UC Santa Barbara - No More Nukes in Our Name
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Posted on 2007-08-08 13:12:44
Two months following the historic “No More Nukes In Our Name” hunger strike, which drew international attention to the issue of University of California nuclear lab management, a broad-based coalition of students, faculty, alumni and war veterans will speak at the UC Regents meeting in Santa Barbara to call for UC severance from the Lawrence Livermore National Lab & Los Alamos National Lab).
The University of California has managed the labs since their inception. The labs have designed every single nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. Recently, the Lawrence Livermore Lab began designing the first in a series of new hydrogen bombs, misleadingly dubbed the reliable replacement warhead program (RRW).
The student protests are part of an ongoing multi-campus student movement to demilitarize the University of California. According to second-year UCSB student Ellen McClure, "The university should not be involved in any way with the production of weapons of mass destruction. The UC's involvement has done nothing to make the research at the labs more transparent or less deadly." The students plan to take new measures to hold the Regents accountable to the will of the students and restore moral responsibility to the university.
In the week leading up to the May regents meeting, 39 students were on a hunger strike to call on the Regents to fully and immediately withdraw their management of LANL and LLNL. They broke the fast on May 17th, having achieved numerous victories. Most of the faculty members, alumni, and veterans now joining with the Coalition were inspired to become involved as a result of the hunger strike.
UC alumni will announce their campaign to boycott university donations until the regents sever ties with weapons labs. The boycott will also include an incentive: if the UC severs its ties, donors will double their contributions.
A veteran from the Santa Barbara chapter of the Veterans for Peace will present a statement on behalf of their organization.
UCSB faculty members will share their support for the severance demand as well.
The demilitarization campaign has also included writing letters, generated petitions and speaking at regents meetings during public comment periods. Student governments at multiple campuses have passed resolutions opposing the UC's ties to the weapon labs, and more are considering similar resolutions. One of these resolutions approved the creation of a new Student Department of Energy Labs Oversight Committee (DOELOC), members of which will utilize the Regents meeting as a platform to announce their intention to inspect LANL and LLNL in the fall.
CONTACT:
Ellen McClure, 2nd-year UCSB student, (858) 663-9326
Andrew Culp, Coalition to De-Militarize the UC Advisor, (816) 522-0255
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