In a deposition, former Governor Bill Owens says he was glad the University of Colorado didn't immediately fire professor Ward Churchill, as Owens (pictured) had urged, in the wake of a controversial essay about the 9/11 terrorist attacks that triggered national outrage when it came to the media's attention in 2005. That's according to the Rocky Mountain News [2], which reports that Owens feels that had Churchill been fired, Churchill's free-speech rights would have been violated. Yet CU eventually did fire Churchill, in 2007, after a faculty committee questioned whether he plagiarized and misrepresented historical facts in his writings. Churchill is suing and will go to trial on March 9 in District Court in Denver. His lawyer, David Lane, who released the week-old deposition to the Rocky yesterday, says Owens failed to uphold the Constitution and pressured the university to get rid of Churchill.