California Polytechnic State University, San
Luis Obispo altered the format of a talk by food industry critic
Michael Pollan yesterday after major industry sponsors threatened to withdraw funding to
the school.
The University's Sustainable Agriculture
Resource Consortium, a group dedicated to exposing students to alternatives to
industrial agriculture, invited Pollan to campus.However, after Harris Ranch Beef Company threatened to
reconsider their financial support for the university, including a pledge of
$150,000 for new facilities, the lecture was quickly changed to a panel
discussion with both industry critics and supporters
While the administration didn’t cancel Pollan’s
speech outright, the faculty at Cal-Poly invited him because they wanted to
hear his lecture and engage with his point of view.By arbitrarily changing the format of Pollan's event to
satisfy his critics Cal-Poly's administration has dealt a dangerous blow to
Academic Freedom.