Associated Students of Portland State University Resolution
End the relationship between Portland State University and Boeing
DATE: May 13, 2024
AUTHOR(S): Yousif Ibrahim, Ulfet Tayba, Michael Jones, Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER)
CONTRIBUTORS: Student Advocacy Committee, Operations Board, Student Fee Committee
SIGNED BY:
ASPSU Operations Board, ASPSU Student Advocacy Committee, ASPSU Student Life Committee, MECHA PSU, DisarmPSU, Muslim Student Association (MSA), Arab Student Association (ASA), Association of African Students (AAS), Las Mujeres, Somali Student Association (SSA), Arab-Persian Student Organization (APSO), Black Student Union (BSU), Cuba Solidarity, Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), Cambodian Student Association(CSA), Dream PSU, PSU Kaibigan
ASPSU Voting Results: May 13th Student Body Senate Meeting Minutes:
Passed 5/13/24
SUMMARY: This resolution seeks to address and discontinue Portland State University’s (PSU) ongoing affiliations with Boeing. This company’s operations have been linked to significant ethical and humanitarian concerns, particularly in the realms of war, violence, and human rights abuses. Portland State University must reevaluate and ultimately sever its ties with Boeing to align its practices with its core values of sustainability, equity, diversity, and inclusion. This document outlines the reason for this necessary separation and proposes steps toward implementing it effectively.
WHEREAS,
Boeing Co. is the world’s fifth-largest military company1. They design, manufacture, and sell military weapons such as combat aircraft, bombs, missiles, and other weapons technology1.
Although PSU maintains a relationship with Boeing, there has been a noticeable lack of effective communication regarding the specifics of this relationship. This is particularly concerning given that Boeing has been a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) since 19982. ALEC is a corporate lobbying group known for its role in drafting and promoting model legislation that often aligns with corporate interests at the expense of public welfare3. ALEC brings corporate lobbyists and politicians together to draft these model bills behind closed doors, without public input, which are introduced across various state legislatures3. Additionally, ALEC has supported legislation that contributes to the Military-Industrial-Fossil-Fuel Complex, the Private Prison Industrial Complex, and policies that have adverse effects on migrants and minority communities4.
WHEREAS,
Boeing has been a crucial supplier to the Israeli military for over 75 years, providing a wide array of advanced military hardware including F-15 fighter jets, V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Chinook helicopters, and KC-46 Pegasus military refueling planes5. According to a report by Armida Balla, a Boeing employee, this partnership dates back to 1948, to the founding of the State of Israel6.
Boeing supplies Israel with various missiles, bombs, and precision bomb kits, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits which convert unguided bombs into guided munitions7. These kits have been extensively used in operations like the airstrikes on Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp on November 1, 2023, resulting in significant civilian casualties8. These events, highlighted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, have raised concerns over potential war crimes9.
WHEREAS,
On October 10th and 22nd, 2023, the Israeli military used bombs equipped with Boeing JDAM kits to carry out what Amnesty International calls "unlawful air strikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip." The attacks, which could amount to a war crime, killed 24 people of the al-Najjar family and 19 people of the Abu Mu'eileq family10.
As of May 8th, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that almost 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7th. Over 13,00 of those killed are children. This does not account for the approximately 10,000 people that have been reported missing under the rubble, and the 78,514 people injured. There are no more fully functioning hospitals11. This insurmountable loss of life and destruction is made possible by Boeing’s machinery and weaponry.
Since 2014, Boeing has provided extensive military support to the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates–led coalition in Yemen, involving F-15 fighter jets, Apache and Chinook helicopters, and other weapons systems. This collaboration deepened with a five-year, $9.8 billion contract in 2020 to modernize Saudi Arabia's F-15 fleet. Additionally, Boeing has supplied a significant number of the weapons used in Yemen, which have been used in actions widely criticized as war crimes against Yemeni civilians12.
WHEREAS,
Boeing’s shareholder proposal, as outlined on page 59 of the proposal’s report, expresses concerns about the company's involvement in Israel's actions, citing the potential negative impacts on investment and growth7. This included relationships with higher education institutions. The document raises significant ethical questions about Boeing's role in conflicts that have resulted in numerous civilian casualties and its participation in what is described as illegal occupation, apartheid, and human rights violations. Additionally, the proposal references a period in July 2014 when Boeing faced a nationwide call-in campaign demanding that it stop selling weapons to Israel. This activism has also influenced the academic sector, with seven major U.S. universities passing divestment resolutions targeting Boeing for its arms sales to Israel.
WHEREAS,
Evergreen State College officials have signed a memorandum agreement with students to actively pursue divestment from companies implicated in human rights abuses, including those profiting from operations in Gaza14. The memorandum states “The DTF (Disappearing Task Force) will address divestment from companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories”. This action demonstrates a commitment to ethical investment policies that align with global human rights standards. Similarly, Brown University is taking significant steps under pressure from its student body to reconsider its financial relationships with companies like Boeing, based on their contributions to the genocide in Gaza15. A final decision is scheduled to be made in October. This decision process at Brown is part of a broader dialogue on campus about the ethical implications of investment choices.
