Dan Rather Reports - Oakland Institute

DECISIONS CONCERNING IOWA STATE’S ROLE IN THE TANZANIA PROJECT UNTILSEPTEMBER 13, THE DAY AFTER HE CANCELED HIS INTERVIEW WITH US.AND RASTETTER’S POSITION ON THE BOARD OF REGENTS ISN’T THE ONLYPOTENTIAL CONFLICT.IN 2007, HE GAVE MORE THAN $1.75 MILLION DOLLARS TO ENDOW A CHAIR ATIOWA STATE . IT’S CALLED “THE RASTETTER CHAIR IN AGRICULTURALENTREPRENEURSHIP” AND IT’S CURRENT OCCUPANT IS KEVIN KIMLE. SEENHERE SHAKING HANDS WITH BRUCE RASTETTER. KIMLE HAS BEEN HEAVILYINVOLVED WITH THE UNIVERSITY’S WORK FOR AGRISOL.KEENEYYou’re on that edge of who is-- who is your boss, who are you answering to? And if you don’thave success, who are you answer to?RATHER (VOICE OVER)RETIRED IOWA STATE PROFESSOR KEENEY SAYS PUBLIC ACADEMICINSTITUTIONS MUST MAKE SURE THEIR DEALINGS ARE TRANSPARENT.KEENEYThe other thing that concerns me is that whether Iowa State can be an open source of informationon this. Can they really say, "This is what we’re doing with Rastetter. This is what we’re doingin Tanzania."RATHER (VOICE OVER)NO ONE IN IOWA STATE WHO IS INVOLVED WITH THE UNIVERSITY’S WORK WITHAGRISOL WOULD TALK TO US ON CAMERA. BUT IOWA STATE DEAN WENDYWINTERSTEEN RESPONDED TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS WE SUBMITTED. LASTWEEK SHE WROTE TO TELL US THAT THE UNIVERSITY “…WOULD NO LONGERDIRECTLY PARTICIPATE IN THE PROJECT…”. INSTEAD, IOWA STATE WILL SERVEIN WHAT SHE TERMED “...AN ADVISORY CAPACITY”. THAT WAS THE FIRST NEWSTHAT IOWA STATE’S ROLE IN TANZANIA HAD CHANGED.AND THAT’S NOT THE ONLY DEVELOPMENT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE TAKENPLACE SINCE WE STARTED OUR INVESTIGATION.17