5/25/2005 update: UC Regents ignore opposition, vote to build nukes. Full story: Part 1 | Part 2

On May 11th, the University of California (UC) announced an unprecedented partnership with Bechtel Corporation, BWXT Technlogies, and Washing International Inc. to jointly bid for the management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. Not only does this arrangement poise the UC to continue to manage potential Armageddon during a dangerous new phase of US nuclear development, but it establishes an alarming new frontier in UC-corporate connections.

Students from across the UC system will converge at the UC Regents meeting at UC San Francisco Laurel Heights on Wednesday, May 25th to speak out in opposition of the bid. After a planned meeting at 9 a.m. outside of the Laurel Heights building, the students will command the floor during the Regents' public comment period at 10 a.m. At roughly 11:20, they will conduct a rally outside the conference building. They are inviting people to join them in opposing the nuclearization and corporatization of the UC, or if they are not able to attend, to make announcements explaining the UC-Bechtel proposed partnership and the UC bid for the labs in classes. Organizers say, "It’s time to get UC out of the nuclear weapons business."

The UC has managed LANL since its inception over 60 years ago. However, after repeated security and financial mismanagement scandals, the US Department of Energy opened the management contract of LANL for competitive bid in 2003. UC’s contract to manage LANL expires on September 30. The Department of Energy (DoE) is expected to select the winner of the bidding competition over the summer. Read more | More about Los Alamos

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