[Sosfbay-discuss] Stanford students protest Rumsfeld appointment

[Drew Johnson]

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0828745020071109
Stanford students protest Rumsfeld appointment
Thu Nov 8, 2007 10:47pm EST
powered by Sphere Sphere

STANFORD, California (Reuters) - More than 100 Stanford University
students demonstrated on Thursday against a decision to make former
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a visiting fellow at the Hoover
Institution amid campus discontent over a symbol of U.S. failings in the
Iraq war.

To date, nearly 4,000 Stanford faculty, students and alumni have signed a
petition begun by a faculty member to reject Rumsfeld's appointment
announced in September, but John Raisian, the institute's director, said
Rumsfeld deserved the honor of being a "distinguished visiting fellow."

"Donald Rumsfeld has a remarkable record of achievement," Raisian told the
Stanford Faculty Senate. "Like it or not, he has had a distinguished
career."

Rumsfeld twice served as defense secretary under President Gerald Ford and
President George W. Bush. He also served under President Richard Nixon; in
the House of Representatives; as an ambassador to NATO; and as chief
executive of two Fortune 500 companies.

"The concern with Secretary Rumsfeld is that he might be distinguished for
the wrong reasons," said David Spiegel, a professor in the department of
psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "The fact that he is available for
this appointment speaks to his difficulties."

The position does not require residency in the San Francisco area, one of
the hotbeds of anti-Iraq war sentiment since Bush launched the war that
toppled Saddam Hussein.

"If you consider his entire career, you could make an argument for the
title distinguished," said Debra Satz, an associate professor in the
department of philosophy.

"But really, we're talking about the last six or seven years and I think
across the board, he has been an incompetent secretary of defense."

(Reporting by Clare Baldwin; writing by Adam Tanner; editing by Todd Eastham)