Reading of Bill Ayers' statement on Cheney Plaza

Several students staged a reading of Bill Ayers' statement, "Doublespeak at the University of Wyoming" this Friday. I happened to walk by, camera phone in hand.

Not all students wanted this event cancelled and are speaking up.

Memorial service scheduled for UW professor

Photo: Dr. Margaret Zamudio, UW News Service

Memorial service scheduled for UW professor
Meg Lanker
Monday, January 10, 2010 7:11 PM MDT

A memorial service for University of Wyoming professor Margie Zamudio will be held this Friday in Laramie.

The service is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in the Centennial Complex, at 2111 Willett Drive. Zamudio died Dec. 25th at her home.

According to a UW news release, Zamudio joined the UW faculty in 2002 and taught in the Sociology, Women's Studies, and Chicano Studies departments. She received tenure in spring 2009.

Zamudio taught several classes at UW focusing on issues of race, immigration, social justice, and gender relations.

Her book, "Critical Race Theory in Education" will be published later this year by Routledge.

A scholarship has been established in her name. Contributions to the Margie Zamudio Memorial Fund can be made at the UniWyo Federal Credit Union in Laramie.

The University of Wyoming released a full obituary for Zamudio Monday:

Dr. Margaret "Margie" Zamudio passed away Dec. 25, 2009. She was 45 years old.

Margie was born in Los Angeles in 1964. She attended UCLA as both an undergraduate and graduate student where she received her B.A. in 1989, her M.A. in 1991 and her Ph.D. in 1996, all in sociology. Margie taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1996-2002 and came to the University of Wyoming in 2002. She taught in the Department of Sociology as well as the Chicano Studies and Women's Studies programs. Margie received tenure at UW in the spring of 2009.

Margie's advocacy and scholarship on issues of social justice, immigration, race, class and gender provided inspiration to many of her friends, colleagues and students. Her book on Critical Race Theory in Education will be published by Routledge in late 2010. Just before she died, Margie was researching the socioeconomic forces behind the immigration of El Salvadorian women in the 1950s and 60s. Her passion and devotion for social justice and racial equality will be greatly missed at UW.

Margie loved the outdoors. The mountains around Happy Jack had a special place in Margie's heart. Margie was an avid cross country skier and mountain biker. She also loved camping in the Medicine Bow Mountains -- the North Fork of the Little Laramie in particular. Margie is survived by her many family, friends and students who will greatly miss her intelligence, compassion, and wonderful sense of humor. Margie will be especially missed by her dog Harley.

A public Memorial Service for Margie will be held Friday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m. at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in the American Heritage Center at 2111 Willett Drive, Laramie.

In lieu of flowers, well wishers are encouraged to donate to the Margie Zamudio Memorial Fund at the UniWyo Federal Credit Union in Laramie. The proceeds of this fund will create a scholarship in Margie's name.

UW professor found dead outside home

Photo: UW Associate Professor Margaret Zamudio, from Department of Sociology website, University of Wyoming

UW professor found dead outside home
Meg Lanker
Monday, December 28, 2009 1:21 PM MDT

A popular professor at the University of Wyoming has died.

Laramie resident Margaret "Margie" Zamudio, 45, was found dead outside her home Saturday after a concerned resident called police shortly after noon after seeing boots outside of a snowdrift. Authorities discovered Zamudio's body outside her home at approximately 12:30 p.m.

According to Commander Mitchell Cushman of the Laramie Police Department, authorities do not believe any foul play was involved and Zamudio's death appears to be accidental. "We believe she stepped outside at some point, slipped and became unconscious. Due to the weather conditions, she most likely froze to death," he said.

On Friday and Saturday, temperatures in Laramie dipped into the single digits with wind chills as low as -20°F. Cushman said extreme winter weather conditions of this type can quickly take a toll on an individual.

Cushman said the investigation is ongoing and toxicology results could take six to eight weeks.

University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan released a statement Monday. "I know I speak for the University of Wyoming community when I say we’re all saddened by Margaret’s death; we will all miss her and her contributions to UW very much," he said.

Zamudio was an associate professor at UW and taught several classes, specializing in Chicano studies and social inequality. According to the UW Department of Sociology's website, she was beginning research "examining the political economy of pre-1960's gendered migration to the U.S. with an emphasis on Salvadoran women."

