To the editor:

It’s hard to know what to make of the events of the past week. On the one hand, former President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, global peacemaker, and supporter of Habitat for Humanity honored Lawrence with a visit. We saw the creation of a repository for the papers of a former U.S. senator, surely an aid to history scholars. Kansas University has a new building, which, despite its pretensions borrowed from the Parthenon, nonetheless makes an interesting addition to an empty corner of the west campus.

But to judge by the publicity, this might have been the beatification of Sen. Bob Dole or the consecration of a temple or a celebration of American nationalism and militarism, anything but the inauguration of an academic center dedicated to the search for truth. Isn’t politics about something more important than Americanism, guns and flags? What meaning will Kansans attach now to the institute?

The Dole institute may yet develop into something better than another politically conservative publicity forum and symbol factory. Or its inauguration may deserve the judgment of Horace: “The mountains labored and brought forth a ridiculous mouse.” We will see.

Paul Fairchild,

Lawrence