by Gar Smith / Environmentalists Against War –

Robert Dynes, President
University of California
Office of the Secretary
1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607-5200

Dear President Dynes,

Universities exist to enhance life, perpetuate cultural treasures, promote
the sciences and humanities and encourage free thought. Nothing could be
more inimical to the charter and trust of a major world university than to
partner with the military – particularly when the goal of that partnership
is to hone the deadly force of weapons of mass destruction.

Berkeley, California is a self-declared “Nuclear-free City.” The message
sent by the residents of UC Berkeley’s hometown is clear and profound: There
is no place in Berkeley – nor on Earth – for the pursuit of nuclear weapons
technology.

The university’s controversial engagement with the Department of Energy’s
weapons programs has been an embarrassment to many members of Berkeley’s
academic community. Now that the current administration in Washington has
broken faith with the very disarmament and nonproliferation treaties that
provided a global bulwark against the threat of atomic war, the university’s
continued association with the Pentagon’s war-planners rises to the level of
a moral abomination.

The University of California is a proud institution. It is time for the
university to sever all ties with politicians who would re-ignite the
nuclear arms race by creating smaller nuclear devices that would be
considered “usable” in tactical warfare.

A university should be a place for learning and not a subcontracting plant
for crafting the deadliest of weapons. It is time for UC to sever its ties
with the war machine. The Livermore facilities should be converted to
promote the implementation of a new economy based on solar and renewable
technologies. It is time to “study war no more.”

Gar Smith,
UC Berkeley alumnus
Co-founder, Environmentalists Against War
Editor Emeritus, Earth Island Journal