FORT MYERS, Fla. — Florida Gulf Coast University has postponed a speech by a Utah author based on concerns that the forum would be politically unbalanced and critical of President Bush's environmental policies.

President William Merwin and the university's board of trustees voted Wednesday to postpone the Oct. 24 speech by Terry Tempest Williams, the author of "The Open Space of Democracy," until after the November elections.

In the book, Williams writes that she has been "sick at heart, unable to stomach or abide by this administration's aggressive policies directed against the environment, education, social service, health care and our civil liberties — basically the wholesale destruction of seemingly everything that contributes to a free society, except the special interests of big business."

Merwin acknowledged the board could be accused of censorship but said the author's negative statements about the president would provide only one point of view to students. The president's brother is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"I, in good conscience, cannot permit an unbalanced political commentary . . . on a public campus," Merwin told trustees. "We need to do things that are balanced. We cannot use public funds to pay for something that is so blatantly political."

One of the university's trustees voted against postponing the event.

"It's not like we're inviting Michael Moore to the campus," said Donna Price Henry, referring to the creator of the anti-President Bush movie "Fahrenheit 911."

"We're in a state where the Bush family reigns and I understand legislative decisions can have a large impact on that. I guess I'm just saddened that we have to make that decision."

Utah Valley State College chiefs endured calls to cancel Moore's Oct. 20 speech. The school paid Moore $40,000 in student fees to address the campus.

Merwin said he tried to include another speaker to balance Williams' point of view but said the author and her agent rejected the request. He said he wanted to move the speech to another time that was less "politically confronting."

"I just don't want this to be a political circus at Florida Gulf Coast University," Merwin said.

Records show Merwin contributed $2,000 to the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2003 and has given $1,750 to the state Republican party and Republican candidates since 2002. He was appointed president in 1999 of the 5,300 student university, which opened in 1991.

Williams said her message has been misinterpreted, noting that following the "sick at heart" passage, she writes a letter to U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and suggests partnering as an example "of how people can come to listen to one another with real, authentic exchanges."

The book's message is not to promote her political views but to create an "open space of democracy," a forum for students to think and discuss opposing thoughts, Williams said.

"It's the students who are being harmed by this decision," Williams said.

The speech was part of a university program requiring all incoming freshmen to read the same book, write essays on it and hold discussions during the semester. Williams' book was one of three selected, but she was to be the only speaker at the event.