Florida Tempest

Progressive, The, April, 2005 by William C. Merwin

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify and correct statements about Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and me that were attributed to author Terry Tempest Williams in your February issue (Interview by David Kupfer).

FGCU offers a unique learning opportunity to its freshmen through the "First Year Reading Experience," designed to introduce students to our institutional values and best practices in learning and critical thinking at the university level.

Terry Tempest Williams's The Open Space of Democracy was selected for fall 2004, and the mandatory Freshman Convocation. Our faculty organizers of the convocation say the Orion Society contacted them and wanted the last stop on her national book tour to be at FGCU, given our location in Florida as a key state in the national Presidential election. I was concerned the author's negative partisan statements presented only one point of view--and would not provide a balanced presentation for the required Freshman Convocation, and also because the convocation is funded from state dollars, which cannot be used for partisan purposes. FGCU did everything possible to introduce appropriate balance into the convocation, but since these efforts were met with resistance by the author, I postponed the event. If there was no partisan agenda for this speech, there should have been no problem with moving it to a different date after the national election.

Terry Tempest Williams is incorrect when she says I invited Vice President Dick Cheney to our campus. I did not. His group came to us with a request to rent space for an event at FGCU, something hundreds of organizations do each year.

Our students who were interested in hearing Williams speak invited her to campus for an event in which state funds were not used, and attendance was voluntary. I welcomed her to FGCU that day and was among audience members who chose to hear her speak. That is the way it should be.

William C. Merwin

President

Florida Gulf Coast University