Dear Editor,
I believe most students are aware of the current scheme against the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies due to your fantastic reporting. I find the bias demonstrated in the International and Area Studies Reinvention Report to be deplorable. The myopia displayed by Dr. Reynolds and his fellow jurist of the Kangaroo Court/IAS Reinvention panel stretches the bounds of credulity. I find its conclusions to be narrow-minded and a danger to the capability and credibility of BYU to produce internationally circumspect graduates equipped to make a real difference in the world.
A wealth of comments in the petition address point by point the rather ridiculous assertions put forward in the report, delivered under the cover of ‘darkness’ like a thief in the night. I am gratified to see the vociferous response against this attempted coup. In fact I find many of the report’s points to be laughable.
I implore the BYU administration to take heed and work to preserve the independence of the Kennedy Center. Preserve its liberty from the monopolistic suzerainty of departments with no interest in international education only in plundering the treasury of the Kennedy Center to fill their own war chests. Moreover, I would ask BYU students on campus to voice their displeasure to the administration en masse in an effort to save this BYU asset.
In light of recent events and the lack of international expertise displayed daily by those within the U.S. government and major U.S. news outlets, the Kennedy Center is indeed under-funded but BYU should be considering expansion of the center’s budget and role, not eradication by empire building professors.
Bolstering the curriculum of IAS degrees is a necessary and welcomed amendment and will deliver graduates that are equipped to make a positive and intelligent difference in the world for the good of mankind as well as the Church. Long live the Kennedy Center!
Marvin A. Schroeder
Houston
