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Halliburton draws protest
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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Protesting the presence of Halliburton Co. on the University of Wisconsin campus, nearly 200 students marched from Bascom Hill to the recruiters' stand Thursday.
Students from the Campus Antiwar Network and other anti-war groups at UW united in an effort to prevent the company from recruiting on campus, accusing it of making billions of dollars off the Iraq war.
Singing, "that's bull—-t, get off it, this war is for profit," the nearly two hundred students congregated on top of Bascom Hill and marched down Charter Street, headed to the Engineering Centers Building, where a engineering career fair was being held.
Once in the fair, students sat near Halliburton's table and spoke to passersby about the company's alleged connection to the Iraq war and urged prospective candidates to refuse to apply for positions at Halliburton.
Strict rules established by the UW Office of the Dean of Students restricted protesters from shouting, yelling or chanting while inside the building, so instead they softly sang "from day to day, soldiers' lives are thrown away," followed by "from high to low, Halliburton's got to go."
During the protest, students were closely supervised by the UW Police Department, which stopped traffic to ensure students' safety.
UW Political Science Professor Donald Downs said students have a right to protest so long as they don't violate the speech rights of others.
"As long as neither side disrupts what the other is doing, then that's free speech," Downs said.
The protest went by peacefully, and there was no need for police intervention, though Sgt. Jason Whitney said the department requested "supplementary staff."
Not all students present agreed with the protest, however.
"There's a time and place for everything, and I think this is neither the time nor the place," UW senior Tara Thieme said. "I don't really feel like this will affect Halliburton at all — these people are only recruiting; they're probably from [human resources]."
Gavin Bell, one of the recruiters representing Halliburton, said he was advised to refuse comment, and instead referred questions to Melissa Norcross, public relations manager for the company.
"We've come to expect this type of spectacle, just as we've come to expect that the allegations will yet again be misinformed and incorrect," Norcross said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. "We continue to support individuals' right to voice their opinions, even when they have the facts completely wrong."
Halliburton representatives have expressed concern about a common misconception that the company still provides services in Iraq. The company has separated from its former subsidiary, KBR, which provides services to the military in Iraq war zones, according to Norcross.
"Halliburton and its subsidiaries have no employees or work in Iraq or Afghanistan," Norcross said in the e-mail.
Halliburton has nearly 50,000 employees in approximately 70 countries and is planning to hire more than 13,000 new employees in 2007, according to the e-mail.
Protesters, however, said they still hold Halliburton accountable for the company's past connections with the war.
"Just because Halliburton has now split off from the company, they can't run away from all the stuff that they have done," said UW freshman Jean Brody, who led most of the songs during the protest.
Protest leaders said the event was a success and added students should make efforts to talk about issues relating to the Iraq war.
"We should go back to to our classes and dorms and talk about what we did today," UW graduate student Elizabeth Wrigley-Field said.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 8:18am):
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field? That's awesome.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 8:32am):
"Protest leaders said the event was a success "
What?
I had a lecture at 1:00 so I knew I was going to miss the big march, but I was going and see what was going on afterwards. But I get there and there's not a protester in sight.
I mean come on, the career fair lasts 5 hours, and somehow blocking recruiment for less than 2 hrs is a "sucsess"? Halliburtan had plenty of students at their booth when I was there.
I really can't stand lazy protesters. Especially ones that claim sucsess when their stated goal (blocking recruitment) is not even close to met.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 8:55am):
Halliburton draws protest? What did they draw it on? Nyuck nyuck nyuck.
- Germain Q. Stemme
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 10:03am):
More text on pictures? Seriously?
Zealotry... pure zealotry.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 11:41am):
Hey dirt bags, go back to your bong shop and get to work on the tie-dies.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 12:02pm):
Seriously anit-war network, get your facts straight. I like how you can say Halliburton is as bad as Dow during the Vietnam war. Production of napalm directly used in the war and past military contracts are obviously the same thing to you.
