The latest dust-up over Harris Ranch Beef and Michael Pollan’s lecture at Cal Poly is, as they say in education and horse training, a “teachable moment.” The lesson here is that when we, as a society, de-fund our public universities, they inevitably turn to corporate donations for survival. When universities depend on corporate largess, industry effectively controls academic discourse on campus. When industry controls academic discourse, free speech, free thought, and free association are at risk. We have been afforded a perfect example of this phenomenon, right here in our own front yard.
This article appears in Oct 22-29, 2009.