She received her doctorate from the University of California in 1996 and focused her research on issues of immigration and labor, on race, class, and gender, and on critical race studies in education.

Stay tuned...

Photo: Multi-exposure photos of mountains near Jackson Lake in Jackson, Wyo. Meg Lanker

The Underground has been rather quiet lately, but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on. Stay tuned for a piece on Saturday's Docs 4 patient care rally in Casper, Fort Hood, the University of Wyoming, and health care in general.

I am the editor of The Underground, but I am also a full time student. Now that school is beginning to wind down, expect brand new articles and opinions. Want to submit? Submissions are always welcome and are a key piece of this site. See the description above for instructions.

Thanks to the readers who have made this possible. As Thanksgiving approaches, I remember and am thankful for those who have encouraged me, kept reading, and will read in the future.

-Meg Lanker

Me and Mr. Cheney: A history

Photo: Protesters assemble on Dick and Lynne Cheney Plaza before the dedication. Credit- Meg Lanker, The Underground

Me and Mr. Cheney: A history
Meg Lanker
Monday, September 28, 2009 2:56 PM MDT

It may have been excitement, but I want to believe it was solidarity. The two little boys raised their fists as I marched with the protesters past the University of Wyoming Lab School students on recess. One gap-toothed boy cheered wildly as Nancy Sindelar, a Laramie peace activist, shouted, “These are your rights, kids! It’s the First Amendment at work!”

I watched their eyes light up and the wheels begin to turn. We were more alive than any history book, any documentary, any slideshow. The enthusiasm and unease electrified the air as they pushed forward, crossing Prexy’s Pasture on their way to protest former Vice President Dick Cheney and his dreadfully, ironically-named Cheney International Center.

I marched in solidarity with them Sept. 10. I have marched in solidarity with them since 2003, as the crazy 48-hour deadline for the bombs to drop ticked away and the news anchors waited with baited breath. I knew this invasion was wrong in my inner core. I scrawled furiously in a notebook as the airstrike began on the Iraqi Presidential Palace March 19, 2003. The night vision with white puffs of smoke sanitized the carnage on the ground.

I remembered seeing similar images when the U.S. went into Iraq in 1990. I was in first grade at a small Catholic school in Ohio. My class wrote letters beginning with “Dear Soldier.” I still remembering wishing an unnamed soldier Merry Christmas and not quite understanding why.

Dick Cheney was around for Desert Storm as well – in fact, then-Secretary of Defense Cheney and General Norman Schwarzkopf oversaw the engineering and planning of Desert Storm. In 1990, Cheney said, "I do not believe the President requires any additional authorization from the Congress before committing US forces to achieve our objectives in the Gulf." An unnerving statement, considering what happened nearly 12 years later.

PBS’ Frontline oral history website devoted a section to the former vice president called “Cheney In His Own Words.” In 1991, Cheney gave his perspective on U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf: “We're always going to have to be involved [in the Middle East]. Maybe it's part of our national character, you know we like to have these problems nice and neatly wrapped up, put a ribbon around it. You deploy a force, you win the war and the problem goes away and it doesn't work that way in the Middle East – it never has and isn't likely to in my lifetime.”

Even then, Cheney knew. He knew this would never end – only go quiet for a period.

A friend of mine from my stint in the Navy was deployed to a ship running support operations for the 2003 invasion. He said they were told on the ship that they would “just know” if they were going to war. Later that night, as most prepared to sleep, the ship’s PA system erupted with AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” and the sounds of pilots firing up the engines of their jets. It was time, he said. He began singing the lyrics to “Hells Bells” on the phone with me – “I’m a rolling thunder, a pouring rain/I’m comin’ on like a hurricane/My lightning’s flashing across the sky/You’re only young but you’re gonna die!”

He called it the “most patriotic time of his life.” This was a year after the invasion began and they finally pulled back into port.

I felt sick.

I watched President George W. Bush land on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln May 1, a ship that had been out to sea for nearly a year and was now forced to sit off the coast of San Diego because of security concerns. The sailors were mocked by the sight of their home for several days. I saw the “Mission Accomplished” banner, the beaming sailors, and a flight-suit clad Bush as pure political theater and nothing else.