You do realize other companies had and still have military contracts and are benefiting from the war? Do you even know any of the good things Halliburton does (i.e. engineered bacteria research for cleaning up oil spills)? Or are you all just lemmings who assume what your leaders say is always correct.
Protest all you want, but get your facts straight and if you're going to target a company, realize there are also others that are as corrupt or more so.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 12:39pm):
To the second poster:
There's nothing I hate more than some lazy slob who doesn't even come out to protest something that's obviously wrong. There were 200 people protesting, many of which, myself included, could have been working or in class or studying or doing other things. But we weren't! We came out to do something that mattered despite our other obligations, and we don't hide behind class or work as a reason not to protest.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 1:33pm):
My friend's conversation with other people at the career fair were ruined by idiots. When he applies for foodstamps and can't come out drinking with me, I blame you.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 2:15pm):
I agree. Just because you liberal arts rejects can't find jobs doesn't mean you should ruin the entire career fair for others. Some of us want to work, to do our part to make things better. The impact you could have by working at Halliburton and changing their policies from the inside would be far greater than the pussy sit in you held for what... an hour and a half.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 2:56pm):
Uh, class is a reason not to protest. That's how I'm getting a degree and actually making a difference in the world.
Protest doesn't matter unless someone actually does something to remedy the problem.
12:39, you are a retard who does not belong on a collegiate campus.
- one of the protesters.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 3:00pm):
Did they block Haliburton? No? Then I guess it wasn't a success. Nor will other protests like this ever be.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 4:33pm):
The beauty of America is that everyone is (or should be) free to say whatever they want to say. I am totally against these libs who are out of touch with the facts about Haliburton, however. When you go to a career fair and disrupt hard working students from attempting to talk with the company it crosses the line and infringes on the students rights. This is just another case of the typical hypocrisy from the left. They cry for free speech... but only if you agree with them. If not, you're a racist, homophobe, war mongerer, etc. Let the engineering students talk freely with the company next time you bunch of hacks.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 4:46pm):
The text on pictures really does look like shit. It doesn't even match the way the paper looks.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 5:04pm):
Hey fellow engineers,
We should go over to the other side of campus and protest their career fair... I'm sure Starbucks and McDonald's would be very offended.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 5:57pm):
4:33 -
There are people who can argue relatively skillfully on both sides of the political spectrum. You, I'm afraid, are not one of them.
Please back up your argument.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 6:44pm):
2:15pm, your optimism is cute but entirely misplaced. For your own sake, don't take a job because you think you can "chang[e] their policies from the inside;" you almost definitely cannot. You should keep that in mind when reveling in your own righteousness.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 6:52pm):
I wonder how many of the protesters realize that Halliburton has a profit margin of about 1%, which is much lower than most multi-national corporations. They are not getting rich off this war. If they, the protesters, feel this way, they should protest the manufacturers that also supply the vehicles, desks, copy machines, computers, paper, sunglasses, etc. They could also be considered to be making money from the war. I think these people are sorely misguided and do not see the big picture. As they get older, they will understand.
Erik (September 22, 2007 @ 1:33am):
I'm afraid some of the companies may be reluctant to come back next year because of the disruption.
Anonymous (September 22, 2007 @ 7:24am):
How many of the protesters have taken any time to actually check into the trash being skewed and spewed by the antis?
It is always interesting, people are expected to respect the speech of those who disrupt ours.
You know why so few take protests like this serious (sad thing is, there are some serious protests that do deserve attention)? Because the people doing the marching and producing excesss CO2 (thus contributing to global warming) do not have a clue what they are talking about.
Anonymous (September 23, 2007 @ 12:44pm):
If campaign donations go up to antil war groups during wartime, should the anti war protesters protest all who make money on the war? Does that mean the likes of MoveOn.org should be protested because they make money on protesting the war? Geez, you would think the protesters would be a little consistent.
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