After Planned Lecture Sticks in Donor’s Craw, University Cooks Up New Plan

California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo has dropped a campus lecture by the food writer Michael Pollan after an agribusinessman who is a major donor threatened to withdraw his support, the Los Angeles Times reported. The donor, who is chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Company, has pledged $150,000 toward a new meat-processing plant on the campus, but he wrote last month that Mr. Pollan’s scheduled talk had prompted him to have second thoughts. But Mr. Pollan’s appearance, originally planned for Thursday, was not eliminated. Instead it was reformatted into a panel discussion including Mr. Pollan, a meat-science expert, and an organic grower. The episode echoed the situation faced last spring by Washington State University, which chose Mr. Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma as its “common reading” selection for freshmen. The university initially dropped the selection, then reinstated it.