XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: bradleyw@frontier.com   
      
   Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s name has been removed from a   
   Southern Utah University facility, following pressure from a   
   conservative group to make the change.   
      
   The group received $40,000 in pledges over five days toward   
   removing the Nevada Democrat’s name from the school’s Outdoor   
   Engagement Center.   
      
   University President Scott Wyatt acknowledged Friday that he was   
   under pressure from a group of conservatives to remove Reid's   
   name but insisted that politics had nothing to do with his   
   decision.   
      
   Reid’s name was removed last week from the front door of the   
   facility, several months after two local elected officials and   
   others met with Wyatt and told him about the campaign, Wyatt   
   said.   
      
   He said he told the group to stop raising money and that pledge   
   money would not be accepted to remove Reid's name.   
      
   Wyatt said he removed Reid’s name because "nobody" associated   
   the senator with the outdoors.   
      
   The center rents outdoor equipment to students, offers   
   internship programs for students seeking outdoor careers and   
   coordinates project-based learning activities for students. Reid   
   graduated from the school in 1959.   
      
   Wyatt also said the school's 2011 naming of the center in Reid's   
   honor generated no donations to it from the senator's friends as   
   had been hoped.   
      
   "The decision has nothing to do with politics," Wyatt told The   
   Associated Press. "We're a university. We're full of Democrats   
   and Republicans and Green Party members and Libertarians. We   
   don't make partisan calls with regard to our esteemed alumnus.   
      
   "The leading factor is the center's leadership reported to me it   
   created confusion. When people looked at the name, they didn't   
   understand the connection (between the center and Reid). It was   
   just a little difficult."   
      
   Reid issued a brief statement Friday.   
      
   "I was approached and asked to use my name and I was happy to,   
   but there was no such agreement to have me raise funds for it,"   
   he said. "I'm not going to raise money to have my name placed on   
   anything."   
      
   When the center was named for him, Reid touted his congressional   
   record concerning public lands in Nevada, noting his role in the   
   creation of Great Basin National Park, the designation of   
   wilderness areas and an annual summit to protect Lake Tahoe.   
      
   At the time, he also criticized Utah's attempts to wrest control   
   of public lands from the federal government.   
      
   Cedar City Councilman Paul Cozzens and Iron County Commissioner   
   Dave Miller praised Wyatt's decision to remove Reid's name. They   
   were among the group of conservatives who met with him last   
   spring.   
      
   "This is a conservative base in southern Utah, and many people   
   in southern Nevada also feel the same way," Cozzens told The   
   Spectrum of St. George, Utah. "These people in Nevada do not   
   espouse to Reid's political philosophies, and they told me they   
   would not support the university or send any more of their   
   children there ... so long as Harry Reid's name remained."   
      
   But Wyatt said plans call for a future center to be named for   
   Reid on campus. The center's purpose will depend on who donates   
   and their interests.   
      
   "Absolutely, he's one of our most distinguished alumnus," Wyatt   
   said. "He's somebody we should all be proud of, regardless of   
   politics ... . It's not Sen. Reid's concern as to whether we   
   raise money (for the new center). It's ours."   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/30/reid-name-removed-   
   from-center-at-utah-university-from-which-   
   graduated/?intcmp=obnetwork   
      
          
      
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