointed out that Bradford never actually applied for tenure
and as such no vote to approve or deny tenure to Bradford was held. Instead there was simply a non-binding straw poll
to determine his colleagues' opinions as to whether he would receive tenure were he to apply,
In an open letter in July 2005, Professor Mary Harter Mitchell defended the faculty's posiiton and claimed that Bradford had been "slandering me for some time, and now that the Indianapolis Star has added libel to slander." Mitchell stated that she had never voted against granting Tenure to Bradford and that Bradford was not even elidigble for Tenure at the time he went public with his claims. She also argued that the deliberations by the school’s Promotions and Tenure Committee are confidential and claim that "Bradford’s statements on this matter must therefore have been either concocted by him or derived from persons who have violated a core professional ethic of confidentiality." She also wrote that Bradford's "continual slander of me (and Prof. Roisman) to students, to colleagues, and now to the general public, an intention to blame his predicament on particular persons whom he has demonized with a frightening degree of out-of-control fury and distortion."
However, on Thursday August 25, Indiana State Representative Jeffrey Thompson spoke with Dr. Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, during which Chancellor Bantz reportedly admitted that Bradford was eligible for tenure, had correctly applied for tenure, and that he had an outstanding case for tenure. In early September 2005, Thompson stated that Chancellor Bantz had ordered IU-Indy Law School to vote on tenure for Bradford.
The previously non-binding poll was 10-5 in favor which meant that five professors believed that Mr. Bradford had a low probability of receiving tenure. Although unanimity is not required for a faculty to award tenure, such a significant dissent might have been seen as a sign that the faculty was unsure of Bradford's fitness, especially since university administrations rarely grant tenure to someone against whom one-third of the department has voted.
However, Bradford's supporters noted that the five professor not only voted against Bradford for any future tenure but voted against retaining him even on an untenured basis (i.e., that he be fired immediately). This was compared to a vote taken in November 2004 in which the law faculty voted unanimously (19-0) that Bradford should be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. They also noted that letters of support for Bradford from Harvard, the University of Miami, and the University of Arizona had asserted that Bradford should easily be granted tenure. In addition, Bradford is the recipient of a teaching award from the law students, has already published one book (and has another forthcoming), and has published 21 articles in law reviews or in books.
Critics contrasted Bradford's publication record to that of Professor Mary Harter Mitchell, who with Roisman had filed an "ethics complaint" against Bradford. Mitchell has only one small book of case law published in 1982 and two scholarly articles, the most recent of which was published in 1987 - meaning that Bradford had published ten times more legal scholarship than Professor Mitchell had in only one-eighth the time. It was also claimed that Mitchell's licence to practice law in Indiana was suspended in 2003 for cause (and remained suspended as of September 2005).
There appears to be utterly no basis for this claim, however. The Indiana Supreme Court's official Roll of Attorneys records indicate there were no pending or prior disciplinary actions against Prof. Mitchell, who died on November 4, 2009.
See http://hats.courts.state.in.us/rollatty/roa2_out.jsp?sel=20
Bradford's claims that he had served in the Army infantry from 1994 to 2001, that he had been a major in the Special Forces, and that he had been awarded a Silver Star, also came under scrutiny. Ret. Army Lieut. Col. Keith R. Donnelly and Indianapolis Star columnist Ruth Holladay both expressed concern about Bradford's claims and independently requested Bradford’s military records. In a subsequent column, Holladay reported that while Bradford did serve in Army Reserve from 1995 to 2001, he saw no active duty, was never in the infantry, had won no awards, was discharged as a second lieutenant.
Nation. He then considered joining the visiting faculty of Victoria University of Wellington
School of Law in New Zealand
in Spring 2006.
William Bradford is currently seeking his MBA at the Warrington College of Business, the business school
of the University of Florida. He is also currently a professor at the United States Coast Guard Academy.
Dr. Bradford is Chiricahua Apache Indian and served as Ambassador to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana. He is a former Professor at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana. The law school is one of two law schools operated by the Indiana University system, the other being the Indiana University...
, and recently completed a Masters in Business Administration at the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. In addition he previously served as counsel to the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana.
Education
Bradford graduated summa cum laudeLatin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
from the University of Miami School of Law
University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law, founded in 1926, is the law school of the University of Miami, located in Coral Gables, Florida, in the United States. The school graduated its first class of 13 students in 1929.- Academics :...
