Dear Graduates of 2013 and Mr. Jon Huntsman,
Congratulations to the UW graduating class of 2013! We – your fellow students, faculty, alumni, and members of the greater Seattle community – write to recognize your achievement but, also, to share with you and with commencement speaker, Jon Huntsman, our serious concerns about Mr. Huntsman’s connection to Caterpillar Inc. and to human rights abuses in Palestine/Israel.
The University of Washington has invited Jon Huntsman to give the Commencement keynote address that will set the tone for graduates’ first steps into their post-university lives. We know Mr. Huntsman most recently as one of the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls. But in addition to a long and prestigious career in American politics, Jon Huntsman serves on the board of Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), an American firm that manufactures and distributes bulldozers and civil engineering tools. The CAT logo has become ubiquitous on most construction sites around the country. Most students are not familiar with CAT bulldozers that are part of the daily lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
For decades, CAT has sold specially militarized equipment to the Government of Israel used in the systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, the death and injury of unarmed Palestinian and international civilians, the uprooting of olive trees and destruction of agricultural land, and the expropriation of Palestinian territory through the construction of illegal Jewish-only settlements and a separation-annexation wall. Amnesty International, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch have all reported on and denounced Israel’s breaches of international humanitarian law and CAT’s complicity in human rights violations. The CAT brand and its bulldozers have become a symbol of destruction in Palestine.
CAT’s responses to this overwhelming evidence have been inadequate and contrary to its own Code of Worldwide Business Conduct. CEO Doug Oberhelman has said, “How our customers use [the bulldozers] is their business. We can’t stop them.” But CAT designs the bulldozers to be weaponized. CAT has a choice. The corporation has a moral and legal responsibility to cease sales of CAT equipment used in a clear pattern of human rights abuses by the Israeli government and military.
In 2003, Rachel Corrie, a nonviolent human rights activist and observer, and Washington State resident, was killed by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer (operated by an Israeli soldier) as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in the Gaza Strip. A student at The Evergreen State College, Rachel did not live to attend her own graduation in June 2003. Numerous Palestinian civilians have also been killed when their homes were collapsed upon them by D9s. So, on the occasion of this UW Commencement, we ask both Mr. Huntsman and the graduating class to address the continuing harm caused by Caterpillar’s machines in Palestine.
We request that Jon Huntsman meet with UW representatives and the Corrie family to learn about the concerns of the Washington State and UW communities and to convey these to fellow Caterpillar Inc. board members. We are eager to share the profound impact the company could have by suspending sales to the Israeli military—implementing due diligence in their sales to any customer, until guarantees are received that their equipment will not be used to violate international law or commit human rights abuses.
To the Class of 2013 Graduates, again, our congratulations! Please use this momentous occasion in your lives to join us in encouraging Jon Huntsman to do the right thing! For more information on how to help, go to www.superuw.org. Find us on twitter at #uwCATfree.
Sources:
News on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Report, 2004: Link Here.
Amnesty International Report, 2004: Link Here.
Human Rights Watch Report, 2010: Link Here.
The Presbyterian Church USA Mission Responsibility Through Investing (MRTI)Committee Report, 2011: Link Here.
