Student Group at American U. Tries to Cancel New Board of Trustees Member
“has built a career off of making money from war”
The students don’t like this person because he used to work in the defense industry. Do you think they’ll also try to cancel Biden and Harris for bombing Syria? Probably not.
The College Fix reports:
American University student group tries to cancel new Board of Trustees member
An American University student group wants a member of the school’s Board of Trustees due to his previous work in the aerospace and defense industries.
Dissenters, a group which “hopes to divest schools from war,” has petitioned AU to dismiss former Northrop Grumman head Wesley Bush as his career was dedicated to “making money from war,” according to The Eagle.
Bush oversaw the development of the naval aerial vehicle MQ-4C Triton, the airborne radar system VADER and the F-35 stealth fighter.
Dissenters has sent more than forty letters to AU since yesterday regarding Bush. Its Action Network petition says Bush is a “war profiteer” who oversaw the manufacture of “lethal weapons and technologies used to assault and destroy populations all over the world.”
“Wes Bush has built a career off of making money from war,” the petition continues. “As concerned students, community members, and university affiliates, we are calling for Wes Bush’s immediate removal from the American University Board of Trustees.”
From the story:
Helen Luffy, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of Dissenters, said that Bush’s background does not align with AU’s values.
“This cannot fly for a university that its entire motto of one of our schools is ‘waging peace,’” Luffy said. …
Although the University has emphasized Bush’s philanthropic work, Luffy said that it doesn’t take away from his work in the defense industry.
“It’s completely the antithesis of what AU believes its message to be and just because he’s a member of Conservation International, for example, doesn’t mean that the things he’s done is good,” Luffy said.
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There has always been hypocrisy in institutions of higher education accepting donations and leadership from individuals in objectionable ways. The fact is that “beggars can’t be choosers.” With an endowment of only $720 million, AU needs all of the financial support that it can find.
In 1986, AU accepted a $5 million gift from Saudi Arabian Trustee Adnan Khashoggi, who made his money selling arms, to build a sports and convocation center. AU later renamed the building (but did not return the donation.)
Try finding a school that hasn’t accepted money from all sorts of objectionable people, including the Communist Chinese govt. These students won’t be able to find a college to attend if they have a purity test for donations.
Students telling trustees what the university’s values are. Maybe the university’s value include learning something people will pay for you to do, and getting a productive job, before presuming to remake society.