, where he served as project editor of the University of Miami Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif
Order of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. A student at an American law school who earns a Juris Doctor degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the...
. He also received an LL.M.
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. He is Chiricahua
Chiricahua
Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...
Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
Indian and served as Ambassador to the United States for the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana.
His 1995 doctoral thesis was "United States foreign policy decision-making in Arab-Israeli crises: The association of United States presidential personality constructs with political and military crisis outcomes" (AAT 9537394)
Teaching at Indiana University
Bradford joined the faculty of Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis in the fall of 2002 after serving in the Army ReserveUnited States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
. He also served at the War Gaming and Simulation Center, National Defense University
National Defense University
The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...
, Fort McNair, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and was a "self-proclaimed" adviser to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Shalikashvili. At Indiana University, he specialized in teaching international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, federal Indian law
Indian law
Law of India refers to the system of law in modern India. It is largely based on English common law because of the long period of British colonial influence during the period of the British Raj. Much of contemporary Indian law shows substantial European and American influence. Various legislation...
, property, national security/foreign relations law, and the laws of armed conflict.
Bradford has authored at least 20 law review
Law review
A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...
articles on international law, the laws of war, and federal Indian law. One of his more recent articles was published in the Notre Dame Law Review, v. 79, (2004), titled, "The Duty to Defend Them: A Natural Legal Justification of the Bush Doctrine of Preventative War
Preventive war
A preventive war or preventative war is a war initiated to prevent another party from attacking, when an attack by that party is not imminent or known to be planned. Preventive war aims to forestall a shift in the balance of power by strategically attacking before the balance of power has a chance...
". He is also a frequent commentator in local and national media on laws of war issues regarding Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. For instance, on December 16, 2003, he was the top guest on The Big Story
The Big Story
The Big Story, which debuted in 2000, was an American news/talk television program on the Fox News Channel, hosted by John Gibson and Heather Nauert weekdays. It was taken off in March 2008, replaced with America's Election Headquarters, an hour of news related to the 2008 United States...
With John Gibson
John Gibson (media host)
John David Gibson is an American radio talk show host. As of September 2008, he hosts the syndicated radio program The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio. Gibson was formerly the co-host of the weekday edition of The Big Story on the Fox News television channel.-Early career:Gibson earned a BA...
, commenting on the tactics interrogators were likely to use on the just-captured Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. He was named a Dean's Fellow in recognition of scholarly excellence in both 2004-2005 and 2005–2006, and was voted Best New Professor by Indiana Law students in 2005.
Before resigning from Indiana University (see below), he was one of fewer than 15 tenured or tenure-track academic legal faculty members of American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
origin in the U.S.
Tenure controversy
In 2005 Bradford accused Professor Florence RoismanFlorence Roisman
Florence Wagman Roisman is the William F. Harvey Professor of Law at Indiana University McKinney School of Law. She is best known for her work in low-income housing, homelessness, and housing discrimination and segregation...
of opposing his tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
because of some of his conservative views. The official reason given was that Prof. Bradford was "uncollegial." The feud became a national one when Fox News and FrontPage magazine.com, among others, continually reported on the controversy. Bradford claimed that his support of the Iraq War and his refusal to sign a letter in defense of Ward Churchill
Ward Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
were contributing factors. "The presumption was that I've got to sign this thing because I'm an Indian, but I can't do that," he said. Roisman has denied most of Bradford's claims and school administrators pointed out that Bradford never actually applied for tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
and as such no vote to approve or deny tenure to Bradford was held. Instead there was simply a non-binding straw poll
Straw poll
A straw poll or straw vote is a vote with nonbinding results. Straw polls provide dialogue among movements within large groups, reflecting trends like organization and motivation...
to determine his colleagues' opinions as to whether he would receive tenure were he to apply,
In an open letter in July 2005, Professor Mary Harter Mitchell defended the faculty's posiiton and claimed that Bradford had been "slandering me for some time, and now that the Indianapolis Star has added libel to slander." Mitchell stated that she had never voted against granting Tenure to Bradford and that Bradford was not even elidigble for Tenure at the time he went public with his claims. She also argued that the deliberations by the school’s Promotions and Tenure Committee are confidential and claim that "Bradford’s statements on this matter must therefore have been either concocted by him or derived from persons who have violated a core professional ethic of confidentiality." She also wrote that Bradford's "continual slander of me (and Prof. Roisman) to students, to colleagues, and now to the general public, an intention to blame his predicament on particular persons whom he has demonized with a frightening degree of out-of-control fury and distortion."
