UW to dedicate Cheney International Center
Meg Lanker
Sunday, August 30, 2009 10:24 PM MDT
Update: Monday September 7, 1:21 AM MDT
Dick and Lynne Cheney will return to Laramie next month to dedicate the newly-constructed Cheney International Center at the University of Wyoming.
The dedication is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 10:30 a.m. according to University of Wyoming Director of Institutional Communications Jessica Lowell.
The naming of the building generated nationwide controversy but Lowell said the university followed an “identified policy and process” for the naming the building. “That process was followed in this instance,” said Lowell.
According to the "University of Wyoming Named Gift Criteria," approved by the UW Board of Trustees in 2006, the criteria for approving the naming of a pre-existing building is the amount of the monetary gift.
The reports states: "Previously constructed facilities, which are unnamed, can be named by a donor or a donor's representative through a substantial contribution of 50 percent or more of the renovation cost of the facility."
The Cheney family's gift “created for UW the largest single-university endowment dedicated to study abroad support,” said UW President Tom Buchanan in a news release Sept. 7, 2007. The total endowment of $1.8 million was matched by state funds.
According to the UW Foundation's annual report, much of the initial donation went to fund the renovation of the Student Health building and the necessary renovations to add the Cheney International Center.
In November 2008, UW Board of Trustees President Chuck Brown and President Buchanan issued a joint statement to Fred Vanden Heede and Suzy Pelican, both of Laramie, which ran in The Casper-Star Tribune as part of a letter to the editor. In the statement, Brown and Buchanan explained the rationale behind the naming of the building.
“In 2006, UW President Tom Buchanan, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Ben Blalock and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson visited with the Cheney family at the White House to discuss the intended purpose(s) of the gift. At that meeting, the Cheney family emphasized its desire to focus the gift on students and on international programs at UW,” said Brown and Buchanan.
They also said UW responded with a plan for international scholarships and a “bricks-and-mortar” proposal for the center.
In a September 2008 letter which appeared in UW’s student-run paper, The Branding Iron, Heede and Pelican said, “UW and its international programs cannot avoid being identified with the ideology behind and approach to U.S. global politics championed by the Bush-Cheney administration.”
The controversy is expected to re-ignite with the dedication.
Sunday's Casper Star-Tribune featured an editorial authored by Buchanan in which he cited a list of people opposed to the Cheney International Center and said, "It came as no surprise that, having lived in Wyoming for more than 30 years, I know many of those objecting to UW's decision."
"The list includes some good friends and colleagues who have previously admonished the UW administration to support greater diversity and increased tolerance for all views," said Buchanan. "So it is ironic that they show so little of it when confronted by a situation that challenges their own comfort zone."
Buchanan did not mention the planned dedication.
A group of Laramie students and community members dismayed by the center's naming are planning to protest the dedication with a march to campus and signs with various messages for Cheney and the UW administration. Organizers of the demonstration are emphasizing the need for peaceful assembly.
The “UW Students Against the Cheney International Center” Facebook group was created by Daniel DePeyer, a graduate student in the international studies program. The group allows students to post their thoughts on the naming of the center and to get information on its construction and eventual dedication.
"I recently helped to organize a conference at UW which focused on the subject of human rights. The conference chair made it adamantly clear that he did not want 'Cheney International Center' to appear as a sponsor on any of the program material," DePeyer said in a statement to The Underground Monday.
DePeyer said the Cheney family's endowment was "laudable" and acknowledged that many students have benefited from the opportunities presented by the scholarships. He also said the benefit was not without its risks.
"I went to Tunisia for six weeks as part of a UW sponsored cultural exchange program," said DePeyer. "I do not know if any Cheney money was used to help fund the program, however, I do know that if the Tunisian government or even some of the Tunisian students we interacted with had found out that we were funded by 'blood' money, our lives could have been at risk."
DePeyer said although the program will benefit future students, the "future implications will undoubtedly hurt the University of Wyoming's credibility and ability to attract world renowned scholars for faculty positions, conferences, speeches, and panels."
