CIA at RIT: Two Views
Albert J. Simone, President of RIT,
has announced the keynote speaker for RIT's 2002 commencement: George
J. Tenet, director of the CIA. 'Mr. Tenet will receive an Honorary
Doctor of Science. The intelligence gathered by the CIA will play
a vital role in the war on terrorism. Mr. Tenet will serve on the
front lines in this new war. We look forward to his campus visit
on May 24th
Metro Justice member Jean Douthwright shares a different view:
Dear Dr. Simone, and the RIT Community,
I am writing in regard to your e-mail today stating that the head
of the CIA, George Tenet, may be receiving an honorary doctorate
at RIT's graduation this May.
I spent four summers living and working in Central America and met
many people who had experienced the effects of the CIA. Many of
these were innocent women, children, educators, and health care
providers who were raped and tortured by the CIA-funded and-trained
Contras. I met one young woman who was the only survivor of her
community because she had left her town to attend a school program
for the day.
I worked and lived with these people and listened to their horrific
experiences that were the result of my tax monies.
During this same time period I learned that my university was receiving
CIA funds for training students to put bugs in furniture in our
fine wood working program, teaching printing students all the techniques
to print money, teaching others how to make barcodes for identification
cards, and many other projects.
Most of our deans and a number of the faculty had CIA security clearances.
Our administration lied to faculty about the CIA involvement at
RIT.
Below are a few websites that might be of interest to you and other
members of the RIT community. One is an article about the history
of the CIA at RIT up through the early 1990's. As president you
are well aware of this history since the RIT president prior to
you resigned because he was untruthful about the involvement of
the CIA at RIT.
Some of us remember the series of about eighty articles published
in the Democrat and Chronicle in 1991. The journalist who wrote
these articles was the runner-up for the Pulitzer for her coverage
of the RIT/CIA scandal.
We remember the 'Japan 2000' report containing racist hatred of
the Japanese that caused one of our deans to resign his position
at RIT. This story was reported internationally in the press causing
much embarrassment to RIT, the CIA, and the authors of the report.
Although I am on sabbatical and will not be at graduation this spring,
I am ashamed of having a representative of the CIA be honored by
the community I work in.
As a faculty member I had no input into this decision and would
like to know who made this decision and the process by which it
was made. Did the Senate confirm this honorary degree?
One of my colleagues nominated Kofi Annan, a recent Nobel Laureate,
for an honorary degree this year at RIT. I would be proud to have
such a person receive an honorary degree from RIT.
I cannot be proud of the decision made to honor the head of the
CIA.
During the 1991 RIT/CIA scandal, many of RIT's international students
spoke out about their fears in regard to the CIA. Many were concerned
about returning to their own countries after being educated at a
university that allowed the CIA to do research on its campus. Some
were concerned that they as students might be working on CIA research
projects without their knowledge.
Professor Monroe Freeman, a legal ethicist, and the only outside
(non RIT ) person on the RIT/CIA panel stated in the panel's 1991
report that a university cannot be an open place where knowledge
is shared when the CIA is present on campus. We experienced this
then and still do today.
Freeman went on to say that the CIA is a secret organization that
will be untruthful and therefore does not belong on a university
campus.
How can we honor a person representing an agency that does not believe
in openly sharing knowledge on a university campus? Isn't the sharing
and development of knowledge one of the foundations of a university?
It is ironic that you should choose today, Valentine's Day, to announce
such a decision.
Sincerely, Jean A. Douthwright,
Visiting Biology Faculty,
California State University, San Luis Obispo
Professor of Biological Sciences,
RIT College of Science
A site about campuses and the CIA: www.cia-on-campus.org
A site from an RIT student:
www.thoughtcriminal.org/rit/cia/
Another article about RIT and the CIA: www.cia-on-campus.org/rit.edu/rit.html