WHEREAS,
Student governments at various universities across the United States have been actively passing resolutions urging their institutions to divest from companies profiting from war crimes12. Concerns over the ethical implications of financial ties to ongoing conflicts and human rights violations largely drive these movements. These universities include but are not limited to: the University of California Irvine, Swarthmore College, Northwestern University, Barnard College, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of South Florida, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Washington, Harvard University, University of Houston, etc12.
WHEREAS,
Over 60 members of Congress, including Oregon Senator Jeffrey Merkley, called for a ceasefire in Gaza according to a report published by CAIR California on January 11th, 2o2416. This speaks to the magnitude of the devastation that Boeing’s machinery is causing in Gaza.
WHEREAS,
PSU deeply values sustainability, as stated in its mission, vision, and values17. In fact, PSU offers an undergraduate program on Indigenous Nations and Native American Studies which has sustainability as a core theme of the program18. This program emphasizes the protection of ecological systems and the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. The environmental degradation and displacement of Indigenous communities linked to conflict areas where Boeing’s weapons are employed stand in stark contrast to PSU’s mission to protect ecological and cultural systems. Scientists estimated that Israel’s aerial bombardment of Gaza generated more than 281,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the first two months alone19. This has been reported to be “greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations”20.
WHEREAS,
According to Portland State University’s Sustainable Procurement and Life Cycle Consideration Policy,23 it outlines the following definition of sustainability:
Sustainability: Using, developing, and protecting resources in a manner that enables people to meet current needs and provides that future generations can also meet future needs, from the joint perspective of environmental, economic, and community objectives.
This policy primarily guides procurement practices, essentially, how the university purchases goods and services. However, this policy also sets a broader ethical and sustainability framework that can influence all forms of partnerships and affiliations, not strictly limited to traditional buying scenarios. The policy states that one of its purposes is to “complement and communicate the University’s commitment to sustainability”. The essence of the policy—to ensure that all university activities and partnerships adhere to sustainability and ethical standards—suggests a broader application.
WHEREAS,
Boeing's weapons are being sold to the Israeli government to destroy lives, resources, and communities in Palestine and across the globe. It is producing machinery that is causing massive environmental damage in Gaza that is undoubtedly going to impact future generations and their needs. The policy advocates for partnerships that support sustainable and ethical practices, aiming to minimize adverse environmental impacts. The commitment suggests a misalignment with Boeing’s practices, which are associated with a significant ecological footprint.
WHEREAS,
PSU’s values emphasize inclusion, equity, and fostering a diverse community17. Our website states “Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not only a value and a mission of Portland State University, it is the essential framework of who we are and what we do as an institution and community”21. Boeing’s involvement in military operations globally presents ethical challenges regarding PSU’s partnership with them. Their products have enabled death and devastation in communities across the world, namely, the aforementioned effects on Gaza22. This also includes Yemen, Kashmir, the Philippines, West Papua, the U.S.-Mexico border, Syria, and Palestine22. PSU’s goal to create an inclusive and equitable atmosphere is undermined by partnering with companies such as Boeing, whose actions do not align with these principles. Additionally, students, faculty, and staff who are connected to the regions affected by these conflicts may feel alienated or unsafe due to their university’s association with a company involved in such activities. This creates a dissonance between PSU’s actions and its stated values.
WHEREAS,
PSU must critically assess and reevaluate its partnerships to better reflect its foundational commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In fact, our Global Diversity & Inclusion (GDI) website states that “diversity, equity, and inclusion advocacy requires the ongoing examination of all endeavors, activities, practices, structures, and systems of Portland State University”24. This shows that PSU’s commitment to DEI extends beyond mere policy declarations. It highlights the necessity of continuous improvement across every facet of the university to ensure that the DEI principles are not just theoretical aspirations. They must be integrated into the fabric of PSU’s operations and culture, influencing everything from academic programming to partnerships and procurement. Given Boeing’s involvement in military production and its implications for global conflicts and sustainability, PSU must consider whether this partnership aligns with its DEI commitments.
WHEREAS,
Our students have made it clear that they do not support the university's ongoing relationship with Boeing. We have seen numerous peaceful demonstrations, protests, and teach-ins on our campus this year in demand of cutting ties. This has also been demonstrated by the recent escalation of protests. This includes the damages done to The Branford Price Millar Library, the arrests of students, and campus closure. Although we condemn acts of violence, vandalism, and unlawful misdemeanors, these forms of expression convey a sense of grief and frustration within our students, and this must be acknowledged. Damages on campus cannot compare to the destruction of Gaza. PSU’s connections to Boeing are fueling tensions that manifest throughout campus and cause disruptions to the educational process at Portland State University.
