Charlie Wilson's Chair: Courant

Endowment Controversial
By BARRY SHLACHTER McClatchy Newspapers
August 29, 2008

Call it Charlie Wilson's second war.A dozen University of Texas professors are protesting a plan to endow a Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan studies, saying the former East Texas congressman's efforts to arm the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union ended up boosting Osama bin Laden and nurturing the Taliban movement.A sharply worded letter sent to administrators does not take issue with Wilson's image as a living-large womanizer, as depicted in the Tom Hanks movie "Charlie Wilson's War."Rather, the scholars describe him as a poor role model for students because of all the human misery they say was an unintended consequence of his geopolitical machinations.

"Mr. Wilson's central involvement in the cold war in South Asia does not warrant the honor of establishing a university chair in his name," the professors wrote in their letter to Randy Diehl, the liberal arts dean. "A named chair sends a public message that not only the holder of the chair, but its donor, represent standards to which the university and larger community should aspire."Kamala Visweswaran, an associate professor of anthropology who signed the letter, said the professors were surprised to learn that the university is moving forward with the idea.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Charlie Wilson's Chair: Courant