A Note from the Author, Dok Tael (Stevens) Murphy
The following is the Western Herald's article, "Friction between WMU, SSE hindering academic progress."  After I wrote this article and one other one about the Asylum Lake research and business park, I was told that I was should stop writing about the same topic. 
     There was a lot of rebuttal to this article, which I cannot print because I did not write it, and I do not have the copyright release allowing me to print it here. President Diether Haenicke and Prof. David Hargreave threw up all sorts of accusations. I didn't make up any of the facts listed in this article. I reported the information given to me from Eric Adler, Mark Lee, Prof. David Hargreave and Prof. Roger Ulrich.  I never met either Eric or Mark prior to them coming to me with this information, although I knew the professors distantly from my studies in their department. The Western Herald's editor opted to have a news article run in the same edition, because he felt that what I had uncovered should be reported as news, not just in an opinion column.  Jessie Weston wrote the news article. He took a lot of flak, too, and I appreciate that he didn't waiver from the truth he was reporting. It was a difficult time back then, but it spurred a movement that caught the attention of Kalamazoo County and the state senate.

Students for a Sustainable Earth disassociated itself from the Environmental Studies department due to administrative intimidation concerning funding.  It seems that SSE's stance against the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park site has inspired the administration to focus concern toward the Environmental Studies budget future.  Academic freedom is being curtailed in the process.
  Eric Adler, president of SSE, and member Mark Lee recall a discussion last semester concerning the department's sponsorship of SSE with Dave Hargreave, chairman of the Environmental Studies department, and Molly Cole, Environmental Studies program coordinator.
   "We were told to either work with the Environmental Studies without speaking out against the ALRBP, or to go out on our own."
   As one SSE member assessed the situation during the Feb. 2 meeting, "They're afraid of losing their budget if they openly oppose (the R&B park)."
   A letter to Howard Farris, chair of the department of psychology executive committee, dated Nov. 13, 1992 describes the situation.  Composed by Roger Ulrich, the new faculty advisor for SSE, the letter cites his concerns:
  "A recent example of a more dangerous form of intimidation closer to home pertains to one of our seniors who was advised to find another advisor for the group he chaired - Students for a Sustainable Earth - because some of the administration felt that SSE's activism was inappropriate. Since continued association with his group might harm how his advisors and their department were viewed (thus affecting their funding by the WMU administration) faculty members were, in a sense, intimidated into going along with the wishes of the administrator by making the suggestion and removed themselves from their advisory role," the letter said.
  Various faculty and students have reported that an administrator within the leadership of our university told the Environmental Studies faculty advisors that if students like Adler and those in SSE are a result of their program, that it might be better to not have the department.
  In a Jan. 29 interview, Hargreave said that SSE students chose to disassociate themselves from the department, stating that the impact an organization's choices have on an academic department have been distorted.  Additionally, Hargreave said, "I doubt very seriously if the administration would drop (the Environmental Studies program)." With the recent dismemberment of the agriculture program, it would seem that no program is guaranteed longevity.
  Budget cuts in the current Environmental Studies cost center were due to the reorganization of Environmental Studies into the new department of science studies said Marilyn Rowe, budget officer of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dean Honsberger, director of the office of university budgets, said the Environmental Studies cost center received $15,418 for the 1991-1992 school year, and $8,818 for the 1992-1993 school year.  Honsberger indicates that a university-wide budget reduction of $5.2 million last semester may have also influenced the current ENVS budget decrease, although unplanned tuition revenues restored some of these funds.
  Administrative disciplinary budget cuts to a department impedes academic freedom. Ulrich notes application of the concept of academic freedom and responsibility from Article 13 of the contractual agreement between Western Michigan  University and the WMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors in his letter to Farris.  "Both the protection of academic freedom and the requirements of academic responsibility apply to all persons associated with the university who exercise teaching and/or other professional responsibilities."
  When the administration intimidates an academic department with budget infringements in the event that they or an organization with which they share affiliation voices an unpopular opinion, violates the contractual responsibility to maintain academic freedom. If similar funding threats were applied to other departments, scientific studies that identify problems with construction on the Lee Baker Farm and Colony Orchard could be stifled. Economic and geographic studies to determine alternative sites could be dismissed by a department afraid to address a topic that the administration has labeled untouchable.
  If a group of biology students protest the R&B park; would the biology department be intimidated [next]? Would threats concerning the mere existence of the department be addressed concerning the type of student produced?
  The administration, faculty and students of WMU need to negotiate environmental concerns for the R&B park rather than allow one party to bludgeon the others into submission.  Academic freedom must be preserved under the administrative agenda that excludes the pursuit of information and ideas that call the university's actions into question.
  Despite the turmoil between the administration and both the Environmental Studies and SSE, Ulrich greets his new role with the hope of healing the relationship between SSE and the ecosystem around them.
  "The overall thrust of my role as advisor to SSE is to emphasize the need for all of us, learning to live using fewer resources and to note that we are all a part of nature. To take better care of the Earth requires that we start by taking better care of ourselves (smoke less, use fewer harmful substances, alcohol, etc). We must work harder to heal the Earth's wounds as well as those among one another. Let's learn to get along."
Friction betwewen WMU, SSE hindering academic progress
Asylum Lake
Controversy
Kalamazoo County, MI
A Note from the Author, Dok Tael (Stevens) Murphy
The following is the Western Herald's article, "Friction between WMU, SSE hindering academic progress."  After I wrote this article and one other one about the Asylum Lake research and business park, I was told that I was should stop writing about the same topic. 
     There was a lot of rebuttal to this article, which I cannot print because I did not write it, and I do not have the copyright release allowing me to print it here. President Diether Haenicke and Prof. David Hargreave threw up all sorts of accusations. I didn't make up any of the facts listed in this article. I reported the information given to me from Eric Adler, Mark Lee, Prof. David Hargreave and Prof. Roger Ulrich.  I never met either Eric or Mark prior to them coming to me with this information, although I knew the professors distantly from my studies in their department. The Western Herald's editor opted to have a news article run in the same edition, because he felt that what I had uncovered should be reported as news, not just in an opinion column.  Jessie Weston wrote the news article. He took a lot of flak, too, and I appreciate that he didn't waiver from the truth he was reporting. It was a difficult time back then, but it spurred a movement that caught the attention of Kalamazoo County and the state senate.

