Annual Geiger lecture features Berkley Chancellor

Nov. 18, 2004
By Phil Lineburg
Staff Writer

The annual Geiger History Lecture series was held on Tuesday Nov. 9, in the Rogalski Center ballroom.  Present for the lecture was Dr. Richard E. Geiger, the professor emeritus honored with the endowed lectureship when he retired from St. Ambrose University in May of 2001.

Dr. Geiger introduced the honored speaker and personal friend, Dr. Robert Berdahl.  Berdahl, who was the eighth chancellor of the University of California at Berkley, spoke on the shift of public services from the public to the private.

“Such actions have expanded selling the national forests to loggers, grazing rights on range land for far less than market value, eliminating the equal time law for public broadcasters, reducing the standards for clean air, water, and much else,” said Dr. Berdahl.

In the case of broadcasters, he was very critical on the development of the recent move to transition from analog to digital broadcasts. 

“More recently, it has meant giving away the digital spectrum without cost to broadcasters,” Dr. Berdahl stated.  “Former FCC Chairman Reed Hunt called this the largest single grant of public property to the private sector in this century.  Senator John McCain called it one of the greatest rip-offs in American history.”

In his speech he referenced to, and encouraged everyone to read the book “Corporate Warrior: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry” by P.W. Singer.  He cites the increased use of private security forces and private military forces in nations throughout the world.

This rise of use includes the use of military contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Such contractors provide a wide variety of military services.  These include logistics firm Brown & Root, which provides maintenance and other logistic services to combat forces, and consulting firm Military Professional Resources, Inc.  Some of these firms used the United States and foreign governments to have their stock and other securities traded on public stock exchanges, according to Dr.Berdahl. 

In recent year in the United States, 20,000 gated communities have been built that have their own private security force.  In the United Kingdom, according to Dr. Berdahl, private security forces as a whole are more than double the size of the nations’ military and security forces.

While Dr. Berdahl was critical of many of the transfers from public to private, he did note that some changes may be necessary; such as a change in the welfare state that took place in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s.

His lecture was well received by the crowd.  He told the crowd that once his current sabbatical ends, he will return to teaching.

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