WHEREAS,
We must continue to foster a safe, inclusive, and sustainable campus environment that embraces the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion that Portland State holds at the center of its mission. We must engage in ethical practices for students, faculty, and staff. This resolution in no way promotes hateful rhetoric or ideologies against our Israeli and Jewish communities at PSU, but rather calls for separation from a company that contributes to multiple human rights violations, profits from war crimes, and manufactures machines that are being used to claim innocent lives.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
The Associated Students of Portland State University implores the Portland State University Administration to take tangible steps towards terminating all partnerships and their relationship with Boeing, including but not limited to: 1) Sending an explicit statement to Boeing, ending PSU’s special recruiting and hiring relationship with Boeing as a designated supply-chain focused university and internships provided to Portland State University students through Boeing and 2) Working with Portland State students to find ethical alternatives for students to be able to gain career experience.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
PSU Board of Trustees pass a resolution to terminate current partnerships and relationships with Boeing, and other companies complicit in genocide and prevent future partnerships and investment into the aforementioned company. Thus, codifying the resolution passed by the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) in 2016 and 2021.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
We request that PSU replace the benefits derived from its partnerships with Boeing with alternatives that better align with the university’s ethical standards and values. We acknowledge that Boeing has undoubtedly brought significant benefits to the PSU community in the form of monetary gifts, internships for students, and enhanced job prospects for graduates. We request that PSU devise a strategic plan to effectively manage the transition away from Boeing, that minimizes disruption and adverse effects on students currently benefiting from this partnership.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
We request that Portland State University continue to fund and support causes and projects that align with its values of anti-racism and sustainability until it cuts ties with Boeing. This includes but is not limited to 1) New curriculums teaching methods to dissect Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Palestinian and Anti-Arab rhetoric. 2) Workshops catering towards safety for students on campus. 3) The continuation of the dialogue task force and its promotion. A student-majority committee should be formed and contribute to this process. We demand that our institutional funds are fully transparent and easily accessible and that students and the Portland State University community are given a voice in how our funds are allocated.
Faculty and Staff for the Justice of Palestine (FSJP)
Faculty and Staff Organization
“Dear ASPSU-
We, the collective members of Faculty and Staff for the Justice of Palestine (FSJP), fully endorse your campaign for the university to cut ties with military arms and weapons manufacturers– namely, Boeing. Your aspiration for this directly confronts PSU’s espoused value to “promote access, inclusion and equity as pillars of excellence.” We ask: where is the access to commercial aviation products for Palestinians? Where does the university stand in considering the inclusion and equity for Palestinians living under an apartheid system for over seven decades? The answer, as you recognize, is that all of our values are not represented within a brutal military occupation of the Palestinian people that is in clear violation of international law. This is an occupation that is only enabled through the various military multinational corporations, such as Boeing, and the seemingly endless shipments of their F-15s, Apache and Chinook attack helicopters, the various guided munition kits, and unguided bombs that they sell to Israel through U.S. support. It should not be considered a courageous act to conceive such a proposal to cut ties with a company like Boeing when you are being educated to care about and shape worlds that embody access, inclusion, and equity. Sadly, however, we are living in an environment of institutions that create exceptions to free speech, transparency, and accountability when it comes to advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights. You have our full support and we are proud of the values you are seeking to promote, despite your university’s failures on such issues.”
Stephanie Wahab
PSU Professor, School of Social Work
“I support ASPSU's resolution calling on PSU to sever ties with Boeing. Severing our university's relationship with companies that benefit from apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide is a practice of hope as it makes clear a different relational reality is possible for the university. Severing these ties also enacts PSU's value that we "accept challenges and embrace change."
Theodore A. Khoury
PSU Professor, Management & Strategy
“As a scholar of social movements and non-market strategies and a first-generation Palestinian-American, it is a proud moment for me at PSU to see our students using their voice and taking an active stance in calling for greater disclosure and ethical consideration of controversial relationships with organizations crossing ethical boundaries, such as our relationship with weapons and military technology manufacturer Boeing.
In their quest for PSU to sever ties with this company, ASPSU joins the student governments of UC-Irvine (2021), Brown (2019, 2012), Swarthmore (2019), Barnard (2018), University of Michigan
(2017), Arizona State (2012), University of Michigan at Dearborn (2005, 2006, 2010), University of Massachusetts at Boston (2012), UCLA (2014), UC-San Diego (2013), DePaul University, University of South Florida (2016), Northwestern (2015), University of Illinois-Chicago (2016), and University of Chicago (2016), whose student governments have all successfully passed similar resolutions and referendums in their schools regarding Israel’s occupation of historic Palestine and the role that Boeing plays in sustaining this illegal occupation.
With over 35,000 civilians now dead, nearly 11K missing, abducted, or buried, over 78K seriously injured, and over 1.7 Million displaced from their destroyed homes, Israel’s project was and (as I write this, still) is being accomplished through various Boeing technologies. Whether it be the F-15 fighter jets, the Chinook and Apache attack helicopters, the unguided small diameter bombs (SDBs), or joint direct attack munition (JDAM) kits that convert these bombs to precision-guided munitions, Boeing is front and center in enabling genocide and ASPSU is simply recognizing the sheer conflict between the values PSU promotes versus what it actually models.
These students clearly recognize that Palestinians, now struggling to find a crumb of nutrition while they scatter between unsafe neo-refugee camps versus the push to accept yet another attempt to be ethnically cleansed from their native lands, are not customers or users of Boeing military technologies. Let us also remember that Israel does not even permit the Palestinians to be customers of Boeing’s commercial air products since their border freedoms and geo-spatial mobilities are controlled by Israel’s illegal occupation of their land, its shrinking boundaries, and the daily apartheid control of Palestinian lives. Rather, their days are spent trying to escape death by famine or disease, evaluating if their child was one of the decaying corpses surfaced from one of the (now) seven discovered mass graves found outside destroyed hospitals, or reminding themselves that although they are being asked to run for their lives yet again, schools, churches, mosques, and hospitals are considered “legitimate targets” with the courtesy of technologies made by Boeing and friends.”