Other Laramie residents echoed DePeyer's concerns. “I feel sorry for the University of Wyoming and the state of Wyoming when they have to change the name after he’s indicted,” said Nancy Sindelar, a Laramie peace activist helping to organize the demonstration. Sindelar referenced the ongoing investigations into what the previous administration called “enhanced interrogation methods.”
Recently released and declassified White House documents detail actions that may have been authorized by or known to Cheney in interrogations conducted by CIA members, including mock executions of prisoners and threats of rape directed at the family members of detainees.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized investigations into alleged abuses this week. In an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace Aug. 30, Cheney said Holder’s investigation “offends the hell out of me” and called Holder’s actions “an outrageous political act.”
Cheney also questioned President Barack Obama’s ability to lead the nation in difficult times. “I have serious doubts about his policies, especially, about the extent to which he understands and is prepared to do what needs to be done to defend the nation,” he said.
UW previously faced criticism from within the state when the decision to name the building after Cheney was announced. Numerous editorials have appeared in Wyoming newspapers since the naming was announced – both for and against the decision.
In the Casper Star-Tribune Sept. 24, 2008, Donal O’Toole of Laramie suggested the university look into “other initiatives from hitherto untapped sources,” including, “[T]he Beelzebub's College of Theology, Enron's Institute of Business Ethics, the Tom Ridge Observation Center, the Michael Vick Dog Shelter, and the Kim Jong Il School of Hairstyling.”
In a letter to the Tribune Sept. 14, 2008 Lowell defended the decision and said, “The university has a procedure in place, and university officials followed that procedure and accordingly recognized this very generous gift for a laudable educational purpose.”
According to Lowell, the event is open to the public. She did not say whether or not the administration is aware of any planned demonstrations. The dedication will take place in front of the new Cheney International Center on Dick and Lynne Cheney plaza.
The UW Police Department will coordinate with the Secret Service to provide security for the event.
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13 comments:
I'm tempted to say the University of Wyoming is prostituting itself, but I don't want to libel streetwalkers, most of whom are kind and gentle souls.
The Cheney International Kidnap & Torture Center has a nice ring to it.
In light of the shameful and cowardly decision made by a lot of local schools to not show the president's school speech...
All we can do is piss in his general direction.
Trickle up, so to speak...
Remember, the battle is not left/right.
It is up/down
I sure wish I had known of the petition - unless it was UoW staff/students only - or residents of WY. Anybody who knows the law KNOWS this man is a war criminal and profiteer, and while he tries to deride our sitting President, no less. I'm glad it's not against the law to WISH to God that someone would treat him the way he's treated the brave men and women who have died in his war-for-profit efforts - and please, cont Xe or Blackwater and GWB in with him, too. I was never so ashamed to be called American as when they were in office.
I don't think the petition was that widely broadcast and I'm not sure if anyone is beginning another one. There is going to be a protest tomorrow for sure.
It is fitting that the President of the University of Wyoming honor a fellow drafter evader like Cheney, after all it was his attendance at U of W which made that all possible. What is putrid is Alan Simson making a sermon on duty, and honor. Did the Star Trib reporter help him write the speech, then put it in its papers the source of that attribution of duty.(some Scott Mac from way back)
Mr Cheney mocks the duty of those who served in the U S Military, when he did not.
If anything the gift of Cheney is a tribute as to how he rigged the levers of the Government to get rich, and he figured that U of W would take his blood money.
But, don't forget, Yale has about 10 halls named after slave owners, and the salve trade crowd clique.
There have been many donors of big amounts, who turned out to be crooks, rouges, and cons.
The gift provided a ruse for the President of U of W to use State funds to go to the White House to mingle in the trappings of power.
So, do I have a problem with U of W taking the Cheney money.
I don't, in and of itself, but I wish it had taken the money and spit in Cheney's and Simpson's face.
Of course to mock free speech, Al Simpson decrees any that protested the matter have "no brains". Raw intidimation of young students, a disgrace on display in Laramie.
Simpson, like a parasite, has been feeding at Cheney's reign of power for years, exploting that.
I will probably continue to give money to U of W, I graduated from that University.
I will give despite the disgrace of Al Simpson et al.
But, I have degrees from 3 universities, and my daughter went to a University other than U of W.
