More arms industry ties to universities

The Liberals are crowing. Twenty-five million dollars of public money will be spent on a university research deal with the US military. “This is a great outcome”, defence industry minister Christopher Pyne said.

The deal is part of the Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, a US military program using international universities to develop US weaponry. Five Australian universities are reportedly participating.

They’ll pursue research, dictated by the Pentagon, to create, in Pyne’s words, “game-changing military capabilities” (in case you didn’t know that killing people is a game).

That Australian universities could become henchmen for Donald Trump’s army may seem shocking, but it fits with the increasing militarisation of higher education. Across the country, universities are being harnessed to feed the booming war industry.

Take South Australia. The state’s three main universities now collaborate on what’s been called a “golden moment” of $90 billion in weapons investment. Adelaide University chancellor Peter Rethjen, a former rear admiral, is also the chair of military manufacturer APC Technology.

Such ties are common. Sydney University chancellor Belinda Hutchinson is chairperson of the Thales Group, one of the largest arms companies in the world. Fittingly, before becoming the voice of arms manufacturers in parliament, Pyne was minister for education.

Thales Group and other companies with a stake in Australia’s higher education system, such as British Aerospace Engineering and Lockheed Martin, are among the most opportunistic vultures of modern capitalism, fattening themselves from death and misery.

That the arms industry is increasingly partnering with universities is heinous. The National Union of Students is organising the Books not Bombs campaign to break the ties between universities and arms manufacturers.