[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 130 (Friday, September 16, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      TRIBUTE TO DR. RICHARD GIBB

                                 ______


                         HON. MICHAEL D. CRAPO

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 16, 1994

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. Speaker, I want to take the opportunity to bring 
attention to the life of a great Idahoan who has recently passed away. 
To his family and friends I express my sincere condolences and offer my 
prayers. Dr. Richard Gibb, as president of the University of Idaho at 
Moscow, was a stalwart in the educational arena. His passing is truly a 
great loss.
  Mr. Ralph Smeed, an Idaho businessman and columnist has pointed out 
the context within which Dr. Gibb fought to make a positive difference. 
To further ensure that the contributions of Dr. Gibb will not go 
unrecognized, I request that the following comments of Mr. Smeed be 
included in the Congressional Record.

                    Richard Gibb Gets Posthumous A+

                     (Guest opinion by Ralph Smeed)

       The recent passing (July 24) of Dr. Richard Gibb, former 
     President of the University of Idaho at Moscow (1977-1989), 
     did get some publicity for which his other friends and I are 
     indeed grateful. However, there was, I thought, a rather lack 
     of some of the more substantive ``accomplishments'' of the 
     ``more or less'' significant former leader of the U of I. So, 
     please allow me to relate something that Dr. Gibb did while 
     he was president of the state's senior university.
       First a little background so that Gibb's accomplishments 
     and his more or less significance as mentioned above can be 
     understood as to why they're put inside quotation marks 
     above. (1) Given that political correctness (PC) has been 
     around Campus-USA for many years and given that almost 
     anything significant in higher education had been relegated 
     for the most part to euphemisms such as ``independence, 
     excellence, opportunity, tax-deductibility, etc., etc., ad 
     nauseam'' that one of the significant things this unique 
     education leader did must be seen in, well, an unusually high 
     quality light of accomplishment. And (2) my term ``more or 
     less'' maybe used to label this educator as significant in 
     less than a spectacular degree due to the fact that 
     capitalism does not exactly enjoy much status among not only 
     educators, but as you will soon see, even among the 
     university alumni--believe it or not.
       Well, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms was U of I Alumni 
     Association president back in 1969, and one of that school's 
     most popular leaders. But, he did an unusual thing during his 
     reign, namely, he said education had become a Sacred Cow. 
     Furthermore, he advocated for the U of I a chair of 
     capitalism. The then Alumni Board (remember that was 1969) 
     fired Symms midway during his term. One friend and then board 
     member even said publicly: ``I admire your guts, Steve, but 
     you've just taken hold of both ends of the same rope to pull. 
     It's your job (as alumni Prexy) to sell the stuff 
     (curriculum) whether it's worth a damn or not.''
       Unbelievable (?) you may ask. Well, those were the words 
     of then Boise attorney Iver Longeteig. If memory serves, 
     they were his exact words. He meant no harm to Symms. It 
     was an example od the ``tribalism'' extant on so many 
     campuses even today. Talk about blind faith in religion! 
     Well, today we have a virtual blind faith in education. 
     Egad! This actually happened--right here in Idaho. So, 
     Steve did indeed resign, if reluctantly, midterm, as 
     requested. But not until he got to kiss the homecoming 
     queen as was customary then for the alumni president.


                      capitalism chair--not quite

       Now back to Richard Gibb to whom we should give a higher 
     honor as U of I president. Ten years after Symms somewhat 
     ignominious and/or ideological demise. Gibb, as the school's 
     new leader, did what he saw as almost exactly what Symms 
     tried to do. He (Gibb) installed what he called a Chair of 
     Business Enterprise. In fact he raised the three or four 
     hundred thousand dollars himself to fund it. That, ladies and 
     gentlemen, took real guts and intelligence, which is not to 
     take away from those who helped Gibb raise the money. True 
     enough, he watered down the name of said chair. But given the 
     ``tribal chant'' of the then alumni board, and so far as I 
     know the subsequent ones as well, the ``Chair of Business 
     Enterprise'' name was (is) probably about as far in the 
     direction of capitalism, (i.e., the term Symms wanted) as one 
     would suppose that august institution of higher learning's 
     intellectual ``leaders'' would tolerate. (The Alumni board 
     has in the ensuing years since then steadfastly refused this 
     writer's many efforts to get them to apologize publicly to 
     their U.S. Senator--for their asinine anti-capitalistic 
     censorship).
       In any event, all the obituaries I saw or could get friends 
     in North Idaho to confirm, after Gibb's passing, spoke only 
     of the late president's routine and orthodox 
     ``accomplishments'' at an institution whose learnings have 
     almost never been any further to the free-market, capitalist 
     right than, say, George McGovern or John Maynard Keynes, 
     e.g., the usually left/liberal thrust of the U of I borah 
     Symposium.
       The passing of Richard Gibb should be deeply regretted by 
     all those souls of so called higher education whose 
     capitalist lights haven't been completely turned out by the 
     political correctness (PC). The latter has dominated 95 
     percent of America's college professors and I'm sad to say, 
     apparently the alumni of schools right here at home. No 
     wonder we lose.
       Richard Gibb--R.I.P.

                          ____________________