It's Home Stupid Home, but the 'Clods' Can Read

NY Times, February 16, 2003

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."

RELATED: Libertarian magazine article hot topic of gossip, by Roy Hamric, January 29, 2004: http://www.dmtimes.net/blog/_archives/2004/1/29/17027.html

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Larry J. Sechrest is a research fellow at The Independent Institute (http://www.independent.org/) in Oakland, California, and a professor of economics at Sul Ross State University. He is the author of the Independent Institute Working Paper, Privateering and National Defense, and a contributing author to the forthcoming book, "The Myth of National Defense" (Ludwig von Mises Institute).

SEE: Let Privateers Troll for Bin Laden, by Larry J. Sechrest, September 30, 2001: http://www.independent.org/tii/news/010930Sechrest.html

SEE: Privateering and National Defense: Naval Warfare for Private Profit, by Larry J. Sechrest, September 2001: http://www.independent.org/tii/WorkingPapers/Sechrest6.html