SMU Can Be the Next War College!

The aim bottomward that SMU officials who choose association with the war criminals and a bit of money to sweeten the deal are getting a little warning from Stanford. There, the president of the college, that bears a great name, found out from the news reports that Donald Rumsfeld had become a 'distinguished visiting fellow'.

Finding out you're in bed with Rummy would be enough to make me run screaming into the night - and that was the effect on much of the Stanford community.

The unexpected September announcement roiled the campus – prompting several protests, a petition that has gathered 3,900 signatures and debates that continue two months later.

Continuing arguments over the appointment of Mr. Rumsfeld offer a glimpse into how a similar university-think tank relationship might unfold between Southern Methodist University and the proposed George W. Bush presidential library, which is expected to include a policy institute.

Mr. Rumsfeld's invitation to the Hoover Institution is the latest episode in a relationship between think tank and university that is both fractious and symbiotic.
"The Hoover Institution is owned lock, stock and barrel by the university," former Stanford President Donald Kennedy said. "It's produced some problems. There have been some differences in philosophy. They are committed to a certain set of policies identified with the political right. On the other hand, it has integrated quite successfully from time to time."
(snip)
SMU anthropology professor David Freidel lobbied university administrators unsuccessfully for at least some oversight.

"If it's entirely independent of us yet part of us," he said, "the implication is that it can represent us in any way it wants to."

The unilateral character of the occupied White House is hardly promising material for an academic community that wants cooperation. Torture on campus, that should provide lots of fun for the frat types who go for that sort of thing. It may not attract many civilized students or faculty.