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Subject: NYTimes.com Article: It�s Home Stupid Home, but the �Clods� Can Read
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 15:29:46 -0500 (EST)
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It�s Home Stupid Home, but the �Clods� Can Read
February 17, 2004
By BARBARA NOVOVITCH
ALPINE, Tex., Feb. 16 - The first indication that Dr. Larry
J. Sechrest's neighbors and students had read his article
titled "A Strange Little Town in Texas" was when he began
receiving death threats and obscene phone calls and his
house was vandalized.
The article by Dr. Sechrest, an economics professor at Sul
Ross State University, was published in the January issue
of Liberty, a small libertarian magazine with a circulation
of about 10,000 and only two local subscribers, one of whom
is Dr. Sechrest. But it was weeks before people heard about
it in remote Alpine, which is three hours from the closest
Barnes & Noble, in Midland, Tex.
The article lauded the beauty of West Texas, the pleasant
climate, the friendliness and tolerance of the locals. But
Dr. Sechrest, who has a Ph.D. in business administration
from the University of Texas, also contended that "the
students at Sul Ross, and more generally, the long-term
residents of the entire area, are appallingly ignorant,
irrational, anti-intellectual, and, well, . . . just plain
stupid."
Criticizing the academic standards at Sul Ross State
University, part of the Texas State University system, he
told of a student who, after graduation, typed a note to a
favorite professor, saying, "Thank you for all your
patients."
In the fall of 2002, his article said, "42 percent of our
freshmen had to take remedial classes in reading, writing,
or math just to meet the state's ridiculously low standard
of `competence.' "
He added, "The taxpayers of Texas have already paid for
these kids to learn English and math in middle school, then
again in high school, much of which is a review of what
they were supposed to have absorbed in previous years."
Dr. Sechrest wrote that he was "prepared to defend to the
death the proposition that Sul Ross, and this area of Texas
more generally, is the proud home of some of the dumbest
clods on the planet."
The article, copied and passed around by the hundreds, led
to two anonymous death threats on Dr. Sechrest's office
phone, scores of obscene phone calls in the middle of the
night, eggs tossed at his home and windows smashed on a car
parked outside his house.
In a recent interview, Dr. Sechrest said he never expected
the people in Alpine to read the article, nor did he expect
such violent reaction.
He thought of his piece as "a Mark Twain sort of thing,
meant to be light-hearted," he said. "I can't believe
there's such anger - not in Alpine!"
After their initial outrage, however, some of his neighbors
and some local business owners decided to "turn lemons into
lemonade," as the owner of the Apache Trading Post,
Charlotte Allen, put it.
Mayor Mickey Clouse issued a proclamation establishing We
Love Alpine Week, which was Feb. 6 to 14. It included a
parade on Feb. 7 that drew about 100 people and a rally at
the midtown Railroad Park that attracted about 65 people
despite a cold snap.
"He's done us a favor," Ms. Allen said, "galvanized the
whole area."
She added: "Business has been in a malaise. Now we've had
this incredible group effort. We think maybe we'll make it
an annual event."
At the Feb. 13 rally, Mayor Clouse encouraged all in
attendance to send Valentines to "the occupant" and then
gave Dr. Sechrest's address.
Dr. Sechrest, 57, a burly, gray-bearded man, said: "I did
not go one step out of my way to throw this in people's
faces. Am I going to apologize for it? No. But I never
intended to insult them."
He acknowledged he felt frustrated because the Sul Ross
president, Dr. R. Vic Morgan, and other university
administrators have not, in his opinion, done enough to
raise academic standards.
"We're not achieving very much in the way of education,"
said Dr. Sechrest, a tenured professor who has taught at
the university for 13 years. "Half the teachers in my
department don't give final tests, so that means they just
take an extra week off. Sul Ross does not have top-flight
people. There's always pressure on to let kids slide."
Dr. Morgan issued a statement in response to the
professor's criticism. "The views of Dr. Sechrest do not
reflect the view of Sul Ross State University," he wrote.
"We can cite thousands of success stories that include Sul
Ross faculty, Sul Ross experiences and Sul Ross diplomas as
stepping stones."
"He's entitled to his opinion," Dr. Morgan said in a
telephone interview. "We happen to disagree with him."
Asked about Dr. Sechrest's comment on final exams, Dr.
Morgan said that all faculty members were encouraged to
give final exams. The faculty, he said, has "academic
freedom to teach their students. I do not believe that you
will find faculty at Sul Ross different in terms of the way
they grade students from any other institution in the
state. There are faculty who don't give finals; if they
choose not to, that's their option."
Last week Dr. Sechrest said he had begun to receive more
positive e-mail and phone calls. He noted in particular an
e-mail message from a former student.
"As I read your article I found myself laughing out loud
and saying things like `amen' and `true,' " the former
student wrote. "At the same time I felt somewhat guilty
because it really did offend people I really care about.
There's no denying these are legitimate concerns. The lack
of interest in anything beyond Brewster County lines also
baffled me."
The student added, "It is my sincere hope that all involved
can extract what is true and good from your article, and
get over the rest."
The message was signed, "A former clod."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/education/17PROF.html?ex=1078049785&ei=1&en=748a196e98ce6ea2
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