Food-Safety Advocate Offers to Pay Michael Pollan's Speaking Fee at Washington State U.

In the recent case of Washington State University’s dropping Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma as its “common reading” selection for the year, two rationales emerged: University officials said the reasons had to do with the institution’s dire budget outlook — there was just no money to bring in a big-name author like Mr. Pollan, they said. Meanwhile, some faculty members and others said the book was dropped because it attacks one of the university’s bases, Big Agriculture.

Well, Bill Marler, a Seattle-based personal-injury lawyer who specializes in food-poisoning cases and who has become something of a food-safety advocate, is throwing down the gauntlet. “Hey, Michael Pollan, I’ll pay your way to Pullman,” Mr. Marler, a Washington State alumnus, writes on his blog. “I have my checkbook ready.”

“So, was it political or was it financial?” he writes of the controversy. “I have an idea! To show that it was not political, I will pay to get Mr. Pollan to Pullman and find a place for him to speak — I’ll even introduce him. My hope is that it was not political.”

Debra Townsend, a spokeswoman for the university, says that Elson S. Floyd, the university’s president, talked to Mr. Marler over the phone this afternoon and has decided to accept his offer. —Scott Carlson