When it comes to write a check to U of W, it may be harder, given the choices in the years to come.
tolerance was the pretext provided by the U of W President for accepting the Cheney gift.
Would he have accepted a $ 10 million gift from a Saudi Prince who was using 9-11 as a ploy ?
Well, the Mayor of New York--Rudi--would not, as some may recall in the days after 9-11
I thank this site(WWW) for providing real freedom of expression.
It was under attack at U of W for some time with the Simpsons influence and indoctrination methods at the University.
How much of a tax break did Al Simpson get for his papers, stored at the Heritage Center ?
Was that using the U for some ruse by the Simpsons.
In the Pete Simpson classes at U of W it was a GOP training ground, to teach people to become lil GOP robots.
Much money was loss by a Wyo GOP connected guy, who was a fund manager of WYO State Funds, many x the amount of any Cheney gift.
But, you won't likley hear about that in the pages of the Star Trib out of Casper. It has drunken the Simpson cool aide.
After i left U of W, I served in the U S Army.
It was in the middle of Nam.
I am proud of my service in the
U S Army.
The name Cheney may be engraved on some building at U of W.
His name will live in infamy, just as the name of some building at another College in the Rockes was named after one who engaged in canabalistic behavior.
The Cheney name stands for cowardice not bravery, for lies not truth, for abuse of power, not accountability.
Yes, the U of W President is right, in one respect controversy has come to Laramie in the name of Cheney.
Hopefully, some in the future will learn a lesson, vital to the better attributes of man, sadly missing in Dick Cheney.
The Branding Iron may have been the name of the U of W paper, but
Pokes were straight shooters.
When Cheney the flakey bird hunter shot a Texas lobbyist in the face, Simpson blamed the guy--Harry- who was shot in the face.
Al Simpson is like some promoter of Cheney, like his version of a circus. The chickens have come home to roost in Laramie, Cheney is history, and it won't be a good one, unless Simpson can rig that too. But, too many thinking people, are around who won't be duped.
Pulled from the archives is this:
Cheney once considered vice presidency "cruddy job"
2007-07-23
Dick Cheney once considered the vice presidency a "cruddy job" but got over his misgivings and went on to be arguably the most powerful No. 2 in U.S. politics, and one of the most heavily criticized
...............
HATRED
Former Wyoming Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, a longtime Cheney friend, said the attacks are emblematic of an ugly period in U.S. politics.
"There's so many people that hate the guy, people that hate Dick Cheney just like people who hate George Bush or hate (Democratic presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton. It's a really ugly thing out in the land, not disgust or irritation, but hatred, and it's a whole new ballgame in my time," he said.
Driving some of the criticism has been a series in The Washington Post describing the backdoor way Cheney persuaded Bush, particularly on approving harsh interrogation methods for captured suspects in the war on terrorism. "
Comment: Al Simpson is the dark knight of hate in American politics, he just oozes it.
He largely cowers the Wyoming press, and they are mere scribes to write "Simpson says"
Rumsfeld was Cheney's mentor.
They both were idiots, who blew so many matters over the years.
Cheney was a "cruddy" V P,
Let him have his drinking fountain at some cow pasture at the University. History will cover his many blunders, and his deception, and his abuse of power, and it will do so long after Al Simpson, is harly even a footnote in history, as anything more than the Joe McCarthy of the Bush Age.
Al Simpson bloats out that people who protest are stupid, or in his words "have no brains".
Is he referring to all those following Glen Beck like lemmings and sheep, and FOX lunatic fringe, and unbalanced.
Or, was his reference a denigration of Paul Revere, and the Boston Tea Party... ?
There is nothing like a Dickster to fire up people in Wyoming from their apathy.
Simpson counted on apathy for so many years.
How many time has Dick Cheney given that speech of Simpson going to "kick his but". He must give that speech 100 times, it was so tired and old. Have you ever noticed that at about ever Cheney speech in Wyoming, Simpson is in attendance, glowering at people, sulking, and acting like some heavy thug, with his squity eyes.
He was once convicted of a gun violation, was on parole.
Ya, 2nd changes AL.
Al Simspon got kicked out of his own Party leadership, he was booted from holding the GOP Whip position.