Signed,
- Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER UW)
- The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
- Rabbi Alana Alpert
- Amnesty International, UW
- BDS-LA for Justice in Palestine
- Boycott from Within, Israeli citizens for BDS
- Chico Palestine Action Group
- Cindy & Craig Corrie
- CodePink, Seattle
- CodePink, Taos
- Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ)
- Community & Middle East Peace Builders, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, Washington
- Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice, Tennessee
- Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA
- Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer
- For a Democratic University, UW
- Friends of Sabeel, North America
- 14 Friends of Palestine
- Free Palestine Movement, Northern California
- Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
- Grassroots International
- Tim Harris, Founder of Real Change
- Hilton Head for Peace, Hilton Head, South Carolina
- Rabbi Margaret Holub
- Interfaith Peace-Builders, Washington, DC
- Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, USA
- International Solidarity Movement, Northern California
- Jewish Voice for Peace, National
- Jewish Voice for Peace, Seattle
- Jewish Voice for Peace, Portland
- Jewish Voice for Peace, Tacoma
- Lutherans For Justice in the Holy Land, Central Lutheran Church, Portland, Oregon
- MidEast JustPeace, Traverse City, Michigan
- Mideast Solidarity Project, Olympia
- Rabbi David Mivasair
- Monica Mendoza Castrejon, External Chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan (MEChA UW), Class of 2015
- Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility, United Church of Christ, Tennessee
- New Profile, Israel
- New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT)
- The Northwest Regional BDS Coalition
- Olympia BDS
- The Palestine Concerns Task Force, Seattle
- The Palestine-Israel Working Group of Nevada County, California
- Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane
- Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, Seattle
- Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence
- TESC Divest, The Evergreen State College
- United Methodist Task Force on Peace with Justice in Palestine/Israel of the Upper New York Conference
- University of Denver Students for Justice in Palestine
- Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land
- UW International Socialist Organization
- Vancouver for Peace, Vancouver, Washington
- Voices for Palestine, Seattle
- Rabbi Alissa Wise
- Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
Faculty:
- Philip L. Bereano, Emeritus professor, College of Engineering
- Dan Berger, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Bothell
- David Citrin, Department of Anthropology
- Rachel R. Chapman, Department of Anthropology
- Eva Cherniavsky, Department of English
- Kate Cummings, Department of English
- Karam Dana, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Bothell
- James Barrett DeLong, School of Social Work
- Raya Fidel, The Information School
- Abraham D. Flaxman, Department of Global Health
- Tom Foster, Department of English
- Amy Hagopian, Global Health & Department of Health Sciences
- Tracy W. Harachi, School of Social Work and Dept. of Global Health
- Gillian Harkins, Department of English
- Michael Honey, Haley Professor of Humanities, UW Tacoma
- Moon-Ho Jung, Department of History
- Aaron Katz, Health Services and Global Health School of Public Health
- Danuta (Danka) Kasprzyk, Department of Global Health
- Steve Leigh, Fiscal Specialist, Dept. of Biostatistics
- Jamie Mayerfeld, Department of Political Science
- Mary Anne Mercer, Departments of Global Health and Health Services
- Diane M. Morrison, Director of Social Welfare Doctoral Program University of Washington School of Social Work
- Devon G. Peña, 2013 NACCS Scholar, American Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, Program on the Environment
- Michael Vicente Perez, Department of Anthropology
- Chandan Reddy, Department of English
- Sonnet Retman, American Ethnic Studies
- Laurie Sears, Department of History
- Clarence Spigner, School of Public Health
- Sundar Srinivasan, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine; Mechanical Engineering
- Helene Starks, Department of Bioethics and Humanities
- Amoshaun Toft, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Bothell
- Jonathan Warren, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
- Scott Winn, School of Social Work
- Robert Wood, Atmospheric Sciences
Alumni:
- Danielle Abbott, MSW, Class of 2005
- Linda Bevis, JD School of Law, MA International Studies, Class of 1990; MA of Education, Class of 1996
- Jean Darsie, BS Mathematics, Class of 1960
- Selma Al-Aswad Dillsi, MSW, Class of 2010
- Stefanie Fox, MA Public Health, Class of 2007
- Aditya Ganapathiraju, BA Psychology; BA Philosophy, Dean’s Medalist in Social Sciences, Class of 2010
- Naomi Goldenson, MS Atmospheric Sciences, Class of 2012
- Geraldine Haynes, BS Nursing, 1964
- Sarah Hartzell, MSW, Class of 2010
- Shima Houshyar, BA Political Science and French, Class of 2011
- Hanady Kader, BA Political Science, Class of 2007
- Susan Koppelman, MSW, Class of 2005
- Marc Krasnowsky, BA English, Class of 2001
- Zarah Kushner, DNP 2012, MN 2010
- Eden Lord, MSW, Class of 2011
- Gita Mehrotra, PhD Social Welfare, Class of 2012
- Vicky Kathleen Morris, MA English, 1970
- Lawrence Mosqueda, MA Political Science, Class of 1973
- Nathaniel Shara, MSW, Class of 2008
- Wendy Somerson, PhD English, Class of 1999
- Meghan Storms, MSW, Class of 2011
- Yecelica Jaime Valdivia, BA with College Honors Anthropology; BA with College
Honors Women Studies, Class of 2009 - Tiffany Woelfel, BS Psychology; BA Spanish, Class of 2004
- Sylas Wright, MSW, Class of 2013