Undergrad project on the Salinas River raises questions about academic freedom.

It’s no secret the Salinas River is impaired – as is the battle over its regulation. Ag and enviro camps are warring again, and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, near the river’s headwaters, is the battlefield. 


Students in Adjunct Professor Michael Jencks’ water policy class agreed to make their final paper, “Dreaming the Salinas,” publicly available at the request of Central Coast Bioneers, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable agriculture. 


But when Ecologistics, Inc., which runs Bioneers’ SLO chapter, created a website (www.dreamingthesalinas.org) to publish the paper, Monterey County ag interests complained to the dean of the College of Agriculture – and Ecologistics temporarily took the paper down. 


“There’s so much misinformation in here that it’s irresponsible the college would release this publicly,” says Laura Giudici-Mills, owner of the Spreckels-based ag consultant LGM. 


Among the inaccuracies: Students say chloryrifos and diazinon are the most commonly used pesticides in Monterey County, but the insecticides are applied less than soil fumigants.


Jencks, who also serves as chair of the Ecologistics board, says he never expected the undergrad work, which is not peer reviewed, to receive so much scrutiny. 


Douglas Piirto, the head of Cal Poly’s natural resources management department, says he never requested for the paper to be removed, but Jencks says he was instructed to do so until a university-approved disclaimer was added. It’s since been added and the paper reposted.


About a week before the paper disappeared from the site, Mills emailed excerpts to the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner and local trade groups, according to records obtained by the Weekly.