Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice and the Strike for Peace Campaign are co-hosting a panel tonight on “War Research and the University.”
Three professors will give 15-minute presentations on topics including taxpayers’ money and defense, an interpretation of the University’s mission statement in relation to the expansion of Department of Defense funding and social spending in comparison with military funding, according to the program agenda.
Peace Studies graduate student Brian Bogart, the founder of Strike for Peace, will also talk for about 15 minutes on the history of America’s war economy.
“If we don’t advance our founding vision for peace, we will perish by advancing our technology for war,” Bogart wrote in a press release.
The University Senate voted in November to host one or more public forums to discuss the pros and cons of Department of Defense-funded research on campus. At least one will take place during the monthly University Senate meeting.
Louise Westling, a professor of English and speaker in tonight’s panel, wrote in an e-mail that the University’s mission statement guides faculty and administrators to uphold the values of the University. When military funding threatens those values, “we should discuss the potential problems publicly.”
The panel begins at 7 p.m. in 180 PLC and is open to the public. Audience members are encouraged to participate in a discussion with panelists following their presentations.
For more information, call Courtesy Research Associate for the Institute of Molecular Biology Jette Foss at 346-5146.