As a business school professor, I find myself wondering what Boeing employees– who I imagine were likely business school students– made all these deals. I wonder where they went to school. I wonder if they were exposed to corporate social responsibility research, a philosophy class, or systems thinking. I wonder about the values that were impressed upon these students before graduating and perhaps where these values might have been corrupted along the way.
So, thank you ASPSU for striving to model the values we would hope our future leaders would aspire to uphold. Your activism is noticed and you are on the right side of humanity and history.”
Mark Berrettini
PSU Professor, School of Film College of the Arts
“I write in support of the ASPSU resolution on PSU’s relationship with Boeing, supported by several additional student organizations. These groups have taken on the important issue of severing relations with Boeing in a clear, well-supported manner, and I appreciate their leadership. The resolution presents a compelling case, and highlights how PSU needs to recalibrate its public positions to be aligned with its stated values. I hope that the PSU administration listens to the concerns of these allied groups, who represent many students on campus, and acts accordingly.”
Gisela Rodriguez Fernandez
PSU Professor, University Studies
“Dear members of ASPSU,
I want to offer my most sincere support for the work you are doing and for speaking truth to power when society tries to shout out your voices. Your resolution to end the relationship between PSU and Boeing, signed by multiple student-led organizations, reflects the solid principles of critical thinking and integrity. It also reflects radical solidarity among students, solidarity that challenges racial and ethnic lines, and solidarity that challenges political borders. Your resolution is DEI in praxis, and as faculty I could not be prouder of your commitment to justice.”
Colleen Ryan
PSU Staff, School of Social Work
“As an individual and member of Portland State University Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), I support the resolution from Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) to end the relationship between Portland State University and Boeing.
It is imperative that Portland State University adheres to its founding motto -- let knowledge serve the city -- by recognizing the knowledge that Boeing is actively participating in the continued and unrelenting slaughter of Palestinian men, women, and children, including targeted attacks against doctors, patients, journalists, relief workers (Palestinian and international), and civilians attempting to access aid, and serving the (local and) global city by cutting ties with Boeing. Portland State's ongoing complicity in genocide must be recognized and ended by cutting ties with Boeing.”
Jamie L. Jones, MPH
Teaching Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
I am writing as a current PSU Faculty and as a PSU Alum. I implore you to let the knowledge of PSU not just serve the city, but our global community, and exemplify PSU's core values of sustainability, equity, diversity, and inclusion by cutting all ties (especially financial) with Boeing. It is unethical that we, PSU, would be affiliated with a corporation that has been linked to significant ethical and humanitarian concerns, specifically of war, violence, and human rights abuses.
Jilian Goldstien
PSU Student
“To whom it may concern,
As a student at Portland State University, I am calling on my university to cut all ties with Boeing and to call for an immediate ceasefire as well as adopt BDS resolutions that work towards supporting Palestinians. Portland State University has a responsibility to not only end all ties with Boeing but also call for an immediate ceasefire condemning the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Boeing is a war profiteer company that profits off of dead Palestinians who lost their lives in the genocide and Portland State has blood on their hands as they have done nothing to end their relationship with Boeing.”
Brandon Ramirez
PSU Student, Political/Decolonial Officer of MEChA
“I as a student of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences as well as the newly elected Political/Decolonial Officer of the Portland State chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) support ASPSU's resolution and stand in solidarity with each student group signee calling for PSU to sever ties with Boeing. As students in academic institutions across the United States, we know very well that our universities profit from their involvement in the ongoing and historical genocide of Palestinians. Due to PSU’s disgusting business relationship with Boeing, our university’s administrations share responsibility for the murder of more than 45,000 Palestinians, and we, as MEChA, have a moral obligation to openly condemn these indefensible, disgusting, and horrifying violations of basic human rights.
Moreover, we have a moral commitment to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their demand for PSU to cut ties from these institutions and corporations that continue to profit from this death and destruction. Furthermore, PSU’s connection to Boeing continues to affect thousands of migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border; shown through Boeing’s contracts with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Homeland Security, with Boeing supplying these agencies with 737s to deport migrants from here in our city of Portland as well as across the country. This shows that the problem goes beyond the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and continues to involve itself in death and destruction around the Global South, as well as at our own border with Mexico. Therefore, our struggle as Latinos is inextricably bound with the Palestinian liberation movement. VIVA VIVA PALESTINA."
Matteo Chhunkeo
PSU Student, VP of Cambodian Student Association
“ASPSU's attempt to pass a resolution to cut ties with Boeing is an incredible feat that I have yet to hear of among universities across the United States. If and when it passes, it will be an immense step towards an institution taking a hard stance against the endorsement and funding of a corporation that directly aids planes and the manufacturing of weapons ultimately being used to fund genocide. If PSU truly believed in letting "knowledge serve the city," our knowledge as students, faculty, and community members would serve to halt PSU's complicity in not ending their relationship with Boeing.”
Natalie Khalil
PSU Student
“To whom it may concern, my name is Natalie Khalil; I am a first-generation Palestinian American student at PSU and a member of the PSU Cut Ties with Boeing Coalition - a united front of students, staff, faculty, and clubs who are fighting to end Portland State University’s ties with murdering my people abroad for profit. Additionally, I am a member of Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights member, a registered SJP at PSU rooted in organizing around Palestinian liberation. As Palestinians, there are certain things we carry. The indelible memories from the past 76 years of occupation and the images, smells, sounds, and videos that haunt us.
