Omnivore’s Dilemma Gets Booted And Then Re-Instituted
Does Big Agribusiness want to keep this book under wraps?
Food activists and Pollan fans alike were stunned to hear that Washington State University (WSU) had cut the author’s famous Omnivore’s Dilemma from its freshmen “common reading” program. They called foul play and wondered, rather bluntly in many cases, whether the cancellation was due to the school’s (big) agricultural endowments.
WSU officials site budgetary issues, but critics point to the fact that the university had already bought 4,000 copies of the book and who, in particular, objected to its distribution:
“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.
The controversy deepened when alum Bill Marler, a Seattle-based food poisoning attorney, called their bluff. Marler talked to the university’s president and offered to pay for Pollan and copies of The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Debra Townsend, a spokeswoman for the university, says that Elson S. Floyd, the university’s president, talked to Mr. Marler over the phone this afternoon and has decided to accept his offer.
So, where does that leave controversy? It doesn’t absolutely refute that the original story of suppression via Big Agribusiness . The public pressure may have been too great; They were found out, as it were, and it turned into more bad press (which is seemingly non-stop these days for industrial agriculture). Or, there were truly budgetary issues. But, then why was it that they had already bought 4,000 copies of Omnivore’s Dilemma…?
Regardless of whether there had been financial or political pressure on Washington State University to drop Pollan’s book, this controversy has probably caused at least a few people to pick it up at their local library.
All is well that ends well, huh?
May 29, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, heroes, Michael Pollan, policy Posted in: Health, Politics
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