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Pollan Book Selected, Dropped from WSU "Common Reading"

By Jim Chen at al.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a faculty committee at Washington State University selected Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" as a common-reading text for freshmen next fall.

[F]aculty members effusively praised the award-winning book and hoped that people at the land-grant university were ready to have a serious debate about the practice of agriculture in America.

?Because this book deals with the food we eat today, it is likely to engender lively discussion and even disagreement,? wrote one professor who had recommended it to the committee. ?But discussion and disagreement are the bread and butter of academic discourse.?

Well, nevermind. The book has been dropped as a mandatory read. According to the WSU website notice:

This year, given the circumstances currently facing our institution, changes must be made to the program. Instead of distributing the current selection, The Omnivore?s Dilemma, at the Alive! summer orientation sessions as was previously done, program staff will contact faculty to ascertain whether they wish to use the book in their classes, and then will arrange for distribution.

Some faculty suspect pressure from agribusiness interests.

Read about it at Washington State's Dilemma: How to Serve Up a Book Criticizing the Food Industry.

Post Script - just received an email from someone at Western Washington University. Omnivore's Dilemma is their selection for "Western Reads" and they are sticking with it!

Full post as published by Agricultural Law on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).