The video is of a boy and a member of the press, and he says he wants the genocide to end so he can go back to school. She looks shocked by his answer and again asks your one wish above everything: to return to school. He said yes, I love school, and I was at the top of my class. I want this all to end so I can return to my studies. He wasn’t sure if his school was still there, if it was destroyed, or what happened to some of the teachers. He said some of the people from his school have died ( he is not in high school, maybe in elementary or 6th grade), but he just wants to get an education more than anything.
The students of Gaza are some of Palestine's brightest and sharpest minds. This genocide has seen many horrors, one of which is Israel’s implementation of an ongoing educide in Gaza. An education is the systematic destruction of an education system by targeting Gazan professors, scholars, educators, doctors, etc. Over 800 professors have been murdered. There are no more universities left standing in Gaza. Israel has bombed UN schools.
I’ve walked this campus every day since watching that video and my every third thought is of this young boy and his school. I walk in and out of classrooms and think about how our campus is benefitting from his grief. How can the students, faculty, and administration feel proud of ourselves by accepting donations from those who profit from that boy's horror? How could we set students up for future jobs where their brilliance and creativity are wasted on making weapons of war in service of the illegitimate state of Israhell? Portland State Univesity’s ongoing relationship with Boeing offers students positions working for the corporation, creating weapons that are then used to commit war crimes and acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people. They receive funding from the weapons manufacturer that keeps its influence on our campus and shapes our education, such as Ann Cudd's priorities for programs and critical services for students in need. PSU’s continued relationship with Boeing makes them equally complicit in the deaths of nearly 40,000 Palestinian lives.
In an email sent by PSU President Ann Cudd, tried to appease our student movement by temporarily pausing donations from Boeing, and we are here to say that is not good enough. A temporary pause in accepting contributions from a weapons manufacturer is not good enough, Ann Cudd. The students at this university have been attempting to get Boeing off of this campus since 2016. Still, maybe no one caught you up to speed, or perhaps you just weren't listening when the letter was presented to you back in the fall term written by myself and others stating that we demand this university cut ties with Boeing, yet in an interview less than three months ago you said that you hadn’t heard any logical reason from students as to why we must cut ties with Boeing.
Temporarily pausing accepting donations from a company that makes the weapons that are currently being used to murder children is not good enough; temporarily pausing accepting contributions from a war profiteer that has assisted in the obliteration and destruction of universities and the entire education system in Gaza is not good enough, Temporarily pausing accepting donations from the people that made the weapons that killed that young girls family isn’t good enough, temporarily pausing accepting donations from the company that is profiting on the destruction and complete decimation of my homeland is not good enough now and will never be good enough. Pausing to then have a debate about ethics is a slap in the face. To debate transnational capitalism, and you can scream from your ivory tower from here to tomorrow. Still, the very fact that you are even posing a debate about ethics when my home is destroyed, when there are students that attend this university that have lost family members, when Arab/Muslim students at this university have been assaulted on this campus, when we as indigenous people have lost everything, I was raised by a refugee that cannot return to his homeland, they took our homes. They leveled them and made illegal settlements atop what were once acres and acres of fields that belonged to us, and you want us to debate about whether we should accept money from a company that profits off of this. There should be a debate on whether you are making us debate whether accepting blood money is acceptable or even ethical. It’s inhumane.
I am writing this testimony today to make it loud and clear to Ann Cudd and every administrator who stands to protect profit over precious life: We demand that PSU cut ties from any market relations with Boeing and boycott the war profiteer permanently.
We, the students, are not powerless. We are powerful when we stand united because, without a student body, a university comprises educators with no one to educate, a vacant building, and no money to support itself. We keep the lights on, pay the bills, and are not beneath anyone. We must reframe the narrative that we cannot create change and start thinking under the guise that we are the necessary people and things will bend when we demand them to. I do this hoping that that little boy can return to school one day. May the death of our people never be in vain. Glory to ALL our martyrs, now and forever. Until liberation and return.
I fully support and endorse the resolution to cut ties with Boeing!”
Batool Aburiyash
PSU Student
“I'm Batool, a Portland State University student, and I ask that PSU severs its relationship with Boeing. While I am forever grateful that I have had the chance to get my education at this university, my attendance is riddled with guilt as a Palestinian-American and a human being.”
Simra Ahsan
PSU Student
“Call for cutting ties with Boeing!”
Fiona Kavanaugh Collie
PSU Student
“My name is Fiona. I’m a junior at PSU studying Gender, Sexuality, & Queer Studies. I want to express my unwavering support for the calls from PSU SUPER, students and staff alike for the resolution that demands PSU cut ALL financial ties with Boeing.
An arms manufacturer sending their weapons to the Israeli government that has massacred and murdered an unfathomable number of Palestinians, since the beginning of Boeing's alliance, but specifically in the last eight months has no business on a college campus. In our campus. PSU administration uplifts visions of “equity, peace and inclusion”. Yet, they profit from the machinery that’s being used to commit genocide. PSU must cut all financial and social ties with Boeing immediately.”
