UC Nuclear Free: Student Government Resolutions

Student Governments Pass, Vote on Bills Calling for UC-Lab Severance

Last month, the UC Berkeley Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on the University of California to sever its ties with the weapons laboratories at Livermore and Los Alamos and mandating that the Berkeley Student Body President send a letter to other student governments advocating that they do the same. The bill was written mostly by UC Santa Cruz students, with contributions from other members of the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC, and was sponsored by UC Berkeley Student Senator Lisa Putkey.

Weeks before, the UC Santa Cruz student government voted on virtually the same resolution but opted not to pass it. The resolution was sponsored by UCSC student government representative Ray Austin.

Meanwhile, at UCSB, the student government considered the resolution at a meeting on May 31, but opted to postpone voting on the resolution until next year, so that they would have additional time to study the massive amount of information contained in it more closely. The UCSB resolution was sponsored by Legislative Council representatives Christy Escobar and Jeronimo Saldana.

There is a long history of student governments at individual UC campuses passing resolutions calling on the UC Regents to sever their ties with the US nuclear weapons complex. In each case, the voice of the students has been roundly ignored. As recently as 2003, student governments at a few UC campuses called on the UC to end its ties to the labs, during the midst of the scandals at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that occurred during that time, for which the UC was largely blamed.

Most notably, every student government at every UC campus passed a similar resolution in the early-1980s. All of these resolutions -- and the combined force of will they represented on behalf of the UC student body -- was ignored entirely by the Regents.

The resolution being voted on this year is an incredibly well-written, well-researched document. It is, if nothing else, an extremely valuable educational tool and rhetorical device. Below is text of the resolution proposed by UC Santa Cruz student, which, again, is extremely similar to the versions of the resolution being considered by students at the other campuses.

University of California, Santa Cruz
STUDENT UNION ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION

University of California Sever All Ties with Nuclear Weapons Laboratories, Los Alamos and Lawrence
Livermore National Labs.

Whereas, the University of California, in partnership with the Bechtel Corporation, was awarded the management contract of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on December 21, 2005 and continues to manage the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and

Whereas, the US Department of Energy’s Reliable Replacement Warhead program at LANL and LLNL effectively calls for the creation of new and modified nuclear weapons, which is in direct violation of the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and

Whereas, Bechtel, the UC’s new co-manager of LANL, has a long history of irresponsible business practices which fly in the face of human rights, such as the privatization of Bolivia’s water, collaboration with the CIA to politically and economically influence many regions of the Middle East, contracting with Iraq in 1988 to construct chemical warfare facilities for that country, participating in Iraq’s nuclear weapons program and accepting $10 billion dollar investments from the bin Laden family, and

Whereas, the US government came under international scrutiny for awarding Bechtel a $680 million-dollar, no-bid contract in 2003 to re-build Iraq, and

Whereas, the UCSC's Academic Senate voted overwhelmingly for a resolution opposing "unilateral U.S. military intervention in Iraq," and

Whereas, by 1982, every student government at every UC campus passed a resolution opposing UC ties to LANL and LLNL, and

Whereas, in 1983, the UCSC Academic Senate voted 48-2 in favor of a resolution calling for the Regents to cut ties to both LANL and LLNL, and

Whereas, in 1990, a UC Academic Senate survey found that 64.4% of UC faculty members supported the Jendersen Report’s recommendations to end UC management of the nuclear laboratories, and

Whereas, in 1996, a UCORP report found that the UC’s management of LANL and LLNL does not qualify as a “public service,” that the classified research the labs engage in is “not appropriate for a University,” that the UC’s management of nuclear weapons labs “does not contribute to human well-being,” and that the University should terminate its management of LANL and LLNL, and

Whereas, we recognize that the University of California can and should use its’ power and influence as a respected public institution to adamantly condemn rather than participate in the violation of international law, the degradation of our environment, and the poisoning of Native American populations surrounding LANL, and

Whereas, we recognize that the University of California has the power to make a significant public statement against the proliferation of nuclear weapons on earth by withdrawing its management of LANL and LLNL, and

Whereas, we recognize that the University of California is not imbued with the power to influence the scope, purpose or use of the nuclear program at LANL, nor is the University of California imbued with the authority to morally or academically “guide” the work done at LANL or LLNL, and

Whereas, we recognize that the University of California’s management of LANL and LLNL only serves to affix an “academic seal” on the labs in order to legitimate the U.S.’ illegal proliferation of nuclear weapons,

Therefore, be it resolved that this student body calls upon the UC regents to sever all ties with LANL and LLNL by formally exiting the Limited Liability Corporation now managing LANL and not participating in any upcoming bids for either of the labs, and

Be it further resolved that, because the separation from LANL and LLNL may be a lengthy process, in the interim, we call upon the regents to take the following steps to ensure satisfactory and responsible management of the national laboratories:

1. Ensure academic freedom and freedom of _expression_ for all UC employees involved with LANL and LLNL by discontinuing UC employees’ work on classified research
2. Take serious steps to prevent and clean-up the contamination of the environment surrounding LANL and LLNL by stopping the expansion of the radioactive waste dump site of Area G at LANL, discontinuing all plans to establish a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain (a sacred site of the Shoshone and Pauite peoples), undertaking an outside, formal inspection of the environmental pollution and health hazards of both of the labs, and following through on all measures proposed by such a neutral report, and

Be it further resolved that, in the interim, we call upon this student body to create a Student Oversight Committee of the DOE laboratories and actively encourage other UC campuses to join the committee, and

Be it further resolved that we call upon the Regents to recognize this newly formed Student Oversight Committee as possessing the same power and authority as the Regents’ Oversight Committee, and

Be it further resolved that we call upon UCSC Chancellor Denice Denton to make a public statement in support of this resolution, the will of her student constituency.

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