emilyposts:

Earlier this month, the university announced that it was canceling a program requiring all incoming freshmen to read Mr. Pollan’s book, which links the agriculture industry to obesity, food poisoning and environmental damage.

Administrators said budget cuts forced them to cancel the program, but some faculty and students were skeptical. They suspected the cancellation had less to do with money than with pressure from the state’s powerful agribusiness interests. After all, they pointed out, the university had already purchased 4,000 copies of the chosen book. So Mr. Marler, a personal injury lawyer who has received a “Distinguished Alumnus” award and served on the university’s Board of Regents for six years, figured he would find out if money was really the issue by offering to pay the program’s estimated $40,000 shortfall. The result is that the common reading program is back on.

Awesome. I’ve just started In Defense of Food and think it should be required reading.