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Open letter to UQ concerning the naming of a new building after the CEO of Dow Chemicals

#DisarmUQ #DisarmUnis: Add your signature to this letter: Email Duncan Hart   Include your name and any relevant information


Open letter to the University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor, Peter Hoj, concerning the recent announcement of a building and academy to be named after CEO and Chairman of Dow Chemical Company, Andrew Liveris.

We the undersigned wish to express our opposition to the recent announcement that the University of Queensland (UQ) will be naming a new building after Dow Chemical Company CEO and chairman, Andrew Liveris. The new building will also house an “academy” also to be named after Mr Liveris, all to be paid for with the help of a $40 million donation by Mr Liveris and his wife, to UQ’s “Not if, when” campaign.

In making this announcement, UQ has pointed to the academy as helping “identify promising students with leadership potential and a passion to address sustainability issues involving clean water, safe food and modern energy services.”

The Dow Chemical Company that Mr Liveris has managed since 2004 has a record of ethically reprehensible and environmentally destructive practices that contradicts this stated intention.

Dow is most famous for its exclusive manufacture of napalm for use by the United States military during the war in Vietnam, during which 388,000 tonnes were manufactured and deployed against Vietnamese people.

Dow is also infamous as one of the largest manufacturers of the toxic defoliant, Agent Orange, which was sprayed by United States forces over 20% of Vietnam between 1961 and 1971, exposing between two and five million people to the chemical. Over the years the result has been higher rates of cancer and birth defects being passed on from generation to generation, both among the Vietnamese and US and allied soldiers. To this day, many Vietnamese children are born with significant birth defects.

Agent Orange also led to ongoing catastrophic effects upon the natural environment of Vietnam, with the loss of 124,000 hectares of mangrove forest during the war, and continued soil pollution, with ramifications for the entire ecosystem.

To this day, including under the management of Liveris, Dow refuses any responsibility for the effects of Agent Orange, even disputing the scientific evidence of its health impacts.

More recently in 2017, Dow successfully lobbied to overturn a ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, despite the US Environmental Protection Agency finding that the chemical potentially caused brain defects.

Given these factors, it contradicts the stated principles behind the University of Queensland’s “Not if, when” campaign to honour a figure who has been so integral to the Dow Chemical Company. If this project were to go ahead, this building would be a monument to profits that Dow Chemicals made through atrocities. We urge the university to reconsider accepting the donation of Mr Liveris and in particular the naming of a building and educational institution in his name.


