A new organisation

Reviving memories of the fierce Vietnam War protests at universities in the 1960’s, students at 20 colleges across the United States are once again organizing against Dow, this time united in their demand that Dow accept its moral and legal responsibilities in Bhopal. They’ve banded together to form Students for Bhopal, a national network that is planning campaigns against Dow until it accepts all the demands of the Bhopal survivors. "Students here are like students elsewhere," said Janine Jacques, one of the student campaigners at Brown University. "When we heard about what was happening in Bhopal, we were outraged. We decided that we had to act."

Bringing Bhopal to Dow's door

Their actions are causing Dow plenty of headaches. Students have "quarantined" Dow buildings, spoiled Dow recruiting drives, pressured several members of Dow's Board of Directors and caught Dow's CEO holding a lavish Christmas party at his home on the anniversary of the Bhopal disaster--an indiscretion that may have led to his abrupt firing ten days later.

Making a Pariah of dirty Dow

Students are also uncovering massive connections between their universities and Dow Chemical. If their universities own stock in Dow, students are asking their colleges to divest, citing Dow’s long legacy of poisoned people and contaminated communities. If their universities accept contributions from Dow, as many do, students (for instance at the University of Michigan) are asking their colleges to publicly refuse future donations until Dow begins to devote some of its largess to the needs of the people of Bhopal.

"Is it possible to ethically invest in a corporation that refuses to remediate the impacts of its own pollution, to the detriment of thousands of lives? I don't think so," said Clayton Perry, one of the Bhopal organizers at Occidental College in California. "Nor is it really fair that Dow donates millions of dollars every year to colleges and universities across the country, while refusing to spend a cent in Bhopal. We don't want our colleges accepting Dow's blood money."

Widening support

Students are also targeting Dow recruits, congresspeople, and their university’s faculty members, and asking them to take action. A global Faculty Petition for Justice in Bhopal has been launched, and students are organizing to collect 1500 signatures by Dec. 3rd, 2004, the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. A petition of this size would be one of the largest faculty petitions ever circulated, and could only further tarnish Dow’s expensively-crafted environmental image.

How can you help?

There are plenty of ways! Join the student activist community that’s challenging Dow, and begin organizing students at your own campus to do the same. Research your university’s connections with Dow, and if you find any, demand that your university disassociate from the company until it accepts its responsibilities in Bhopal. Decide on the specific actions that you want to take, and look over the resources (including media resources!) that are available to see if they might help. Then take action! Make sure that you send regular updates to both the campaign listserve and Dow itself.

The Bhopal campaign is destined to have long-lasting implications for corporate accountability, environmental justice, and the process of globalization. The stakes are high, but if students continue to join together with trade unions, social justice organizations, and Dow-affected communities all over the world, we can win justice for the people of Bhopal.

For more information about the student campaign, visit www.studentsforbhopal.org

Or contact Ryan, the Student Coordinator for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, at <rbodanyi@cox.net>.

Students from the University of Michigan confront Michael Parker, Dow’s ex-CEO, on the anniversary last year.

Dow’s toxic waste leaks on the Diag, the main crossroads of the University of Michigan, last year.

Students at Wheaton College fast in solidarity with the Bhopal survivors.

The “Dow Grim Reaper” collects victims on the Brown University campus.