41°
May 21, 2009
Regent balks at WSU book choice
Selected book eyed impact of agribusiness
Staff writer
A book chosen by a Washington State University committee as appropriate food for thought for all incoming freshmen will not be distributed at summer orientation after a member of the board of regents raised concerns about the work’s focus on problems associated with agribusiness.
WSU’s president said the decision to halt the “common reading” program was related to the university’s financial crisis.
In “Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals,” author Michael Pollan discusses the social, political, moral and environmental implications of the food people eat.
A selection committee picked the book for this year’s WSU common reading program, which provides freshmen with a work that crosses academic disciplines and can be incorporated into study throughout the year.
It was to be the third year of the program, which includes several events that focus on the book. Last year, the chosen work was “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” by Mary Roach, about issues related to death. The year before it was “Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It.”
By coincidence, Western Washington University also picked “Omnivore’s Dilemma” for distribution to freshmen at orientation next fall.
But at WSU, the common reading program has been halted.
“Instead of distributing the current selection, ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma,’ at the Alive! summer orientation sessions as was previously done, program staff will contact faculty to ascertain whether they wish to use the book in their classes, and then will arrange for distribution,” reads a letter posted on the WSU common reading Web site by Susan Poch, associate vice president for educational development.
The decision not to distribute the book at orientation was made by WSU President Elson Floyd and Provost Warwick Bayly.
“We just simply decided to streamline the distribution process,” Floyd said Wednesday. “We encourage faculty to use it as part of curriculum.”
He said the decision to halt the reading program was related to WSU’s financial crisis.
However, the announcement that the book would not be distributed at summer orientation came seven weeks after the book was chosen. In the meantime, the university purchased nearly 4,000 copies.
“Unless they wanted to have a big book-burning in the middle of Terrell Mall, I don’t see how they intended to save money by making this decision,” said Jeff Sellen, a general education professor and member of the common reading selection committee.
Patricia Ericsson, an assistant English professor who recommended the book, said she attended a May 4 meeting of another committee tasked with implementing the program where it was announced there would no longer be a common reading program, at least not next year.
“A substantial part of the reason was because of political pressure growing from the book choice,” Ericsson said.
That political pressure apparently was brought to bear by a member of the board of regents, Harold Cochran, who disapproved of the author’s characterization of agribusiness. Cochran owns and operates a 5,500-acre farm near Walla Walla, is a founding stockholder in the Bank of the West in Walla Walla and is a member of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.
Cochran did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday. But fellow regent Francois X. Forgette said Cochran had read the book and raised concerns, though the topic was never formally discussed at board meetings.
Forgette also said the common readings committee had failed to get required approval from the provost of the selected book. “The committee had not followed the internal process they were supposed to follow,” Forgette said.
Floyd said he never spoke to a regent about the book.
Committee members acknowledged they failed to get Bayly’s approval, attributing the oversight to the informality of the process and time constraints.
“It was only the third year of the program, and we really didn’t have a routine,” engineering professor David Bahr said.
Current and past members of the common reading committee said the lack of approval was incidental to what they called a political decision.
“It strikes me that the real value of the university is basically the way it serves the public, researches without fear and favor and being a place where issues can be aired, which are by nature controversial,” said Richard Law, the outgoing director of general education at WSU and a founding member of the common reading committee.
Kevin Graman can be reached at (509)459-5433 or kevingr@spokesman.com.
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Emiliabedelia on May 21 at 5:16 p.m.
Wow, another “fantastic” decision in the panoply of rulings made by our current administration, and yet another reason why I avoid telling people where I am going to school, lest they assume the administration speaks for its constituents.
As the article states, the 4,000 books were already purchased - I've seen some of them myself - so this idea that large quantities of money would be saved is rather dubious. It also seems to me that such an agri-heavy university could use a little perspective. What happened to teaching students to question the world around them?
At an institute of higher learning, that is exactly what students should be doing - rising above what corporations and government officials feed to them and investigating issues for themselves. The point of having a “common reading” was not to corral students into reading the same book and into brainwashing them, it was to allow students to come together around a text to examine its origins, its interconnections with multiple subject areas, and its implications for the individual and society as a whole (Note: I am not a representative for the Common Reading program, I am just speaking from what I know about it).
The fact that this regent has read the book and is a farmer leads me to believe that he is afraid of an uprising. Fair enough. But people should be educated, they should know where their food comes from, they should understand how the world works. Naivete never served anyone in the long run.
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selkirkcider on May 22 at 7:32 a.m.
Very disappointed to see censorship is alive and well at a publicly funded institution such as WSU.
I encourage every freshman entering WSU to read this book and discuss the multitude of questions it raises. It appears there are plenty of copies available.
Shame on the regents for attempting to limit the educational experience of the student body at WSU.
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svwhim on May 22 at 7:46 a.m.
When a Regent throws around his weight in a way that is at odds with the spirit of his institution, it's time to resign.
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wsugrad06 on May 23 at 7:50 a.m.
Has anyone realized how incompetent this book author is? He is writing about something he knows nothing about (not unlike the author of this article). If you all want to follow him like sheep, have at it. But first you must pick which country of people will starve to death before we go organic. Next, grow your own food to feed your family. It's so easy! You can use those 4,000 copies of his book as mulch to help your crop of brussel sprouts. Last but not least, stop subsidizing those farmers! We can buy food so much cheaper from China (assuming you have a taste for melamine, mmmm tasty!!)
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Dr Bill Misner PhD on July 31 at 8:44 a.m.
I have read Pollan's “Omnivore’s Dilemma”. The research he cited was not only interpreted reliably-rationally, it was precisely complete. Pollan's books say it in common lay terms what most of us who have studied nutrition science with great passion have already determined over the past decade…The harmful associations diet imposes upon the majority of Americans is reflected in the alarming rate of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancers, and Alzheimer's. In my opinion, 87 out of every 100 premature deaths from these 3 diseases could be prevented. Whether you read the Pollan treatise or the one I [with bias disclosed] propose, the evidence demands a personal verdict based on individual blood total cholesterols and body mass index. If either one is excessively elevated, the risk of premature death increases exponentially. That is the evidence that can be defended and whether you chose to select foods free of factors that contribute to health does not change the facts. May I also recommend Pollan's excellent works in this arenae and encourage all WSU students to not allow censorship of this very important potential contribution to their personal health with longevity effect.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Bill Misner, Ph.D.
AAMA Board Certified Alternative Medicine Practitioner
“What Should I Eat? A Food-Endowed Prescription For Well Being” @: http://www.lulu.com/author_contest/wi…
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback…
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