In our continuing effort to highlight hints of Big Brotherism and mind control, we note this report from Washington State University, which bills itself as "A paradise called the Palouse."

According to stories in the Spokesman-Review and the Olympian, WSU purchased nearly 4,000 copies of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, to be distributed to incoming freshmen for a summer reading program. But WSU scrapped the entire program, saying it was too costly. Critics said the sudden shift on Pollan -- a locavore who has criticized industrial farming -- may have been triggered by political pressures within WSU, which sits in an area that is one of the world’s top producers of wheat, barley and other crops.

The debate abated somewhat yesterday, after alum Bill Marler, a prominent food safety attorney, offered to pay for Pollan to speak at WSU. The university accepted the offer. But I'd imagine that hard feelings linger on campus.