[1088] in peace2
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anton F Van Der Ven)
Sat Oct 6 23:38:54 2001
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Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 23:38:28 -0400
From: Anton F Van Der Ven <avdv@MIT.EDU>
I apologize for sending this to many groups, but this is a very important issue.
URGENT ACTION REQUESTED
MIT employee suspended and facing dismissal for voicing
concerns about a multinational corporation's human rights record.
Write letters to protect speech at MIT !!
1) Write to President Vest and Chancelor Clay *respectfully* urging them to look
into this very serious matter.
2) Talk to your professors and encourage them to write or call President Vest and
and Chancellor Clay.
3) Write to MIT Social Justice Cooperative at peace-keepers@mit.edu to get involved.
Details are given below. Forward this around, inside and outside of MIT.
More information also at: http://web.mit.edu/justice/www/acad_free.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________
On thursday evening, a group of ethically concerned students attended a
Shell Recruiting event in order to shed light on Shell's history in Nigeria.
The concerned students distributed flyers and asked questions to recruiters about
this history.
An MIT employee, who works in the building where the recruiting event was
held, heard about the student's plans 30 minutes before it started and decided
to join in. The employee, an administrative assistant, showed up after work
around 6:00 pm, and helped pass out fliers made by the students (see the flyer
at http:/mit.edu/aram/Public/shell/why-shell.pdf and other Shell links at
http://mit.edu/aram/Public/shell). While the Shell representatives
were discussing Shell's policies on environmentalism and social responsibility,
the MIT employee asked a question about Shell's role in pollution and human
rights abuses in Nigeria. Neither the MIT employee nor the concerned students
present at the recruiting event were disruptive and their questions were posed
in a respectful and polite manner.
The next day, the said MIT employee received a suspension notice which
claimed that he:
"... passed out an inappropriate flyer against Shell Inc.
on Thursday evening at a Chemical Engineering Graduate recruitment
event lead by representatives of Shell Inc. Although document
dissemination is a type of freedom of speech, the nature of what you
passed out was inappropriate for an MIT employee ... as a result
of your conduct last evening, you are being placed on a temporary
suspension ... This suspension is immediate as of 5pm today,
Friday October 5, 2001 ... the outcome will either lead to
reinstatement of your appointment with BPEC/DMA or full
dismissal."
The employee was ordered to surrender his keys, VIP card and MIT ID card
as well as disclose passwords to his MIT e-mail account, desktop, etc.
Apparently, the Chem E. department told the suspended employee's supervisor
that he was considered a Chem E. "representative" since he works in the
building and was known by Chem E. people. In fact, it seems that the
MIT employee does not work for the Chem E. department, but for the
Dupont-MIT alliance (which has Chem E. professors in it, but is not under
the Chem E. department's authority).
It seems that members of the Chemical Engineering department have difficulty
understanding the concept of free speech. The crucial decision makers of
this case in Chem E. are fine with free speech as long as it is speech they
agree with. MIT is a university, an institution of learning in which free and
open debate is essential to its normal functioning. If merely questioning
a corporation is prohibited on campus by MIT staff because that corporation
gives money to MIT, we might as well stop calling MIT a university.
The actions against the MIT employee are a form of harrassment towards the
employee specifically and a very powerful form of intimidation to all
other MIT employees who will effectively be silenced from expressing their
views (even in off hours) because they fear losing their job. This
suspension sets a very disturbing precedent that will stifle free and open
discussion on campus of most issues. It is also a blatant abuse
of power by certain members of the MIT community that cannot be
tolerated. Immediate action must be taken by the MIT community and
the administration to rectify the situation.
Notes:
(1) Recruiting events are information sessions to educate MIT students
about a particular company. While Shell spent much time talking about
its initiatives on environmental policy and social responsibility, it
systematically avoided educating people at the event about its well
documented role in environmental pollution and human rights abuses. Since
the event is an educational occasion, MIT students and any other member
of the MIT community have the full right, in fact are obligated, for the
sake of balance, to fill in gaps in information that Shell
representatives systematically left out. What better place to do it
than at a meeting where Shell representatives are present to defend
the company's record ?
(2) Although the chemical engineering department claims they sponsored
the event, this is not mentioned on any of the flyers advertising the
event. One flyer was from Shell with no reference to MIT and another
flyer mentioned the MIT Career Services Office. The guidelines are very
clear on this. If an event is sponsored by several groups or departments,
they must all be listed on the event's flyers. If a group is not listed
as a co-sponsor on any of the flyers, they cannot claim that they
co-sponsored the event.
__________________________________________________________
When writing emails, cc peace-keepers@mit.edu. Paper letters seem to be more
effective than email, but emails are also great.
Practical info:
name: Vest, Charles M
email: cmvest@MIT.EDU
phone: (617) 253-0148
address: 3-208
title: President
alias: C-vest
name: Clay, Phillip L
email: plclay@MIT.EDU
phone: (617) 253-6164
address: 10-200
department: Chancellor'S Office
title: Chancellor Professor Of City Planning
alias: P-clay