Genavieve Beans
PSU Student
“I strongly urge you to cut ties with Boeing. As an educational institution we should not be associated with a weapons manufacturer who is part-taking in the genocide against Palestine. There are many students of color who go to school here, like I, whose race has been the victim of genocide. We pay thousands of dollars a year! My total cost of attendance without assistance is 29,000!!! I cannot stress this enough but the school gets PLENTY OF MONEY! Practically sucking our bank accounts dry. Don't accept anymore money from Boeing, you do not want to be associated with genocide. Please cut ties with Boeing, for me, a Native student whose entire country has been colonized, genocided, and suppressed. It pains me to see that my school, the school that I've grown to love, is buddies with the colonizers, the murders. Don't be on the wrong side of history. Don't passively accept the genocide that Boeing is apart of by accepting their money, don't be their friend. Make the morally right decision.”
Chance Lowe
PSU Student
“My name is Chance, I'm an honors student in Sociology and SGQS. I'm writing to you expressing my firm support for a resolution calling on the campus administration to sever all of the campus' ties with Boeing. In the past years we have seen unique failures from numerous actors surrounding Boeing. First and foremost, Boeing is a significant weapons manufacturer. Boeing stock went up from $180/share to $250/share after Israel's scorched earth retaliation and continued genocidal campaign. This enough shows Boeing profits off of war.
And there is more. We have seen recalls and groundings of numerous Boeing airplanes due to numerous deadly crashes from their poor software management as is the case with the 737 MAX. Boeing has also shown significant negligence in manufacturing, leading to a plane to decompress and drop dangerous debris over Cedar Hills just a few miles away from campus. The manufacturing negligence is the product of the removal of worker protections, union busting by moving production from their facilities in the PNW to the South, losing their legacy employees. Is this the work culture we want our university funneling students into?
And union busting and offshoring are only scratching the surface. In the last year numerous whistleblowers for Boeing's negligence have been dead in suspicious circumstances. John Barnett explained that cost-cutting corner-cutting measures led to significant safety issues in Boeing's planes, where as many as 25% of oxygen masks wouldn't deploy. He died to a gunshot wound, and confided in someone he was close to that something might happen, and that if it does "it's not suicide." Another whistleblower died a couple months ago due to a rapidly onset fatal illness. Investigations haven't returned further information, but it's seeming Boeing employees are dropping like flies these days.
It would be monstrously unethical to continue PSU's special hiring relationship with Boeing, funneling students into this machine. I urge you, as a student, to do everything you can to show the administration that we do not want these war profiteers on our campus, and that we do not want our classmates to be treated the way Boeing treats employees.”
John Carpenter
PSU Student
“I saw there was a need for testimonies regarding PSU cutting ties with Boeing.
As a member of the PSU community and a Jewish individual with family in Israel, I do not believe that perpetuating the violence against the Palestinian people is conducive to the safety of anybody in the region. The continuation of partnership with Boeing, who profits off the ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza, demonstrates that our administration is only interested in profit motives and not intellectual honesty.”
Batool Aburiyash
PSU Student
“I'm Batool, a Portland State University student, and I ask that PSU severs its relationship with Boeing. While I am forever grateful that I have had the chance to get my education at this university, my attendance is riddled with guilt as a Palestinian-American and a human being.”
Lauryn Wright
PSU Student
“I am writing to you as a concerned student of the university community to urgently address a critical issue that demands immediate attention: our institution's ongoing partnership with Boeing. As a third-year student deeply invested in the ethical standing of our university, I strongly urge you to sever all ties with Boeing.
Thank you for your consideration”
Neekie Bonakdar
PSU Student
“It is of the upmost importance that PSU cuts ties with Boeing and other organizations/corporations that are implicit in harming populations that are being marginalized and oppressed. In this case Boeing as a corporation has shown us time and time again that they are a grossly negligent and immoral company. This is a company that has MULTIPLE proven instances of gross negligence that have caused deaths of hundreds of people riding their planes. A 2021 Senate report on the company criticized the company’s chronic understaffing and their downplaying of concerns raised by their engineers. Portland States “special recruiting & hiring relationship” is sending students to work for a company that has been proven to disregard the opinions, safety and lives of their employees but also the people who will be using their products. Boeing has had 150 lawsuits filed against them. Boeing is a company that profits off of wars. The same wars that have displaced many of the PSU students and their families. This isn’t a company PSU can morally have ties to and goes against the progressive values the university tries to project. It is time for PSU to prove their words with actions, to take students seriously, and to repair the harm that has been caused. We demand that you replace ties with harmful companies with other partnerships that are approved by faculty and students. We demand more transparency and involvement of student voices in decision-making processes at the university and that you meet all demands being made by PSU SUPER.
Additionally, the decision to call the authorities on a student body that is increasingly majorly students of color is disturbing and irresponsible. We know the harm that policing has on black and brown communities. Students have been asking for the removal of police and CPSO on our campus for almost a decade now. These are the same people who have proven to be dangerous, taking Jason Washington’s life on our campus just 5 years ago. If PSU “aspires to be the premier majority-BIPOC student institution in the PNW”, the university needs to show that students of color's wishes, needs, and safety are taken seriously. You are in service to the US, THE STUDENTS! The University needs to be constantly evolving, dismantling and creating new structures and opportunities to reduce and eradicate the harm that is forced onto us as youth of color. If this is not what you are doing you will never truly be aligned with life-giving & producing values.”
