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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: New Liberation News Service <nlns@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: NLNS: Right Wing Funding on Campus
- Message-ID: <1993Jan22.174500.6833@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 17:45:00 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 97
-
- /* Written 6:29 pm Jan 18, 1993 by nlns@igc.apc.org in igc:nlns.news */
- /* ---------- "NLNS Packet 3.7 *** 1/18/93" ---------- */
-
- NEW PROJECT: INVESTIGATING RIGHT WING FUNDING
- ON CAMPUS
- University Conversion Project
-
- (NLNS)--The University Conversion Project is a new
- clearinghouse which promotes peace activism and
- investigative journalism on campus. In March of 1993,
- we are producing and distributing a special 40-page issue
- of our publication on investigating and questioning the
- right-wing funding of policy programs and student
- movements on campus. We invite all of you to assist us
- in this effort by sending stories about right-wing groups
- who have disrupted progressive student and faculty
- organizing. We also seek information on international
- studies, poli-sci and other academic programs whose
- politics have been tainted by funding from right-wing
- corporations, agencies & foundations.
-
- RATIONALE
- History has shown that movements for social
- change are most successful when campuses are active.
- Partly in response to this fact, military contractors and
- conservative foundations have, in their own words,
- attempted to "capture the ideological high ground" by
- funding right-wing campus newspapers (through the
- Madison Center for Educational Affairs) and endowing
- professorships and research programs which reflect their
- political views. Academic programs with a public service
- mission have, in many cases, become mouthpieces for
- military-dependent firms such as Raytheon, Olin, and
- McDonnell Douglas. Many student activists we work with
- find obstacles placed in their path by well-funded rivals
- crusading to maintain militarism, sexism and
- ethnocentrism under the guise of opposition to "political
- correctness."
- Thousands of students and faculty members are
- hungry for tools to counter this right-wing agenda. UCP
- has developed a reputation for helping young
- investigators get started, and we have built up a strong
- activist base at over 80 campuses who puts the packets
- we create to good use.
- Recognizing that we cannot match the right-wing
- dollar for dollar, we can instead expose their funding of
- campus activities and encourage people to question their
- true motives and intentions. For example, our intern Erin
- Bush of the University of Pittsburgh has exposed how
- Raytheon and other military contractors fund the
- Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, an affiliate of Tufts
- University. The Institute works to "anticipate and
- preclude arms control agreements" accoding to its annual
- report, and its officers who teach at Tuft have received
- hefty salaries for "outside activities" such as countering
- the European peace movement and attacking critics of the
- Patriot missile.
- Few publications have addressed the effect of
- money on the politics of university programs, and no
- other organization to our knowledge is working to
- distribute research and organizing guides to newer
- activists who are more likely to use them. In just over
- one year, we have become known for providing
- information on military influence that is not available
- elsewhere. We invite any organization whose
- effectiveness has been hampered by right-wing efforts to
- assist us in compiling this research guide and in
- distributing it nationally.
-
- Thank you very much.
- Rich Cowan,
- Clearinghouse Coordinator
-
- Swan Keyes,
- student intern
-
- Brian Sangudi,
- student intern
-
- Rob Brosen,
- student intern
-
- Note: This project is funded by individual subscriptions
- to our project and by the Arca Foundation. Even so, the
- total annual budget for this national project (about
- $15,000) = about $1 for every $100 spent nationally on
- the funding of right-wing student movements. For more
- information or to reserve a 1-year subscription ($25
- regular, $20 student, $10 low income) to our organizing
- packets, please write:
-
- UCP, Box 748, Cambridge, MA 02142 or call (617) 354-
- 9363;
- kowan@ai.mit.edu (Rich Cowan).
-
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-