Mudders & alumni disrupt presidential address, demand HMC cut ties with defense contractors

“Harvey Mudd, cut the ties, Clinic’s fueling genocide!”

On the morning of April 27, 36 students and alumni from Mudders Against Murder disrupted and delayed HMC President Harriet Nembhard’s alumni weekend State of the College Address. Throughout the disruption, HMC students and alumni announced to alumni Mudders Against Murder’s demands for HMC to cut ties with weapons manufacturers and defense companies.

The campaign, which recently became a chapter of Dissenters, a national anti-militarism organization, has specifically targeted Harvey Mudd’s engineering and computer science “clinic” programs, where juniors and seniors complete projects with outside companies for academic credit.

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In one Instagram post, the campaign claimed that the clinic program has had 57 contracts with “weapons- and defense-affiliated companies” in the past five years, including several Department of Defense-affiliated labs. Speakers repeated this point to the audience of alumni at the disruption.

“In the last five years, Clinic has had 57 contracts with weapons- and defense affiliated companies. This year, the trend continues, with eight contracts in Engineering Clinic and five contracts in CS clinic,” said a student speaker to the crowd. “These projects offer up the free labor of Mudd students to companies that create technology to kill or subjugate.”

Many of the students taking part in the disruption wore keffiyehs to signal solidarity with Palestine. Days ago, the U.S. approved $17 billion of additional aid to Israel, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the ongoing genocide since Oct. 7, 2023.

Students also displayed red-painted hands as speakers called out HMC administration’s silence towards Mudders Against Murder’s demands despite three delegations in the past month. The group also announced their support from over a third of the student body’s through signatures of a campaign petition.

HMC alumni also carried signs in showing their graduating year and support for Mudders Against Murder. So far, at least 60 alumni have pledged to withhold donations from HMC until Mudders Against Murder’s demands are met.

“By working with companies like Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, Amazon, and others, Mudd shows its students that it’s okay to support deadly ends, as long as your methods are technically sound,” an alum said to the crowd.

“When are you going to listen? When will young, hopeful, scientists no longer be forced into complicity? Your students are angry. Your alumni are angry. There must be no more labor for genocide!” another said.

As the disrupting students and alumni exited Galileo, several students appeared to drop a large banner reading “Free Palestine” from the roof of Shanahan Hall.