Khadija Almayahi
PSU Student
“My name is Khadija and I am a PSU student urging university administration to cut Boeing. As a weapons manufacturer, the majority of Boeing's profits originate from selling ammunition and bombs that rain down on civilian populations like the indigenous people of Palestine. In other words, Boeing directly makes money off of killing people. The current genocide in Palestine is ongoing, and as it continues, the murder toll rises. With nearly 35,000 Palestinians murdered, and with roughly 15,000 of them being children of the average age of 5, there is no way to deny the blatant war crimes of Israel as it continues to collectively punish indigenous civilians. We the students of PSU do NOT want Boeing blood money, nor an apprenticeship with its employers that funnel students into its insidious weapons-manufacturing regime. The university claims that funds provided by Boeing sponsor a number of underprivileged BIPOC with educational scholarships, which is wholly irrelevant and does not justify accepting money from war profiteers. If the university can afford to pay Ann Cudd over 600,000 (along with a +100k stipend for living expenses), we certainly have the funds to sponsor these individuals and NOT use POC as an excuse for the disgusting acceptance of such funds. The education of BIPOC should not come at the cost of accepting money raised from murdering other POC, which is a vile sentiment further insisted by this university. PSU, CUT TIES WITH BOEING! Anything less will not be accepted nor tolerated by the student body, who are the very condition by which this university operates.”
Rose Kuiper
PSU Student/Activist
“My name is Rose. I am a student and activist at Portland State University. I am in ardent support of a resolution to cut ties with Boeing, it is unquestionably necessary for the lives of our Palestinian peers.”
Fiona Kavanaugh Collie
PSU Student
“My name is Fiona. I’m a junior at PSU studying Gender, Sexuality, & Queer Studies. I want to express my unwavering support for the calls from PSU SUPER, students and staff alike for the resolution that demands PSU cut ALL financial ties with Boeing.
An arms manufacturer sending their weapons to the Israeli government that has massacred and murdered an unfathomable number of Palestinians, since the beginning of Boeing's alliance, but specifically in the last eight months has no business on a college campus. On our campus. PSU administration uplifts visions of “equity, peace and inclusion”. Yet, they profit from the machinery that’s being used to commit genocide. PSU must cut all financial and social ties with Boeing immediately.”
Van Lawson
PSU Student
“My name is Van, I am a third year Psychology major and Political Science minor at PSU. I am strongly in favor of PSU cutting all ties and partnerships to Boeing and ending any reception of philanthropic gifts or funds from Boeing for any purpose. Boeing is a major tool of the genocide in Gaza and has supplied the weapons and aircrafts for countless U.S. and Western imperial racist wars of destruction in the MENA region. Any ties to Boeing on the side of PSU are shameful and must be severed immediately.”
Sam Kasim
PSU Student
“This past half of a year has been extremely traumatic for me and my family. Growing up in an Arab household, I have been no stranger to facing racism and general neglect against my people in/from the Middle East. With the insurgence of injustices befalling innocent families and children in Palestine, I am disgusted to see PSU benefitting off of its ties with Boeing, a company actively assisting in the mass genocide of my people. PSU has no right to accept any gifts from Boeing, and definitely should not be endorsing Boeing in any way whatsoever. This is why I am one of the thousands of PSU students demanding PSU cut ties with Boeing.
The recent protests have taught me that PSU is grossly unprepared and shows no sign of understanding the role it's playing in this conflict.”
Victor Tran
PSU Student
“I wanted to affirm your support for cutting ties with Boeing.”
Jana Zahler
PSU Student
“I am a graduate student at PSU getting my Masters In Social Work. I have been deeply distraught in witnessing the genocide of Palestinian people for years, and even more so since October 7th. I strongly encourage PSU to CUT TIES WITH BOEING and with other corporations that are in support of this genocide and occupation that Isreal is committing to the people in Palestine. It is inhumane and extremely unethical to support this atrocity, like PSU does. The occupied territories of Palestine have seen enough horrors over the last 75 years, it is time that we stand up for what is RIGHT, and work towards a FREE PALESTINE. No one is free until everyone is free.”
Ricardo Briones
PSU Student
“As a student and incoming MECHA Diversity and Inclusivity Officer here at PSU, a supposedly “progressive” school, I urgently support the resolution for PSU to cut ties with Boeing altogether. Boeing has aided in the genocide of the Palestinian people and any relationship with them makes the university complicit in genocide.
As the resolution states, “Boeing has been a crucial supplier to the Israeli military for over 75 years…” The same military that has perpetuated the settler colonial state that is Israel.
The students of PSU have made it clear that we demand that PSU, the university we pay tuition for and populate, cut all ties with Boeing.”
MECHA
Student organization
“We, MECHA de PSU, fully endorse and support the cut ties with Boeing resolution. As
we have stated in our previously released statement, the Palestinian liberation movement is directly linked to the struggle of Latinxs for their liberation. This connection between our communities and the active internationalist viewpoint we take creates a stronger push from our organization for our university to cut ties with Boeing. Boeing is directly connected to the funding of the genocide in Gaza and provides arms that have killed and injured hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Our university should not continue to have any relations with Boeing.”