However, on Thursday August 25, Indiana State Representative Jeffrey Thompson spoke with Dr. Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, during which Chancellor Bantz reportedly admitted that Bradford was eligible for tenure, had correctly applied for tenure, and that he had an outstanding case for tenure. In early September 2005, Thompson stated that Chancellor Bantz had ordered IU-Indy Law School to vote on tenure for Bradford.
The previously non-binding poll was 10-5 in favor which meant that five professors believed that Mr. Bradford had a low probability of receiving tenure. Although unanimity is not required for a faculty to award tenure, such a significant dissent might have been seen as a sign that the faculty was unsure of Bradford's fitness, especially since university administrations rarely grant tenure to someone against whom one-third of the department has voted.
However, Bradford's supporters noted that the five professor not only voted against Bradford for any future tenure but voted against retaining him even on an untenured basis (i.e., that he be fired immediately). This was compared to a vote taken in November 2004 in which the law faculty voted unanimously (19-0) that Bradford should be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. They also noted that letters of support for Bradford from Harvard, the University of Miami, and the University of Arizona had asserted that Bradford should easily be granted tenure. In addition, Bradford is the recipient of a teaching award from the law students, has already published one book (and has another forthcoming), and has published 21 articles in law reviews or in books.
Critics contrasted Bradford's publication record to that of Professor Mary Harter Mitchell, who with Roisman had filed an "ethics complaint" against Bradford. Mitchell has only one small book of case law published in 1982 and two scholarly articles, the most recent of which was published in 1987 - meaning that Bradford had published ten times more legal scholarship than Professor Mitchell had in only one-eighth the time. It was also claimed that Mitchell's licence to practice law in Indiana was suspended in 2003 for cause (and remained suspended as of September 2005).
There appears to be utterly no basis for this claim, however. The Indiana Supreme Court's official Roll of Attorneys records indicate there were no pending or prior disciplinary actions against Prof. Mitchell, who died on November 4, 2009.
See http://hats.courts.state.in.us/rollatty/roa2_out.jsp?sel=20
Misconduct by Bradford
It was soon discovered that Bradford many of the postings in support of Bradford on Indy Law Net were in fact written by Bradford himself under alternate accounts (all of the messages came from the same IP address). Bradford later admitted to using fake names to post “cheap shots, schoolyard bickering.” In October 2005, Bradford stated that Judge David J. Dreyer of Marion Superior Court had issued a temporary restraining order barring professors from speaking ill of or taking any actions against Bradford. However, Court records and sources both indicate that Bradford never filed for any sort of injunction and that no restraining order was ever issued.Bradford's claims that he had served in the Army infantry from 1994 to 2001, that he had been a major in the Special Forces, and that he had been awarded a Silver Star, also came under scrutiny. Ret. Army Lieut. Col. Keith R. Donnelly and Indianapolis Star columnist Ruth Holladay both expressed concern about Bradford's claims and independently requested Bradford’s military records. In a subsequent column, Holladay reported that while Bradford did serve in Army Reserve from 1995 to 2001, he saw no active duty, was never in the infantry, had won no awards, was discharged as a second lieutenant.
Resignation
On December 2, 2005, Susanah Mead, interim dean of the law school, released the following statement: "Professor William Bradford has resigned his position as associate professor at the IU School of Law – Indianapolis effective January 1, 2006 to pursue other employment opportunities and interests."Future after Indiana
In the fall of 2005 Bradford served as a visiting professor at The College of William & Mary; at this time his profile said he was an Associate Judge Pro Tempore, Court of Appeals, for the Fort Sill ApacheApache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
Nation. He then considered joining the visiting faculty of Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
School of Law in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in Spring 2006.
William Bradford is currently seeking his MBA at the Warrington College of Business, the business school
Business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in Business Administration. It teaches topics such as accounting, administration, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, public relations, strategy, human resource...
of the University of Florida. He is also currently a professor at the United States Coast Guard Academy.