Member of the WSU Board of Governors Defends Apartheid Israel!

ARA was in attendance today as public radio station WDET 101.9 fm hosted a public forum on the future president of Wayne State University. The audio is available here. 58 minutes into the program, ARA got a chance to make its demands for a new president of WSU known. We posted those demands on our blog earlier today.

Board of Governors member Eugene Driker responded to our demands that the university recommit itself to the its urban mission by crying poverty. Driker complained that the university just didn't have the money to maintain programs that provide access to Wayne State to community members that need it most. Ironically, Driker had only minutes prior to these assertions praised recent fundraising efforts that netted $800 million for the university. In addition, the entire panel of current and aspiring representatives of official society, including Driker, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, journalist Cindy Goodaker and student council president Cindi Chidi, had just finished discussing how Wayne State was an oasis of sustained economic growth in the impoverished wasteland of Detroit. So which is it? Does WSU have $800 million as a result of fundraising drives and does it stand at the epicenter of burgeoning economic growth in Detroit, or does it not even have the couple hundred thousand dollar pittance required to maintain the Interdisciplinary Studies department and other programs that have recently fallen victim to Reid and the Board's ruthless attacks on Detroiters?

In addition, Driker once again affirmed the university's support for white supremacy and imperialism, noting that he was actually proud of Reid's decision to maintain investments in apartheid Israel. In fact, Driker had the nerve to flippantly ask us if we had any suggestions on where to come up with money to fund these programs. It just so happens that the solution we advocate for Israel would do wonders for underfunded programs at WSU. When ARA last filed a Freedom of Information Act regarding the university's investments in companies doing business with Israel, we found that the university has millions of dollars invested in such companies. Given a financial crisis in one area, and millions of dollars invested in morally reprehensible stocks elsewhere, the answer should be clear: divest from Israel, invest in the Wayne State community! Reinstate all the programs the university has cut. Fund them with the blood money of occupation and apartheid in Israel.

However, we in ARA didn't disagree with everything Driker said. We wholeheartedly agreed with his call to publicly debate ARA. We also enthusiastically greet WDET's proposal to arrange and host such a debate using their facilities. In fact, we encourage all our supporters to call and write Eugene Driker and the Board of Governors, as well as WDET and Detroit Today, encouraging them to engage in this important debate.

Driker's email address is as1223@wayne.edu. The board of governor's Executive Secretary is Teresa Boczar, who can be reached at 313-577-2034 or teresa.m.boczar@wayne.edu

WDET can be reached at detroittoday@wdetfm.org or by phone at 313-577-4146.