CLINTON, NY —  Hamilton College (search) said Tuesday it has received death threats and was canceling a panel discussion featuring a professor who provoked a furor when he compared Sept. 11 victims to Nazis.

Hamilton spokesman Michael DeBraggio said multiple death threats were made against both college officials and guest speaker Ward Churchill, who resigned Monday as chairman of the ethnic studies department at the University of Colorado (search).

In an essay written in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 (search) terrorist attacks, Churchill said the World Trade Center victims were "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who organized Nazi plans to exterminate Europe's Jews. Churchill also spoke of the "gallant sacrifices" of the "combat teams" that struck America.

The essay attracted little attention until Churchill was invited to speak at Thursday at Hamilton College, about 40 miles east of Syracuse, N.Y.

Despite resigning from his department chair, he will retain his teaching job.