Rumsfeld Debate Heats Up At Stanford

[babylonsister]

Rumsfeld Debate Heats Up At Stanford
by Lisa M. Krieger

Disgruntled Stanford faculty will meet with Hoover Institution Director John Raisian to question the criteria used in the controversial appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a “distinguished visiting fellow” - a title they say gives undeserved eminence to the former defense secretary.1012 03

After a heated meeting Thursday, the university’s academic senate - a select group of faculty - voted to meet with Raisian to discuss the Rumsfeld appointment, which was not endorsed by the larger university community and has brought unwelcome publicity to Stanford.

But the faculty’s challenge is unlikely to rescind the appointment of the 75-year-old Rumsfeld, who directed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and then resigned in late 2006 after months of mounting pressure to step aside.

The faculty has no authority over the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank that uses the Stanford name and is centrally located on the liberal-leaning campus - but operates independently of the university.

The meeting shone a light on the unusual relationship between Stanford and Hoover - and the question of whether the university’s top leadership should pass judgment on minor appointments.

At its simplest, the debate centered on the use of one word: distinguished.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/12/4505/

[niyad]

1. stanford, which once employed condi as a professor? to think I used to have regard for this

institution.