Students Protest Livermore Lab Recruiting At U-m

A group of 20 protesters, organized by Students Against Weapons Research and Recruiting (SAWRR), demonstrated in front of U-M's Randall Laboratory on Nov. 15 to protest the presence of a recruiter from Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Livermore, which is operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy, is one of the largest development and research facilities of nuclear weapons in the United States.

The demonstrators called for a ban on the further development and testing of nuclear weapons and asked student colleagues who were going in to interview to join their boycott.

Mike Massey, a physics graduate student who helped organize the protest, pointed out that physics graduates find they must face certain moral decisions when seeking future employment. "You basically have three options. You can work at a university lab, an industrial lab or you can work for the government at a national lab. If you choose to work for the government, chances are it will be related to nuclear weapons research."

According to Massey, some students are lured into working on "civilian projects" only to find out later that their research was cancelled and the only remaining options are to work on weapons projects or seek other employment.

Demonstrators also asked U-M to ban weapons recruiters from campus . "These labs will not hire foreign nationals which puts them in violation of the university's non-discrimination policy," said Massey.

Members of SAWRR on Nov. 17 met with recruiters of Los Alamos Labs, the other major nuclear weapons manufactur, in an open information session.

According to Mike Bemadin, one of the Los Alamos recruiters, although nuclear weapons development accounts for a majority of the agenda at Los Alamos, the current emphasis is shifting. More time, he said, is now being spent on energy research. Bernadin, however, also made it clear that funding comes from Congress and the "broad mandate of national security" is tied to that funding.

Both Livermore and Los Alamos have designed nuclear artillery, anti-submarine weaponry, MIRV warheads, sub-launched missiles and Star Wars weaponry.

"We should be redirecting our nation's scientific and technological resources away from destructive weaponry and toward productive social uses in such areas as mass transportation, alternative energy, improved waste disposal technology and other vital areas," said Massey.