Movement here at UCF to break military-university ties

[T Roosevelt]

Thought this was very interesting, and I'll be looking into it more. Note some of the comments. I believe it requires (free) registration, so I've posted as much as I can.

Student group pushes to break UCF-military link

By Patricia Xavier
Campus Peace Action is on a mission to expose UCF's financial ties to military based grants. According to Campus Peace Action, nearly 40 percent of the federal research grant money which UCF receives comes from the Department of Defense. They plan on showing students, faculty and staff how UCF spends that money.

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"All these research centers for the military give millions of dollars to UCF professors to study something that's profitable for the military and so you have academics doing the work of the military," said Leto. "There's no stigma to working for a military company, and I think there should be a stigma. People should say, 'You build bombs and what you do helps kill people somewhere else in the world'."

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Some students oppose the measures being taken by the organization saying that the grant money received from these sources funds research projects that will ultimately benefit everyone. Senior Dashagne McNeil works for Lockheed Martin and said she is aware of her company's ties to military research and development. McNeil said there's nothing wrong with UCF getting money from the defense department or any other company with ties to the military.

"They are the ones that defend us," the engineering major said. "The purpose of the defense department is not to go out and have massacres; their purpose is to protect our country. The money that they give UCF educates us."

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"I don't have a problem working for someone who makes missiles and bombs. The only way I'd be against it was if we were abusing the missiles and bombs and we were going out and killing people for no reason at all, but that's not our purpose. We don't go out and say 'hey lets bomb Australia'. The defense part of Lockheed Martin's purpose is to protect us so when we have a war we do have something to fight with."

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Junior Antilia Guivas hopes that Campus Peace Action's research will provide her with the necessary information. She says she is aware that the university needs the money in order to grow but she is also concerned about where the money comes from.

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"It's all about information," the psychology major said. "If they have valid sources to educate me and other students it would definitely help us to completely understand this situation. I wouldn't want to work for a company that belittles other countries around the world. I know what I do will affect the community and I like to be more thoughtful in things like that but there are people who think more about being individuals than the fate of their community. Everyone is different, but everyone also needs to be informed."

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