Plan to honor Wilson sparks faculty protest

AUSTIN -- Faculty members at the University of Texas are objecting to plans to create an endowed chair in Pakistan studies in honor of former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, the colorful Democrat who was portrayed in last year's movie ``Charlie Wilson's War.''

Wilson, who represented an East Texas district in the U.S. Congress from 1973 to 1996, played a pivotal role in the funding of Islamic rebel fighters who opposed Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Nicknamed ``Good Time Charlie'' for his partying ways, Wilson's efforts were portrayed in the film.

In a letter to Randy Diehl, dean of UT's College of Liberal Arts, 12 professors wrote that establishing a chair in Wilson's name would represent a ``romanticized vision'' of the congressman's legacy as well as the history of the conflict, the Austin American-Statesman reported in Wednesday's editions.

"Mr. Wilson's record as the key Congressman who sent monies and munitions to the anti-Soviet mujahideen groups underscores the worrisome role the U.S. played in escalating the Soviet-Afghan conflict, with devastating consequences for the peoples of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States,'' the faculty members wrote.

The professors noted that Afghanistan's Taliban rose up from the "rubble of a decimated Afghan society'' and suggested that UT would not be able to find any credible Pakistan scholar to fill a chair named after Wilson.

A spokeswoman for the College of Liberal Arts, Christian Clarke Casarez, said the letter had not yet been received and had no comment. UT officials have said they want to raise $500,000 to match an identical amount pledged by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation in Lufkin, Wilson's hometown.