University of Washington won’t cut ties with Boeing, president says, despite protests

Protesters on college and university campuses around the country are demanding, among other things, that schools sever connections with corporations that support Israel's military forces. At the University of Washington, that includes demands to cut ties with Boeing. UW President Ana Mari Cauce has rejected those calls in no uncertain terms.

Seattle Times investigative reporter Mike Reicher has been covering the story. He told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about his reporting.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: You write that there's perhaps no other school in the country that would have as much to lose in cutting off corporate support as the University of Washington. Tell us about how deep these financial ties are.

Mike Reicher: They go back to 1917 when William E. Boeing, the founder of Boeing, donated a wind tunnel to the university so they could establish an aeronautics curriculum. Since then, Boeing has donated more than $100 million to the University of Washington for things like scholarships, and professorships. There are multiple buildings, there's an auditorium and a department named after Boeing. They've really established a symbiotic relationship between the two institutions.

You wrote about thousands of UW graduates who have gone on to work for Boeing. Tell us about that aspect of the relationship.

That's right, especially from the engineering school. It's considered somewhat of a pipeline to Boeing. In the '80s, Boeing counted 6,000 engineers who were University of Washington graduates. And some of the professorships that Boeing has endowed are named after UW graduates who later on went to work for Boeing.

What exactly are the protesters calling for?

The protesters want the university to cut ties with Boeing, starting with returning a $10 million gift for a new engineering building. They also want UW to replace all Boeing-funded scholarships, fellowships, research investments, and department partnerships. The protesters also want the university to divest from Israel, which would mean essentially withdrawing its endowment investments from companies that support the Israeli government or the Israeli Defense Forces.

Tell us more about what President Cauce’s response has been to the protesters. Is she engaging with them on this topic?

The protesters have been making similar demands going back to last winter. They started an email writing campaign in February to President Cauce and also the Board of Regents and other leaders with their demands. Cauce wrote back, a long fairly thoughtful letter. But when it came to Boeing, she was very direct. She said she would not end the relationship because you couldn't replace all the support the company has given the university over the years.

Given the length and depth of this relationship between UW and Boeing, was this demand by the students to cut ties just a non-starter right from the beginning?

It sounds like it, not only from the beginning but all the way up to this last week when the students set up camp in the quad. The university spokesperson reiterated what Cauce said in February about Boeing, that they will not cut ties, and that if the students have a problem with how Boeing's weapons are being used in Gaza, they should take it up with the State Department, and try to influence policy there. So really, there's no indication that the university is shifting on this.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.