So just because Halliburton’s given us money and time, you’re not seeing what’s wrong with your logic?

Yes, it’s a shame that CAN hadn’t protested Halliburton until now, but when was the last time Halliburton was at the career fair?. Yes, it’s also a shame that you’re submitting a resume to a company that is unfortunately STILL PROFITING from the war.

David, while I appreciate your thoughts, I feel I should enlighten you to my experiences from over twenty years of following Halliburton. Beware of the corporation bearing gifts. Through my friends, and working alongside Halliburton in the oilfields, I feel that they are not only an unethical and immoral corporation, but one which places themselves above the law. Read author Black as to Cheney’s reign selling centrifuges to Iran for the processing of nuclear fuel contrary to US law. Their management practices display their philosophies better than any PR person but to me “robber barons” is the term which springs to my mind. Anything goes, for a buck. Including buying PR through tax deductable donations. If they were as great as they put out in PR, do you really think they would need to lay out money as they do to attract new blood? The only thing which I might hold against CAN is why haven’t they done this before and not just Halliburton? Halliburton is one of a group of companies which operate under the umbrellas of the military/industrial complex and oil for blood. They don’t just operate “with” the government now, they have become the government. Or, don’t they teach an up to date course at UW on this topic?

David,

Thank you for voicing this. I think most of us engineers understand that Halliburton is more than just a company that Cheney used to work for, that it isn’t KBR anymore, and that its activities in Iraq are barely the tip of its global operations iceberg. I think most of us also have a problem with our career fair being hijacked and turned into a circus for the political agendas of those whose careers aren’t at risk. I think it’s important for us not to just roll our eyes and tune out the ill-informed masses, but I usually do just that. Sarcasm is easy and it feels good, but it isn’t constructive. I applaud your resolve to issue a respectful, balanced, informed, well-supported response from the engineering perspective.

-Tyler

” career fair being hijacked and turned into a circus for the political agendas of those whose careers aren’t at risk..”

Yeah right, like those people have careers.

8:14 - Halliburton is at the career fair every year.

It’s a sad state of affairs when a university have to rely on some greedy corporate giant to float their boat, but face it, Halliburton is a dirty business. Just because they have tons of money doesn’t mean they should be allowed to do whatever they want with impunity.

“Yeah right, like those people have careers.”

They don’t have careers. They appearantly also don’t have classes. I have to say, they are in ECB right now as I am typing, and while they are being peaceful, they are certainly causing a big scene.

It makes it very hard for the students who are SUPPOSED to benefit from the career to properly connect with employers. This protest is misguided and misplaced. Why punish the Engineering students for Halliburton’s sins?

Just because you hippies can’t get a job with a company like Haliburton doesn’t mean the rest of don’t qualify. Mind you own business and stay away from my future career endeavors.

It’s successful graduates that work for companies like Haliburton that donate to this University, so you hippies can have a place to spout off your ignorant rants and stink up the campus for four years!

Thanks Chancellor Wiley for allowing these losers to embarrass your most intelligent students in front of a successful reputable, American Company, keep this up and our rankings are going to hit rock bottom!

“It’s successful graduates that work for companies like Haliburton that donate to this University, so you hippies can have a place to spout off your ignorant rants and stink up the campus for four years!”

Four years…heck these hippies are here for decades, with professional degrees in whining and crying.

I appreciate all the thoughts coming back from all different viewpoints.

I think some of the people with comments on the lines of “Halliburton donating doesn’t give them the right to…” are sort of missing the point slightly.

You are all right, of course, that you can’t just excuse something like war profiteering. But that doesn’t change the fact that Halliburton is no longer involved in Iraq. The Air Force, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were among many companies present at the job fair who also had some sort of tie to Iraq. Of all such companies, that I am aware of, Halliburton is the only one who is no longer involved. Yet these companies were not protested: just Halliburton.

How much money does the Air Force contribute to student design groups in Madison? Boeing and Lockheed may have some involvement with a few EMA groups here and there, but does their involvement on campus parallel that of Halliburton? Halliburton gets involved at the UW Women’s Leadership Conference, ASME meetings, NSBE, as well as paying for a brand new lecture hall in (I believe) the Biochem building.

Halliburton’s involvement in Iraq was indeed disgusting, but they are far from the most horrible of the profiteers, and they give back to the academic community. The only thing this protest served to do was disrupt the career fair. I wonder what the protesters feel about how much they disrupted other companies BESIDES Halliburton?

There was a small construction firm at the table right next to Halliburton. While Halliburton can still do a lot of recruiting if their Madison trip goes badly, but what do you think happens to smaller companies who have a bad day at the career fair? Way to step on the little guy, protesters.

I am an engineering student, and I attended the career fair. I also participated in the protest. I’m sorry that you all believe that the protestors don’t have careers or classes or brains. I for one, participated until my class started, as I know other people did too. One of the main organizers for the protest is an upperclassman engineering student. I don’t believe we were “whining” or “crying.” Singing, yes. And we also aren’t hippies. ~K

How dare these protesters block the careers of their fellow students !! It’s a shame that the folks who wanted to interview with Haliburton can’t sue these snot nosed punks for future earnings.

35 years ago, chemical engineering students were making identical complaints to the ones above when people were protesting the presence of Dow Chemical, producer of Agent Orange in the Vietnam war, at career fairs.

I am not an engineering student, but I am a science student (yes, I will actually have a job in research that pays well, not a job studying basketweaving, and frankly, I’ve got job prospects that are just as good if not better; still, I’m going into research as a member of a university’s faculty, not a company, because tenure allows much more freedom). I also participated in the protest and went to class the moment I had to go to class.

I fail to understand how we were blocking your careers, either, and nor is Halliburton the most successful company out there. There are companies who are more successful and have a better ethics record.

I wonder if you engineers have heard of the ethics code of the NSPE?

“I think most of us also have a problem with our career fair being hijacked and turned into a circus for the political agendas of those whose careers aren’t at risk.”

So you believe that the protesters don’t have careers at risk. Do you have any idea how far the names and faces of the people in charge of the protest have spread already? I trust the term “blacklisted” may ring a few bells. These students are indeed risking their careers for many years to come, while you complain about approximately 90 minutes of singing.