Florida Tempest.

• Author: Merwin, William C.
• Position: Letter to the Editor

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...