Where was Cheney?

As Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and said, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended,” Cheney was nowhere in sight.

On July 2, 2003, when Bush famously said of the insurgency, “Bring ‘em on,” Cheney was still nowhere in sight.

Yet he took those messages to heart – even when the administration backed off both statements, claiming the notorious banner was “unclear” and letting the “bring ‘em on” blow over.

It also seems that Cheney was at his undisclosed location when Bush spoke of torture. On March 23, 2003, Bush said Iraqi soldiers were “welcoming” American troops, and were “surrendering gleefully, happily.” He emphasized to a cache of White House reporters, “They'll be treated well.”

Andrew Sullivan wrote in the Oct. 2009 edition of The Atlantic of Bush’s resounding condemnation of torture on June 26, 2003 on the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. This was roughly one year before the news broke of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In his speech, Bush said, “I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy.”

There was no mincing of words. According to the Bush administration – or at least Bush – Americans don’t torture.

But anyone who watched news coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison photos, the de-classification of CIA and internal memos urging Bush to declare Taliban and Iraqi insurgents as exempt from the Geneva Conventions, and finally, de-classification of internal documents detailing methods ranging from sexual abuse and threats to the use of power drills and loaded weapons in the “approved” interrogation methods – anyone who watched any coverage of these stories knows better, knows America has tortured.

And it was with this in mind, I watched Cheney transform over the years from a faintly sinister-looking boorish uncle to a chilling criminal organizer of torture at worst and a nefarious bully at best. He was a chief architect in a pre-emptive invasion to find weapons of mass destruction with faulty intelligence, to spread democracy like so much syphilis, and, as many of Cheney’s detractors allege, to secure a significant slice of the Iraqi oil reserves for U.S. corporate profit.

Cheney insisted in a landmark interview March 16, 2003 with the late Tim Russert that the Iraqi oil reserves “obviously, belong to the Iraqi people, need to be put to use by the Iraqi people for the Iraqi people and that will be one of our major objectives.”

In this interview, Cheney made statements that are tragically laughable in hindsight and disastrous in their lack of foresight. He claimed, “My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”

Russert pushed him on this statement and asked, “If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?”

Cheney replied, “Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators… The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question that they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.”

Russert asked about costs of the proposed conflict, which analysts placed at $80 billion then, with a cost of $10 billion for each year of occupation. Cheney declined to elaborate on projected costs in the interview, only acknowledging “there are estimates out there.”

As of Sept. 23, 2009, the cost of the Iraq War was over $165 billion – nearly three times the cost of the war in Afghanistan. Since 2001, the U.S. has spent over $912 billion on these two wars. Much of that money has gone to civilian firms contracted to rebuild Iraq. A principle firm is Cheney’s old haunt, Halliburton, and its subsidiaries.

Cheney headed up the energy development company Halliburton, which bills itself on its website as “one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry.”

I wonder if Cheney remembers the speech he gave to the libertarian-leaning-conservative Cato Institute in 1998. The think-tank sponsors numerous symposiums and invited then-Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney to speak at a conference entitled “Collateral Damage: The Economic Cost of U.S. Foreign Policy.”

He delivered a speech on the topic of Defending Liberty in a Global Economy, expounding on the challenges of delivering adequate energy services to a war zone.

Cheney remarked, “The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where one would not normally choose to go. But, we go where the business is.”

And, in 2003, the U.S. went where the business is – the second-largest oil reserve in the world, under the sands of Iraq. Also, in 2003, Halliburton was awarded billions of dollars of no-bid government contracts to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq’s oil industry. Halliburton is also entangled with Blackwater USA, a private security firm under investigation for smuggling weapons into Iraq concealed in dog food bags and, in more serious allegations, of murdering Iraqi civilians for sport.

Since Halliburton held millions in government contracts even before the Iraq war, Cheney sold his Halliburton stock to avoid a conflict of interest as vice president, but retains a severance package and retirements benefits worth millions. These stock sales paid for most of the Cheney International Center.