Students for a Sustainable Earth disassociated itself from the Environmental Studies department due to administrative intimidation concerning funding.  It seems that SSE's stance against the Asylum Lake Research and Business Park site has inspired the administration to focus concern toward the Environmental Studies budget future.  Academic freedom is being curtailed in the process.
  Eric Adler, president of SSE, and member Mark Lee recall a discussion last semester concerning the department's sponsorship of SSE with Dave Hargreave, chairman of the Environmental Studies department, and Molly Cole, Environmental Studies program coordinator.
   "We were told to either work with the Environmental Studies without speaking out against the ALRBP, or to go out on our own."
   As one SSE member assessed the situation during the Feb. 2 meeting, "They're afraid of losing their budget if they openly oppose (the R&B park)."
   A letter to Howard Farris, chair of the department of psychology executive committee, dated Nov. 13, 1992 describes the situation.  Composed by Roger Ulrich, the new faculty advisor for SSE, the letter cites his concerns:
  "A recent example of a more dangerous form of intimidation closer to home pertains to one of our seniors who was advised to find another advisor for the group he chaired - Students for a Sustainable Earth - because some of the administration felt that SSE's activism was inappropriate. Since continued association with his group might harm how his advisors and their department were viewed (thus affecting their funding by the WMU administration) faculty members were, in a sense, intimidated into going along with the wishes of the administrator by making the suggestion and removed themselves from their advisory role," the letter said.
  Various faculty and students have reported that an administrator within the leadership of our university told the Environmental Studies faculty advisors that if students like Adler and those in SSE are a result of their program, that it might be better to not have the department.
  In a Jan. 29 interview, Hargreave said that SSE students chose to disassociate themselves from the department, stating that the impact an organization's choices have on an academic department have been distorted.  Additionally, Hargreave said, "I doubt very seriously if the administration would drop (the Environmental Studies program)." With the recent dismemberment of the agriculture program, it would seem that no program is guaranteed longevity.
  Budget cuts in the current Environmental Studies cost center were due to the reorganization of Environmental Studies into the new department of science studies said Marilyn Rowe, budget officer of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dean Honsberger, director of the office of university budgets, said the Environmental Studies cost center received $15,418 for the 1991-1992 school year, and $8,818 for the 1992-1993 school year.  Honsberger indicates that a university-wide budget reduction of $5.2 million last semester may have also influenced the current ENVS budget decrease, although unplanned tuition revenues restored some of these funds.
  Administrative disciplinary budget cuts to a department impedes academic freedom. Ulrich notes application of the concept of academic freedom and responsibility from Article 13 of the contractual agreement between Western Michigan  University and the WMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors in his letter to Farris.  "Both the protection of academic freedom and the requirements of academic responsibility apply to all persons associated with the university who exercise teaching and/or other professional responsibilities."
  When the administration intimidates an academic department with budget infringements in the event that they or an organization with which they share affiliation voices an unpopular opinion, violates the contractual responsibility to maintain academic freedom. If similar funding threats were applied to other departments, scientific studies that identify problems with construction on the Lee Baker Farm and Colony Orchard could be stifled. Economic and geographic studies to determine alternative sites could be dismissed by a department afraid to address a topic that the administration has labeled untouchable.
  If a group of biology students protest the R&B park; would the biology department be intimidated [next]? Would threats concerning the mere existence of the department be addressed concerning the type of student produced?
  The administration, faculty and students of WMU need to negotiate environmental concerns for the R&B park rather than allow one party to bludgeon the others into submission.  Academic freedom must be preserved under the administrative agenda that excludes the pursuit of information and ideas that call the university's actions into question.
  Despite the turmoil between the administration and both the Environmental Studies and SSE, Ulrich greets his new role with the hope of healing the relationship between SSE and the ecosystem around them.
  "The overall thrust of my role as advisor to SSE is to emphasize the need for all of us, learning to live using fewer resources and to note that we are all a part of nature. To take better care of the Earth requires that we start by taking better care of ourselves (smoke less, use fewer harmful substances, alcohol, etc). We must work harder to heal the Earth's wounds as well as those among one another. Let's learn to get along."
AUTHOR'S NOTES

Please remember the title and portions of my article were edited by someone else (I'm a much better writer than this chopped-up article suggests).
My hypothetical question about other departments being threatened was answered after I became more involved in the Asylum Lake issue...
In December 1993 I was told to graduate from the geology department before finishing my master's thesis. According to one of my advisors, the accelerated graduation schedule was at President Deither Haenicke's demand that I be forced out of his university one way or another.

Oh.. and I am also a proud graduate of the Environmental Studies program at WMU. They taught me what I needed to know to help the campaign against the Asylum Lake industrial park.