The list of signatories for this letter is being updated here

Michael Berkman, UQ Alumnus, Greens MP for Maiwar
Andrew Bartlett, UQ Alumnus, Greens Senator for Queensland
Jonathan Sri, UQ Alumnus, Brisbane City Councillor for the Gabba Ward
Duncan Hart, UQ Union Councillor for the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty
Peter Holbrook FAHA, Professor, University of Queensland
Andrew Bonnell, Associate Professor in History, University of Queensland
Dr Annie Pohlman, Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland
Dr Jon Piccini, UQ Fellow in History
Liam Coulthard, Lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Resident Medical Officer, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Dr Karen Selberg , Lecturer in Humanities, University of Queensland
Dr Morgan Brigg, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict, University of Queensland
Dr Peter Scally, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Director of Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Alan Coulthard, Professor of Neuroradiology, University of Queensland
Dr Gilbert Burgh, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Queensland
Jennifer Clement, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Queensland
Dr Jessica White, ARC DECRA Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Queensland
Dr Judith Seaboyer, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, University of Queensland
Dr Charlotte-Rose Millar, UQ Fellow
Dr Bronwen Levy, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland
Tomoko Aoyama, Associate Professor, University of Queensland
Carole Ferrier, Professor of Literature and Women’s Studies, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland
Xanthe Ashburner, UQ alumnus and Education and Outreach Officer with the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions
Dr Ruth Blair, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland
Robyn Clare, Library Assistant, Fryer Library
Sally Babidge, Anthropologist, School of Social Science, University of Queensland
Daniel O’Neill, Honorary Research Advisor in School of Communication and Arts, and ex-lecturer in English, University of Queensland
Philip Nase, UQ Alumnus, retired Judge, District Court of Queensland
Lesley Synge, UQ Alumna and author
Humphrey McQueen, UQ Alumnus and author
Dr Jessie Wells, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Cameron Browne, UQ Alumni, ERC grant winner and Associate Professor at Maastricht University (Netherlands)
Dr Greg Mallory, UQ Alumnus
Dr Raymond Evans, ex-reader in History at the University of Queensland
Dr Ross Gwyther, UQ Alumnus and Physics Researcher, 1980-1993
Kate Douglas, UQ Alumna and Professor, Flinders University
Helen Gilbert, UQ Alumna, Professor of Theatre, University of London
Dr Shannon Brincat, UQ Alumni
Phil Griffiths, UQ Alumnus and Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Southern Queensland (in personal capacity)
Susan Price, UQ Alumna and former NTEU UNSW Branch President
Robert (Bob) Reed, UQ Alumnus, Barrister
Dr David M. Douglas, UQ Alumnus
Fiorenza Jones, OAM, UQ Alumna
Craig Buckley, UQ Alumnus, Secretary of the Brisbane Labour History Association
John Tomlinson, UQ Alumnus
Ian Curr, UQ Alumnus
Mary Okello, UQ Alumna and ex-member of Administrative Staff
Samantha Lo Monaco, UQ Alumna
Nadia Okorn, UQ Alumna
Zoe Cebuliak, UQ Alumna
Bronte Alinta Geitz, UQ Alumna
Rose Trappes, UQ Alumna
Katherine Hopkins, UQ Alumna
Ann Paterson, UQ Alumna
Hamza Surbuland, President of UQ Pakistani Students Association
Priya De, President of Socialist Alternative UQ
John de Bhal, Alumnus and Academic Tutor, University of Queensland
Harrison O’Carroll, President of the UQ Anti-Capitalist Club
Adelaide Power, UQ Union Councillor for the Science Faculty
Paul Dibley-Maher, Tutor, UQ Business School
Elisabeth Silvester, UQ Union Councillor for the Business, Economics and Law Faculty
Murray Olsen, Honorary Senior Researcher, University of Queensland
Mutiara Pertius, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland
Galih Imaduddin, PhD Candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland
Faiza El-Higzi, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland
Simone Thornton, PhD candidate, HaPI, University of Queensland
Aysha Zaharin, PhD candidate, University of Queensland
Ash Zeller, National Union of Students QLD Education Officer
Mansur Alam, UQ Rohingya community activist
Isabella Pennings, Australian Youth Climate Coalition UQ Convenor
Luciana Lawe Davies, UQ student
Yasmin Abraham, UQ student
Chloe Ryan, UQ student
Sarah Davies, UQ student
Jaime Bloomfield, UQ student
Ella Gutteridge, UQ student
Susanna Huang, UQ Student
Heilyn Bonquin, UQ Student
Meg Jemison, UQ Student
Zane Higgins, UQ Student
Lachlan De Verinne, UQ Student
Louise Devadson, UQ Student
Isabelle Bettridge, UQ Student
Auneep Rahim, UQ Student
Tanushree Sharma, UQ Student
Dr Robert V Anderson, OAM, member of Griffith University Council and member of the Brisbane Council of Elders
Dr Stuart Rees, AM, Professor Emeritus University of Sydney
Bob Russell, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith University
Bridget Fowler, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow
Hersha Kadkol, National Union of Students Ethnocultural Officer
Lisa Milner, Senior Lecturer, Southern Cross University
Lara Sonnenschein, University of Sydney Student Representative’s Council Education Officer
Dr Michael Karadjis, Western Sydney University College
Salman Panahy, Tutor in Philosophy, Melbourne University
Dr Richard Hill, School of Social Work and Human Services, Griffith University
Robert Pekin, CEO, Food Connect and Director, Food Connect Foundation
Emma-Kate Rose, Chair, Queensland Social Enterprise Council
Evan Jones, ex-lecturer in Ballet, Queensland University of Technology
Verity Burgmann, Adjunct Professor, Monash University
Catherine Boyle
Helen Metzger
Emilia Hanna

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