Open Letter by Neely Ellis
WSU is complicit in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians through its investments in corporations profiting from the Israeli occupation. We, WSUV Students for Justice in Palestine, demand that the WSU Foundation divest from weapons manufacturers that arm and enable the genocide in Gaza, and that WSU unequivocally condemns Israel’s gross violations of human rights.
American universities, once revered as paragons of intellectual freedom and the path towards a brighter future, have been unveiled as crucial pipelines and sustainers of the military-industrial complex. The Palestine solidarity encampment at Columbia University ignited a nationwide movement, with students occupying campus spaces and demanding that their institutions divest from and cut ties with weapons manufacturers that fuel the genocide in Gaza committed by the U.S. and Israel. In response, many universities have resorted to measures such as expulsions, police crackdowns, and even leaking sensitive personal information of students to immigration agencies.
The bravery of students, putting their futures on the line to demand that their universities uphold international law and do what they can to stop the unimaginably horrific genocide taking place in Gaza, should be viewed as an honorable act—not one that warrants repression.
However, this crackdown has led many students, including myself, to question the relationship between our universities and the military-industrial complex.
WSU is not exempt from scrutiny. Like most American universities, WSU has an endowment that invests money from donors into the stock market. The WSU Foundation invests in mutual funds that include companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gruman, General Dynamics, Boeing, Caterpillar, and more. Without the unadulterated support of these corporations, the genocide would not be possible.
Those who sit on the WSU Foundation board are primarily wealthy business professionals. Most notably, the board’s Chair is John C. Minge, former president of BP America which is a branch of one of the six biggest oil and gas companies in the world.
In August 2024, Mike Connell, the CEO of WSU’s Foundation held a live YouTube forum discussing pre-submitted questions regarding the endowment. When asked if the WSU Foundation takes any ethical considerations into their investments, Connell stated that because ethics are supposedly too controversial a topic, he does not “think it’s something we strive for in terms of how we invest money.”
While it may be true that what is ethical to some may be unethical to others on trivial matters, there is no question as to whether or not investing in weapons that are being used to commit genocide and have been used to violate international law numerous times is unethical.
Beyond the endowment, the relationship between WSU and the military-industrial complex extends even further. Using grants, internships, and scholarships, war profiteers have fortified a pipeline between university campuses and the military-industrial-complex.
According to an email sent by WSU spokesperson Phil Weiler, Boeing stands as the largest employer of our alumni while offering internships, scholarships, and departmental funding. While these contributions appear charitable, they effectively funnel students into Boeing’s workforce and, by extension, into the military-industrial complex. According to the American Friends Service Committee, Boeing ranks as the world’s third-largest military contractor, with $35 billion in annual revenue, 56% of which is derived from its defense sector.
This pattern is not unique to WSU. In fact, WSU is a microcosm of a broader national trend. The unfortunate truth is that most American universities are heavily involved in the defense industry. For instance, the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has a $12.2 billion budget with the U.S. Air Force (“MIT Books $12.2B Air Force Contract for Lincoln Lab R&D Center Operation”).
Similarly, Pennsylvania State University’s Applied Research Laboratory was awarded a $2.1 billion contract with the U.S. Navy (“Penn State’s ARL Earns Navy Research Contract Worth as Much as $2.1 Billion | Penn State University”) and Carnegie Mellon University maintains a $2.7 billion agreement with the Department of Defense to operate its Software Engineering Institute (“Software Engineering Institute Contract Extended by Department of Defense for $2.7 Billion”).
Some may argue that this is a positive thing and that the military-industrial-complex merely ensures national security. This disregards the immiseration caused by the billions spent on wars of aggression in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined. This federal funding could and should instead be used for education, healthcare, housing, infrastructure, and other vital necessities that millions of people in our country need.
At the crux of military spending is the fact that war is profitable. A study conducted by Brown University found that, “Pentagon spending has totaled over $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, with one-third to one-half of the total going to military contractors. More than half of the annual Department of Defense budget is now spent on military contractors.”
The inescapable reality is that American universities are not neutral institutions of learning. The same institutions that claim to nurture critical thought and social responsibility are, in fact, complicit in a system that profits from death and destruction.
Demanding that WSU divests from apartheid, militarism, and genocide is not controversial—prioritizing profits over human lives . We are simply asking for WSU to uphold its own stated values and help to “create a world where all people can thrive.”
— Neely Ellis, senior DTC major, on behalf of WSUV Students for Justice in Palestine