Totem and Taboo at Stanford

The Stanford faculty ran off the Reagan Presidential Library without too much trouble, just in time for the university’s centennial cornerstone-laying celebrations—Secretary of State George Shultz in attendance. The joggers, environmentalists, and free spirits with tenure who had opposed the library held self-congratulatory parties in the rolling foothills, free at last from the terrors of Reaganism.

Donald Kennedy, the president of the university, took to the campus radio station to deplore all the “crowing,” with everyone who opposed the library “quickly racing to take credit for the outcome.” This was not very helpful to anybody, he said, probably thinking of the university administration, which has just embarked on a $l.l-billion fundraising drive, the most ambitious in the history of private education.

TB

About the Author

Tom Bethell

Featured Tags

The Stanford faculty ran off the Reagan Presidential Library without too much trouble, just in time for the university’s centennial cornerstone-laying celebrations—Secretary of State George Shultz in attendance. The joggers, environmentalists, and free spirits with tenure who had opposed the library held self-congratulatory parties in the rolling foothills, free at last from the terrors of Reaganism.

Donald Kennedy, the president of the university, took to the campus radio station to deplore all the “crowing,” with everyone who opposed the library “quickly racing to take credit for the outcome.” This was not very helpful to anybody, he said, probably thinking of the university administration, which has just embarked on a $l.l-billion fundraising drive, the most ambitious in the history of private education.