Dan Rather Reports - Oakland Institute

SIMBAWhat is the use of me spending my time going to talk to them telling what we intend to do whenif fact we don’t have mandate even to do that.MITTALYou don't hide things that you're really proud of. You let the world know about it-- say, if this isso amazing, if it's going to result in all this incredible economic benefits, how come people don'tknow about it?RATHERWell what's your answer to that question? Why was it hidden?MITTALWell the reason it is hidden is, it's a net loss for the people of Tanzania.RATHER (VOICE OVER)AGRISOL HAS NOT BACKED DOWN FROM ITS CLAIM THAT THE PROJECT WILLHELP TANZANIA. AND THE COMPANY SAYS YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE THEIRWORD FOR IT.IOWA STATE IS ONE OF AMERICA’S OLDEST LAND GRANT UNIVERSITIES AND ALEADER IN AGRICULTURE. IN FEBRUARY 2010, AGRISOL FOUNDER BRUCERASTETTER ASKED ISU TO JOIN HIS PROJECT IN TANZANIA. HE WANTED THEUNIVERSITY TO HELP DESIGN AND RUN A PROGRAM TO IMPROVE THE LOT OFTANZANIAN SMALL FARMERS.IN A RECENT PRESS RELEASE, AGRISOL SAID THAT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITYWOULD MAKE SURE THEY “…EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY SERVE THEINTERESTS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE COUNTRY”.BUT THERE’S A TWIST. RASTETTER IS A MAJOR DONOR TO ISU AND IS NOW ASENIOR MEMBER ON THE BOARD OF REGENTS THAT OVERSEES THEUNIVERSITY.WE SPOKE TO A NUMBER OF CURRENT AND FORMER FACULTY AT IOWA STATEWHO ARE CONCERNED THAT RASTETTER IS USING HIS INFLUENCE TO GET THEUNIVERSITY’S ENDORSEMENT FOR HIS PROJECT IN TANZANIA.15