Cheney and the black gold he holds so dear both share a common characteristic: Both can take the form of crude or refined. Whether it’s screaming, “Go fuck yourself!” at a fellow legislator on the House floor, to smirking “So?” at a reporter who, in 2008, points out two-thirds of Americans no longer think the fight in Iraq is worth it, Dick Cheney held the monopoly on evil in the Bush administration – so much so that I began to regard Bush as a puppet, a faux-martinet standing in as a mouthpiece for what Cheney had planned for America and Iraq.

And here we are. Two, then four, then six years crawled by as the body count on both sides rose and “Mission Accomplished” tasted not of victory but ashes. The war in Iraq appears to stagnate more and more as troops prepare to withdraw, and the forgotten conflict, Afghanistan, transforms into one step forward, two steps back.

As Cheney continually defended the actions of CIA interrogators who “may have” crossed the line on Fox News every time whispers of prosecution of the previous administration began, the University of Wyoming quietly prepared to dedicate the Cheney International Center.

A clichéd little birdie told me the dedication was prepared for Sept. 10 at 10:30 a.m. in front of the center on Dick and Lynne Cheney plaza. I confirmed the dedication with UW spokeswoman Jessica Lowell Aug. 30 and published the news on The Underground.

I knew I had to be there.

I wanted Cheney welcomed with the reminder that he sanctioned torture in the name of every American citizen. I wanted him to know that he could not buy honor. And I wanted him to know that not every Wyoming citizen claims him as a native son – never mind that he was actually born in Nebraska. A petty point, but Wyoming does have a tendency to disown those that dare move here from “back East” or, God forbid, California. Wyoming only claims a select few as its own.

I was also torn about protesting his visit. As the editor of The Underground, it is my job to remain objective when I report the news. I reported on his visit along with the opposition and planned protest to it, which thanks to several Laramie community members tipping off Mead Gruver of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, garnered national attention via the AP wire story “Protests brew over Cheney International Center.”

As the enthusiasm over the protest brewed, I began to suspect I could no longer be objective. This was cemented by UW President Tom Buchanan’s opinion piece in the Casper Star-Tribune Sept. 6 “Tolerance, diversity cut many ways.” Buchanan said he had reviewed a list of those protesting the decision to name the center after Cheney and recognized many friends and colleagues on this list.

Buchanan wrote: “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. So it is ironic that they show so little of it when confronted by a situation that challenges their own comfort zone.”

The lack of understanding by the UW administration and Buchanan was incomprehensible and wholly offensive. I immediately fired off a letter in response.

In my letter, published in the Tribune Sept. 9, I wrote: “The protest to this decision has nothing to do with intolerance of Cheney's views or of narrow-mindedness. This has everything to do with naming the center after a man who is suspected of sanctioning torture internationally and numerous violations of U.S. citizens' civil rights.”

It was in that moment any ideas of objectivity fell away. I believe every journalist will one day face a crisis of conscience on whether or not to remain objective manifested by a breakthrough of passion. Mine came that day.

The day of the event, I scrawled the number for the Wyoming ACLU in black Sharpie marker on the arms and hands of nearly 50 people. I marched with the protesters. I created the music mix they blared from a small stereo as we marched from 22nd and Willett Streets to Prexy’s Pasture. I gave comments to the media as a facilitator. I counted nearly double the AP’s estimate of 100 protesters.

And then I stood in the media area, signed in and filmed the event, recorded the speeches and took comments for this feature from protesters, Cheney supporters, Tom Buchanan, and Jessica Lowell.

When Cheney walked out, the protesters booed, supporters cheered, but I remained silent.

When Former U.S. Senator Al Simpson commented on Cheney’s patriotism, how easy it was to protest and how anyone can be a “bitcher,” I continued to remain silent so as to not compromise my recording.

And when Cheney began to speak, not more than 20 feet from where I stood, all of the epithets and all of the curses I wanted shout at him about eight years of lies, sanctioning torture, buying honor, and sending my friends to die in an unjust war strained against my lips. I remained silent.

I remained silent because there were so many others hoisting signs and yelling what I have wanted to say to the man since I watched the bombs drop in 2003. The throng of protesters remained, for the most part, polite during the speeches – although Simpson’s comments certainly rankled a few.

The colorful signs elevated above the crowd spoke volumes. Some referenced the donation and torture: “We don’t want your blood money!” “UW: High priced whore” and “My USA doesn’t torture.” There were also references to Buchanan’s opinion piece: “Tom Buchanan tolerates torture” and “If thinking torture is wrong makes me intolerant, then I’m gladly intolerant.”

