CU and the Churchill Affair: how did this happen in the first place?

The wait is over and the inevitable has happened: the University of Colorado yesterday formally dismissed Professor Ward Churchill. If Churchill is guilty of academic dishonesty, then he needed to go. However, it's a huge mistake to see the Churchill case exclusively in terms of the events that have made the front pages. How did his academic dishonesty go unnoticed? As it turns out, I might have some insight into this question...