DisarmPSU
Student organization
“For nearly ten years, the Disarm PSU Coalition has been organizing on the PSU campus, pushing the university toward a more inclusive, less dangerous, and more racially just approach to campus safety. As a group with a deep history of fighting to hold this university accountable to its espoused values of social justice and access to education, we are fully aligned with, and thoroughly endorse the ASPSU resolution to end the relationship between Portland State University and Boeing. We stand in solidarity with students' calls to critically review the university's relationship with a company that profits from mass death and disablement in militarized conflicts around the world. We recognize the ways in which our goals of a disarmed PSU are interconnected with the goals of this resolution, and we stand with students in this struggle.”
Las Mujeres
Student organization
“Las Mujeres has read through the resolution. We have agreed as a group that we are in support of the resolution of Portland State University cutting ties with Boeing, a military company. PSU has not met its mission statement and values, but we hope that with one step at a time, our school can be in full support of its students; today, that means, being transparent about the school’s financial allocations and hearing its students' concerns.”
PSU Kaibigan
Student organization
“PSU Kaibigan fully condemns the ongoing genocide in Palestine and joins the mass majority of people worldwide in calling for an immediate ceasefire and a free Palestine. We join with our fellow Filipino youth, both locally and internationally, and support the self- determination of the Palestinian peoples' right to resistance and their right to return to their homeland.
We stand in solidarity with our kababayan back home and the Palestinian people, as they both endure unjust violence and displacement.
The struggle for Filipino youth and students to preserve their cultural identity, while fighting for their rights and welfare is not far from the Palestinian fight for freedom.
PSU Kaibigan sees how our tax dollars and our institutions' involvement with Boeing are used to enact violence on both the Palestinian people and our kababayan in the Philippines rather than towards social services like healthcare, education, and housing, etc.
In the last week, PSU campus has been filled with protests against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. PSU, like many campuses across the nation, has seen sit-ins, teach-ins, marches, rallies, encampments, and building occupations. Many of these actions are directed at PSU’s ongoing relationship with Boeing, a company that provides weapons of war to Israel.
Students, faculty, workers, and community members have the right to academic freedom of speech and to uplift the struggles of our campus community. We condemn the harassment, intimidation and abuse of students and faculty by the Portland Police Bureau, who were called upon by President Ann Cudd. We condemn Ann Cudd's hypocrisy of supporting student's freedom to protest while simultaneously calling upon violence in our community.
PSU Kaibigan asserts that this is a time to amplify voices, learn from one another, and understand the root causes of the injustices and inequities on our campus.
PSU Kaibigan is resolved to continue building and strengthening our Rise For Rights campaign as a genuine response to the education crisis we face on PSU campus. Beyond the institutional violence and repression of the past week, PSU students are facing tuition hikes, program cuts, dwindling funding, and poor quality student services, among many other issues.
There is an urgent need to unify all students, faculty, workers, and community members at PSU to collectively address the roots of our problems and confront the administration with our demands. PSU Kaibigan calls on all student, faculty, and worker organizations at PSU to join the campaign as a convener or to endorse the campaign. We call on all individual students, faculty, and workers at PSU to join or create an organization to contribute to the mass movement on campus as we rise for our rights!”
PSU Students, School of Social Work
“The ongoing genocide in Palestine requires the social work community to be a voice for justice. The discipline of social work is grounded in commitments to serve and stand in solidarity with people who have been harmed by large and small-scale systems and institutions. We recognize our institution’s complicity in the ongoing genocide, principally through PSU’s financial and strategic relationship with Boeing. As the resolution under consideration today highlights, Boeing’s operations have been linked to significant ethical and humanitarian concerns, particularly in the realms of war, violence, and human rights abuses both in Palestine and elsewhere. There is no space for neutrality in our profession’s code of ethics. We, as social work students committed to social justice and accountability, implore PSU to cut ties with Boeing and align itself with ethical institutions that share its stated values.”
PSU Black Student Union
Student Organization
“From Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the intentional flooding of Oscarville, Georgia, now Lake Lanier, to the dropping of a SATCHEL bomb in a residential neighborhood in Philadelphia in 1985, the oppression and continuous attempts at destruction of the Black American community is synonymous with that of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. We would be remiss to not endorse this resolution. The Black Student Union of Portland State University recognizes this university’s complicitness in the loss of life by way of consorting with a war profiteering entity. The response by this university has been subpar and has communicated to its students, Palestinian, Black, or any other marginalized group, that it prioritizes profit over them. This resolution would staunchly change that narrative and set the tone that PSU truly values diversity, equity, and inclusion. We, the Black Student Union, will always advocate for equal human rights and just treatment for everyone. We encourage our institution to do the same and cut ties with Boeing.”
Erin McGeoy
PSU Alumni
“I sit here today, ashamed to be an alumni of Portland State. I wholeheartedly support the students’ demand for a resolution by PSU to cut ties with Boeing, among so many other things. Until that happens, I refuse to donate any money to our alumni association.”
Kai McClary
PSU Alumni
“I, as a PSU alumni of 2020, am writing in support of PSU cutting ties with all companies who are profiting off the crisis in Palestine. This is especially true for the PSU and Boeing partnership; it needs to be severed completely as it has made far too much money from the blood of innocent people. I insist and stand by the call to cut ties with Boeing.”