There were signs from supporters as well, both thanking Cheney for his donation and encouraging him to run for president in 2012 – although protester Will Welch dressed as a grim reaper-esque Darth Vader from Star Wars and carried a sign encouraging Cheney to add Vader to the 2012 ticket.

The demonstrators protested the naming for varied reasons, but many referenced the idea that Cheney was buying a mark of distinction at UW’s expense.

Chip Rawlins, a UW graduate student and Wyoming native, felt Cheney was receiving an undeserved tribute. “I think it’s wrong to honor someone like this who has done such severe damage to the United States and its reputation,” he said.

Protester and UW student Tim Earl said, “I don’t think that the university should allow Dick Cheney to clean up his legacy at this campus with this money with that building.”

Another UW student, Ruth Briggs, came out in support of Cheney and was dressed in a T-shirt with the message “Nobody likes a liberal.” She said she came out to show Cheney that there are “youth who aren’t influenced by the young liberal mindset, and that there are young conservatives who support Mr. Cheney.”

Briggs added she feels liberals outnumber conservatives on the UW campus. Later, she was able to have her picture taken with Cheney and he mentioned that he liked her T-shirt.

UW graduate student Dan DePeyer echoed many of his fellow protester’s sentiments. DePeyer helped organize the protest, sending a bulletin out to the members of the Facebook group, “UW Students Against the Naming of the Cheney International Center” and helped create signs for the rally.

DePeyer said, “I believe Cheney is guilty of war crimes, particularly torture, and he’s responsible for many international crimes.”

UW alumnus Mara Sobotka also helped organize people to rally at the dedication and led the march to campus. She said, “I am here to demonstrate that we do not support what Dick Cheney stands for."

Not everyone at the protest was a UW student or Laramie resident. Mark and Renee Sandefer of Colorado drove up to protest the dedication. Mark said he wants to see both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan ended and called for Cheney’s prosecution on charges of murder and crimes against humanity.

Renee said that the UW administration had committed “an atrocity” by allowing a “war criminal and a war profiteer to come in here and buy himself this honor.” She called the dedication of the center a “disgrace to this university and to this nation.”

Other supporters of the former vice president were just as vocal in their defense of Cheney’s actions and policies as his detractors. UW students Dillon Kinney and Dustin Stallings came out to support Cheney.

“I strongly believe that what he did was the best thing for our country,” said Kinney. “I think it’s great that the university can dedicate this in his honor and recognize what he’s done for us.”

Buchanan did not address the demonstrators in his speech but afterwards called the crowd “well-behaved” and “civil the way we hoped it would be on a university campus.” He said, “Considering the emotions here, Wyoming did itself proud. I’m sure there are folks who feel strongly on both sides.”

UW spokeswoman Jessica Lowell said of the crowd, “You know, in America, we have the First Amendment which entitles everyone to free speech and they certainly got their opportunity to use their First Amendments rights.”

In the end, I decided to wait a few weeks before writing about this event. Buchanan was correct in his assessment of the emotions running through the crowd that day. When Cheney began his speech, the cheers and jeers threatened to reach a fever pitch. Even though I decided to wait, the memories I carried away from the event remain fresh.

I carried away the memory of those kids, staring frozen in astonishment or applauding and shouting as we marched by their recess time.

I also carried away the memory forever burned into my mind’s eye of Cheney striding out of the international center and thinking to myself with a bizarre jolt, “But he’s just small, stooped old man with a cane…”

And I carried away the memory of being within a few feet of Cheney and feeling an unearthly coldness crawling across my skin on an unseasonably warm day as I heard him laugh. His laugh was humorless and bitter, his face blank as I looked him in the eyes.

Making eye contact with Cheney, I understood the arrogance needed to explain away five draft deferments, courtesy of the University of Wyoming and Casper College, with the statement, “I had other priorities in the 60's than military service,” and then later calling Vietnam “a noble cause” in which “had I been drafted, I would have been happy to serve.”

I understood the dispassionate indifference needed to look at reporters and the American people and insist the intelligence was never faulty, the CIA interrogators never crossed the line and that Iraq is still the noble cause he believed Vietnam to be so many years ago.

