Occupy DU formed a petition calling for the administration to create a student committee which will review and have the power to terminate corporate relationships with DU and plans to present the petition to Chancellor Robert Coombe in coming months.
Occupy DU will base the termination of corporate relationships on what it deems as ethical or moral violations, such as child labor, human rights abuses or ties to corporate lobbying.
According to Korbel graduate student Roshan Bliss, a member of Occupy DU who helped to create the petition, it has gathered over 100 signatures and garnered interest from several student groups on campus, including the Environmental Sustainability Team and the Social Sustainability Team.
“Nobody we have talked to is against the creation of this committee,” said Bliss.
The commission would consist of student representatives, staff and faculty with a representative from the administration and would create a statement of ethical standards to be upheld by the university.
The petition also calls for the committee to be given the power to review and terminate existing relationships it deems are not up to the ethical standards it sets.
The petition was created after Occupy DU presented a similar petition to Coombe over the summer, which called for a similar committee to be created and also demanded DU to end its sponsorship by Newmont Mining Company, which has received wide criticism for violations of labor laws and environmental degradation from multiple organizations, including the MineWatch initiative.
Coombe responded to the initial petition by suggesting a more open dialogue between Occupy DU and Newmont, as well as other corporate sponsors, according to Vice Chancellor and Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Carroll.
“We welcome the students being able to look at things, challenge what we’re doing here; that’s a healthy part of an educational institution,” said Carroll.
Carroll said Coombe offered to organize meetings between Daniels administrators, Newmont representatives and the students in order to facilitate more understanding and communication between the groups.
“Before there are too many allegations that are placed at the university or at companies with whom the university has relationships, I think it’s important for everyone to understand what those relationships are,” said Carroll.
However, Bliss said Occupy DU wants to see the commission created by the administration.
While students have the power to form a review commission themselves, he said Occupy DU feels the step should be taken by the administration as a demonstration of DU’s commitment to ethics.
“We want them to step up and say, ‘This is important and something we want to do ourselves,’” said Bliss. “It’s something we want to push the Chancellor to do himself.”
However, Carroll said the idea of creating a commission with the power to terminate university relationships with sponsors is not realistic, because students do not have the ability to make those types of decisions.
“That’s just not how it works,” Carroll said. “The administration is here to see to it the university’s best interests are moved forward.”
Caroll also urged Occupy DU to further reviewtheir facts and information surrounding Newmont and other businesses’ relationships with the university.
“It seems they don’t have all the facts,” said Carroll. “There are some facts from the reality of the situation which may have been missing when the petition was created.”
Carroll specifically stated that a point of misunderstanding might be that DU receives less than one percent of revenues from relationships with corporate companies.
However, Bliss said Occupy DU feels the petition is a necessary step for the university if they wish to uphold their values.
“DU should be a pioneering school in terms of ethical standards,” said Bliss. He called reviewing and terminating certain corporate relationships “part of the university’s duty as a private university dedicated to the public good,” making reference to the Pioneer Pledge all first year students take at the beginning of first year.
Carroll said the relationships between corporate sponsors and the university contribute to the public good by giving students the opportunity to help businesses better their reputation and public opinion.
He specifically referenced an instance when Newmont recognized an issue with labor law violations within their business and approached Daniels College of Business students with the problem to ask them to help develop a solution. Carroll said these experiences in real-world business practices provided by corporations are good for students in their education.
“That’s what we’re here for – that’s part of our vision of being a great university dedicated to the public good,” said Carroll.
Bliss said Occupy DU plans to push forward with the petition and acquire more signatures throughout the year, as well as inspire conversations about what sorts of relationships the university should commit to and educate the student body on the nature of these relationships.
The group plans to present the new petition to the Chancellor once they have received enough signatures.
Carroll said the administration would continue to push the idea of open conversation between students and corporate representatives if introduced to another petition.
“You can do things in a way that is proactive and productive and you can do things in a way that is confrontational and I don’t think that it is healthy to go at things in a confrontational way,” Carroll said.
