"Vine Deloria Jr. doesn't shrink from controversy.

The retired University of Colorado-Boulder history professor and author of several books, including the bestselling "Custer Died for Your Sins," testified for the defense in Russell Means' 1974 Wounded Knee trial. He stood up to the state of Washington in the 1970s over the bloody Indian fishing-rights conflict that finally forced the federal government to reaffirm long-ignored treaties. And he has famously criticized Christianity, which he calls "a religion at the end of its rope."

So when the University of Colorado regents selected Deloria to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree this year, they were prepared for him to be outspoken.

But probably not at their own expense."

Get the Story:
Diane Carman: Scholar: CU "honor" no compliment (The Denver Post 5/25)