I understood and was dismayed – I know he will never answer any questions truthfully in any kind of investigation. Cheney creates his own acerbic reality, in which he is the star and the rest of the proletariat purely bit players.

Never mind the U.S. soldiers sent to die in the desert.

Never mind the lives battered and broken by the detention of innocents.

Never mind the legacy of national debt he helped create.

Never mind the quagmire enveloping the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Never mind the authorization of heinous threats and abuse as “enhanced” interrogation methods.

Never mind any of this because he gave the university so many millions made the good ol’ capitalist way – war profiteering. Perhaps the business school should have been named after him, with lessons in no-bid contracts and off-shore accounts. After all, Cheney was a rather successful capitalist.

Furthermore, none of this will ever fit into Cheney’s version of events. The protesters and the media were simply part of his routine. Sen. Simpson’s annoyance at the demonstrators provided a back-handed acknowledgment of the dissent. Cheney made no mention of the protesters in his speech, only smirking in their general direction a few times beforehand.

I tried to ask him a question afterwards and was pushed out of the way. My entire generation was pushed out of the way with the assistance of this man, so I should not be taken aback by his impassiveness.

Several of the protesters saw Cheney’s plane off at the airport here in Laramie. Accompanying them was a long, heavy list of names – names of soldiers killed in action since these disastrous wars began. They displayed the names prominently and flipped him the bird as the plane took off.

I know he saw.

But I doubt he cared.

Photo slideshow: Cheney International Center dedication

The University of Wyoming dedicated the brand-new Cheney International Center on Sept. 10. The center houses the programs for International Studies and a lounge for international students.

Around 120-200 people gathered to protest the dedication, which generated nationwide recognition and controversy.

Photos: Meg Lanker

All photos remain copyright The Underground and Meg Lanker

Letter to the Editor: An open letter to President Tom Buchanan

Editor:

An open letter to President Thomas Buchanan-

I am very disturbed about the fact that the University has chosen to name the new International Center after former Vice President Richard Cheney. I find this decision to be so inappropriate. I understand that money talks, but putting his name on such a place smacks of hypocrisy. He was not born here and he rarely lives here. I believe that he took up residency again only so that he could run with George Bush in that ill-fated election. A presidential and vice presidential candidate cannot be from the same state.

Doesn’t he already have enough places named after him? Why are so many people in Wyoming so proud of a person who has lied to us, has encouraged us to live in fear and has condoned the use of torture? He certainly has helped to bring down the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world. He just doesn’t seem like a good role model for students.

I believe this to be one more smudge on the reputation of Wyoming; a reputation that is already quite sullied by past events. I am tired of defending Wyoming when I encounter people from “out there in the world.” Cheney, Matthew Shepard's death, the disparity in women and men’s income, to name but a few.

I am all for tolerance and diversity. But I don’t think that naming the building after him really speaks to tolerance and diversity. He appears to value neither.

I graduated from the University of Wyoming in the 1960s. There were certainly a lot of issues at that time. I thought we had come quite a way since. But when a situation such as this arises, I really have to wonder.

I hope that this decision will be rethought and that the Center will be named for someone really deserving of the honor; someone who has been successful in dealing in international matters and has enhanced our position in the world. We don’t have to be first or best but we do have to be principled. We haven’t been that for some time now. Dick Cheney certainly does not merit that honor.

Thank you for your attention to this letter.

Joan S. Borst
Sheridan, Wyo.

Video of Dick Cheney's speech

Stay tuned for a news feature on the event, a behind the scenes look at the protest, and an opinion feature on the former vice president. For now, here's my filming of Dick and Lynne Cheney, plus the ribbon cutting.

Letter to the Editor: In defense of UW protest

Editor:

At the dedication of the Cheney International Center, former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson seemed to casually dismiss the 100 or so protesters present by saying, “It is easy to second-guess. It is easy to protest, takes no brains.”

I would like to remind Simpson that protest is what this great country is founded upon. Would he have said the same about those old white men who believed it was their “inalienable right” to speak their mind (with no brains) and oppose a tyrannical government? Was it easy for Martin Luther King to march on Washington or students at Kent State in Ohio to protest the Vietnam War?

