A Wisconsin Alumni Association trip planned to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) was “pulled” following public outcry concerning the country’s human rights abuses, according to Amy Toburen, director of University of Wisconsin communications.

“[The WAA] pulled the university’s affiliation with the trip,” Toburen said, adding that they have no plans to organize another trip there.

Toburen said the WAA thought this action was the best decision to make.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the main leader of the Asian country’s efforts to democratize, has called for a “total boycott on tourism” because it threatens democratic efforts in the country, Jeremy Woodrum, director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, told The Badger Herald Sept. 7.

Likening the situation in Myanmar to Iraq and North Korea, UW political science professor Edward Friedman said the country is among the three worst governments in the world in terms of mistreating its people.

“The government of Burma is a brutal and corrupt military dictatorship,” Friedman said, adding that as the world’s largest industry, tourism likely earns the military regime more money and employs more people than any other type of commerce.

Despite the change in plans of the trip, a petition denouncing the trip was sent Tuesday to Paula Bonner, president of the WAA.

Toburen said it is a possibility that not everyone is caught up on the WAA’s time frame, adding that the WAA decision was made “some time ago.”

Upon hearing of the petition, a WAA employee said they thought they had “ended this already,” Toburen said.

The petition calls for the cancellation of the trip, stating, “we were shocked to discover that [the WAA] would be involved in this trip, since it is so contradictory to the [UW’s] mission of promoting education and greater understanding of world events.”

Among the signers of the petition were several UW alumni, including a UW professor and the Teaching Assistants Association.
According to Mike Quieto, co-president of the TAA, the decision to join the petition was voted on unanimously at a meeting Sept. 15.

“We’re really glad that the university agrees with our position on Burma,” Quieto said. Quieto said that the TAA voted to join the petition because of the country’s brutal dictatorship, which he said violates human rights.