"Living. Improved Daily." This is the promise of the well-reputed Dow Chemical Company to the people it serves. The citizens of Bhopal along with the students at this university think otherwise.

On December 3, 1984 the world's worst industrial disaster attacked the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal. Worse than Chernobyl, the lethal leakage was inevitable since safety and ethical standards had been conveniently reduced. When all six security alarms had been disabled, and the refrigeration unit – meant to keep the explosive MIC gas dormant – was shut off, something went terribly wrong. Yet who would have thought that eight thousand people would die on that fateful night? Twenty-one years later, the death toll has risen to more than twenty thousand, with thirty people still dying every month due to exposure-related illnesses and more than 150,000 living with them.

Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001, purchasing its assets as well as its liabilities. So you'd think they would have cleaned up the toxic breeding ground for poisons in Bhopal, right? Wrong. The plant in Bhopal stands today as it did 21 years ago. The rust is chewing away barrels of unused pesticides that contaminate the groundwater, leading to mercury levels of six million times the expected levels. Dow claims that Union Carbide was not their subsidiary at the time of the tragedy, therefore Dow is not responsible for compensating the Bhopal victims. If that is the case, then why did Dow set aside $2.2 billion to pay off former Union Carbide asbestos workers in United States? Are humans on another continent exempt from corporate responsibility? The passing of the AR26 resolution sent a clear message that such a case of double standards was just not acceptable.

The resolution, appropriately titled "In support of students at The University of Texas at Austin who are seeking a meeting with the President of The University of Texas at Austin to write a letter to Dow Chemical Company to address its responsibility towards the Bhopal disaster and ask Dow Chemical Company to spend matching funds for the environmental clean-up in Bhopal" made its intentions quite clear. It passed on an unforgettable February 14th, even though there were countless factors that could have worked against its success. The Student Government meeting was a mobile one in the Union, not the usual Glenn Maloney Room. Quorum would have to be met, meaning two-thirds of the representatives had to show up. And of course, it was Valentine's Day. Would enough people feel passionate about the issue to rain check a date with their significant others? Apparently so, since the resolution passed with 21 Ayes, 13 Nays, and no Abstains.



What's next, you ask? The authors of AR26 are diligently preparing for debating the resolution in Graduate Student Assembly, the graduate equivalent of Student Government, which will take place on February 21st. We are hoping that GSA supports us in the same spirit that SG did, thus giving our cause twice the weight when we continue our endeavors toward pressuring Dow to corporate responsibility. Currently, Student Government's support has provided us with a magnanimous stepping-stone that we will use to approach the administration. Ultimately, they are the political powers who make the crucial decisions at this institution, and it is critical that we have an opportunity to express our views to them. According to Omar Ochoa's statement in Student Government's Open Forum on February 14, President Bill Powers has expressed interest in the Bhopal Campaign. AR26 specifically calls for a meeting with President Powers and the authors and sponsors of the resolution, so that we may write a letter to Dow Chemical Company urging them to accept responsibility. This is one of our goals that are inclusive within our global aim- pressuring Dow Chemical Company to submit its criminally-charged subsidiary, Union Carbide, for trial in Bhopal's High Court, and cleaning up the toxic mess that remains at the deserted factory site twenty-one years after the disastrous chemical leak. After spending many months slugging countless gallons of caffeine and researching the practices of Dow and its relationship to UT Austin, we need to refocus our attentions on what we are asking of our new president.



We cannot gloat on our 21-13 victory; it is simply a beginning. It sends a message to Dow, clearly stating that we are going to voice the muted screams of the Bhopal survivors. This is the birth of a movement at The University of Texas at Austin that can do nothing but gain momentum from this point onward, and our university has become a vital part of this struggle for justice in Bhopal. Welcome