I respectfully disagree with Simpson’s assessment. Every time someone stands up for what they believe in to those in power, they take a risk. Many of us who protested the Cheney International Center ceremony felt protesting was worth the possible risk of arrest or expulsion from UW.

It was incredible that someone who opposed Dick Cheney and his policies could stand next to someone who supported him without any violence or bloodshed. Sure, maybe today it is easier to protest in the United States, but in so many other countries this right is denied and severely suppressed by the government - we have only to look at recent events in China and Iran as examples.

What is “easy,” Senator Simpson, is for those in power to start unilateral wars, circumvent the Geneva Conventions, subvert the constitution, and authorize torture tactics that violate human rights treaties without any consequences. This is what takes “no brains.”

Dan DePeyer
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyo.

Editor's note: DePeyer is a University of Wyoming graduate student in the international studies program. He began the "UW Students Against the Cheney International Center" Facebook group and was instrumental in organizing the protest against the dedication Sept. 10.

Letter to the Editor: No ethics lesson in Buchanan's words

Dear Editor:

UW President Tom Buchanan’s perspective in the Laramie Boomerang (9/5) and the Casper Star-Tribune (9/6) about the naming of the Cheney International Center sought to provide a lesson in ethics. Quite the contrary. By defending the privileges of the wealthy and powerful while admonishing those who question the fairness and legitimacy of naming an international center after former Vice-president Dick Cheney, Buchanan’s perspective conveyed much more about his own political savvy than about ethics.

So that in the future the university's position on such matters will be clear, would it be possible to set the bar high enough so a prospective donor couldn't slither over it to have his or her name honored? Or are we left with the message that there is no lower limit – that UW would institutionalize the name of the devil if the donation and political payoff were sufficient?

Fred Vanden Heede
Laramie, Wyo.

Letter to the Editor: Faculty should not keep silent on Cheney donation

Editor -

I am disappointed at the tone of Dr. Tom Buchanan's perspective piece on the Cheney International Center (CIC) (Casper Star-Tribune, Sept. 6). The suggestion that people objecting to the CIC lack tolerance is a cheap shot. The fact is, campus employees almost always acquiesce when the university recognizes controversial people and institutions. We've all sat through graduation ceremonies and watched as the university lent its credibility to doubtful characters in exchange for cold hard cash. We think: "It sucks. Hopefully students will benefit. Best stay silent."

Taking money from Dick Cheney is in another league. Mr. Cheney sanctioned the kidnapping, torture and murder of political prisoners. The university is promoting the legacy of someone who, more than any other in the recent past, damaged our country's reputation abroad. Now Mr. Cheney gets to damage that of the university.

Accepting donations from the powerful is a balancing act. Most times, benefits to the institution outweigh the disadvantages of associating with people or companies with a checkered past. But sometimes the disadvantages are too big. This was one of those times. It would have resulted in heat for Dr. Buchanan. Maybe he'd have lost his job. Then again, being a university president involves more than driving a desk. It is not unreasonable to expect the odd bit of moral courage from the university's administrators.

If the university is indeed extremely grateful to the Cheney family for its philanthropy, it is peculiar it has done little to promote the dedication of the center. The rumor is that it will be on Sept. 10th at 10:30 AM on Cheney Plaza. I invite students, faculty and staff to legally and peacefully protest this decision by the university.

Donal O'Toole
Professor, Dept. of Veterinary Science
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyo.

UW to dedicate Cheney International Center

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.

Letter to the Editor: Reminders of tyranny

In an academic (but not particularly intellectual) institution like the University of Wyoming, it might be a good idea to rename all of the University's buildings so that they can be used as talking points for future generations.

We could be the first university to turn its campus into a living monument to villainy. After naming a building after Cheney, we could name another after Nixon and then perhaps another after Grover Norquist (the Republican genius who decided to destroy America in order to save it).

Then, we could name our ROTC building after Benedict Arnold, who sold out his country because he didn't get a promotion. Certainly, President McKinley and William Randolph Hearst should be paired for blowing up the Battleship Maine as a pretext for the Spanish American War. L.B.J. should be remembered as the first of the American strong men to get us into a war solely in order to get rid of our huge inventory of weapons.

And, finally, Bush should be honored by renaming Old Main for the whole Bush crime family.