Simpson was losing hold of his Senate perks, and so he grab on to Cheney to feed at the troughs of raw power. Some ticket for Al.
So, Al was big in the Cheney caper at U of W.
Maybe Cheney can use U W like Carter used
a University in Gerogia, to pump some
" international center" exploits.
Perhaps, he can get several Saudi Princes
to build an extention to the Center on
the promotion of Shiia & Sunni harmony, love
and understanding, and have a no bid contract
for Halliburton to pull it all off.
How can we possibly not see
the fruits of peace and nirvina in
this latest Cheney venture, using Wyoming
after all he did to leave large parts of Iraq
a waste land, shock and awe, with no
electricty for long periods.
This worshipping at the Cheney Mosque
does have it's pipped pipper Sultants, indeed.
Dick of Arabia the king of the Shia( or shites).
Yes, Laramie is perfect for this Center, maybe an
IED section, or an ambulatory room.
All the farmers in Whealand, and Riverton
must be over joyed, by this exotic international center to
teach kids how to spend trillions on follies,
and then bankrupt America.
Just swell, so international, so grand.
Cheney's good buddy died in the Ukraine, who was his best man at his wedding.
Seemed to kick the bucket from some heat attack(in the Foreign Service for US GOV)
He had been an atorney in Laramie, and was from Casper, where he was in high school with Cheney(in the 1950's)
Too bad cheney never named the Building with his name.
But, Dick only thinks of Dick,
it is always some what is in it for Dick.....
In many ways, Cheney is a very self center egomanic, but he can even use Wyoming for his assorted agendas.
Do people in Wyoming ever get tried of being gamed and played by Cheney and Simpson ?
Sad, the way the State has been manipulated by those two clowns
Cheney's first lesson was learning how to suck up to oil lobbyists in the 1960's, when GOP Chairman Honcho Stan Hathaway got him a job in the Wyoming legislature, about the time Stan the Man, rode to the Governorship opposing a dinky severance tax.
Of course kids, who now(2009) get the Hataway Scholarship, probably are clueless of that aspects of history in the 1960's.
Yes, as his first lesson in politics, Cheney learned the suck up to big oil lobbyists.
Reporters from back East, NYT, etc are so cluelss about the Cheney
weaseling into the big oil lobby CLUB, from the get go.
Oh, well with the price of Natural Gas now sinking below $ 3/ per measured unit, Wyoming will have to change its accounting rules again, as is its want.
The guy who ran agaisnt Hathawy, was for a severance tax, and he had started a nwspaper in Casper, the Casper Star.
It was bought out by the Star Tribune, now the big oil company paper of choice. Well, it is the only one, an open road, that explains, the premise of this site..
Cheney got his start in politics, being a servant for big oil, he rigged the deck for them for the next 40 years.
Oh, my gosh, so many know so little about the real LIL Dicky CHE...
Most curously, not to long ago the Star Trib was doing a piece on the U of W taking out expensive ads in East Coast magazines, touting U of W as a "Best in the West"(along with a whole bunch other Best of the West, about any campus that has a building on it), & as rated in U S News and World Reports.
Well, that same rating listed U of W as having an endowment of $ 304 million.
Now, we see that the Star Trib claims U of W only has an endowment of around $ 211 million.
So the endowment dropped around 30 % in a very fast time. Zippo, where did all the near $ 100 million just evaporate to ?
Odd, so is U of W trolling for out of state students who pay a higher tutiton. All at the time it set aside $ 400 million for Hataway scholarships, but limited to just who may the people in WYO ask in the wake of the Cheney Intl Center mess.
Yale gets in one year more federal money than the entire U of W endowment.
But, U of W has a building with Cheney, and the naming rights are going to be just how costly to the State, and any ever see that covered in the Star Trib on that, and its implications.
Of course, not.
Are Cheney's papers where, all while he was
the V. P. ?
Who will control, so none are destroyed. ?
When are in the Press going to cover
that.......?
How does any U of W Cheney Center
factor into that ?
Where any strings linked, given the
political nature of Cheney, and how he
uses people, and institutions. ?
Are the so called press so in
awe of Cheney, to never cover matters,
beyond Simpson says reporters
can stick it up their " gazoo". ?
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