John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.

Videos on the UW Geological Museum Closure

Chris Hume directed these mini-docs about the closure of the UW Geological Museum. I am in the one about the last hour of the museum. The bottom one is a beautiful tribute and the top one begs the question from a child - if it's part time, why bother?

Visit keeplaramiedinos.blogspot.com for more information.

Chris Hume is the director of Red State Road Trip, Red State Road Trip 2, and numerous other documentaries and animated shorts. Visit his website, Shoot and Run Productions, for more information.

Side Effects: Re-opening the Geological Museum

On June 29th, I received an anonymous, threatening email from a “concerned Wyoming alumnus.” I referenced this email a few weeks ago, but it still hangs in my mind, especially lines like, “I think you may want to think about how much you value your attendance at UW, as it would be a shame for it to come to an end.” Whoever sent me this email is concerned about the unfair coverage I have given the UW budget cuts. The Branding Iron received a similar phone call in the office. When I showed this email to President Tom Buchanan, since the writer claimed to be a good friend, he laughed, says he gets nutty emails, and didn’t think too much of it. Side effect: I laughed it off as well, but still look behind my back when I walk in the dark.

It will take more than anonymous threats to keep me from expressing my opinion about these cuts. Emails I receive continue to catch my attention. A few days after the anonymous email, I received a message from Lisa Stillings at University of Nevada-Reno expressing her dismay at the closure of the Geological Museum and paralleling it with cuts UNR had to make. She worked at the University of Wyoming as a researcher in the early 1990s and is still fond of the UW community. She wrote that laid off employees at UNR were given 1 year notice before they were laid off, not 20 days. I know UW had to make these cuts fast, but 20 days notice is beyond brutal, especially in the economic situation the nation finds itself in. She also wrote that “offering tours ‘by appointment only’ isn't going to work and is antithetical to the whole concept of museums and public collections.” Side effect: People beyond our borders are wondering if UW is simply apathetic to the community’s concerns.

The latest email exchange to catch my attention is between UW Provost Myron Allen and a gentleman who works for a major energy company and sits on many professional boards. He asked Allen for a specific amount needed to keep the museum open and if getting written commitments for these donations could keep it open past its July 1 closing date. Allen replied, “I appreciate your willingness to consider soliciting donations that would keep the Geology Museum open. However, I hope you'll consider directing any fundraising initiatives toward other measures – preferably those that support UW's degree-granting departments.” Then, adding salt into the wound, he further wrote, “[E]ven if permanent funds became available every dean and department head in the institution can name positions that rank more highly than those lost in the Geology Museum.” Side effect: Please, please give us money, but only for “high-ranking” positions and programs.

The recent story about our new athletic uniforms sponsored by Nike demonstrates the overwhelming callousness displayed by this administration. The administration is proudly crowing that these uniforms will make us more attractive to recruits. Athletic Director Tom Burman said, "Young people today grow up very conscious of the sports apparel they wear and the sports equipment they use. Nike is not only a company that has an outstanding reputation for the highest quality equipment, but it is the brand that recruits desire.” Recruits also desire not to suck, so here’s hoping new coach Dave Christensen is worth his $180,000 yearly salary, which could reach $750,000 with incentives, according to ESPN.com. Let’s not even talk about Nike’s “outstanding” reputation for sweatshop labor. Side effect: Wyoming’s outstanding reputation for fossils will outlast our reputation for football any day.

All this on the heels of an insulting, part-time “re-opening.” Laramie resident Chris Hume shares my displeasure with this half-measure. Hume said, “Without a director, the museum is just a storage shed. No one will be there to provide knowledge and enlightenment to the next generation about the treasures inside the Museum. A mere security guard will preside over the building, as if it were a store in a mall.” Exactly. Not only that, but the security guard is apparently a custodian pulling double-duty so the UW administration can laud themselves in the press for listening to the public’s concerns. This is unacceptable and a cheap PR move – not to mention a slap in the face to the Friends of the S.H. Knight Geological Museum and any other donors who were turned away. Side effect: If we paint a little Swoosh on Big Al, will Nike sponsor him too?

“Side Effects” by Meg Lanker runs weekly. Side effects of reading her column include possible pugnacity, umbrage, nihilism, or sagacity.