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For more than five decades, the University of California has managed the nation's primary nuclear weapons laboratories – Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – under a contract with the US Department of Energy (DoE).

There is an inherent moral dilemma for a university in supporting, researching and developing nuclear weapons – weapons capable of destroying civilization and most life on Earth.

In April 2003, the US Secretary of Energy announced that the contract to oversee Los Alamos National Laboratory would be up for bid in 2005. Soon after, Congress echoed the announcement, requiring a competitive bidding process for the other labs as well. UC has been the default contractor since the Manhattan Project; subsequently, both announcements represent a historical first. With the future of the labs' management now pending, UC stands at a critical juncture. This provides a tremendous opportunity for concerned citizens to raise the level of debate and participate in coordinated action to end the University's involvement with the creation of weapons of mass destruction.

Some of the best and brightest minds of our generation have chosen to study and do research at the University of California . For some, their energies are being channeled into the production of weapons of mass destruction. Recruitment efforts will increase soon as the labs prepare for the pending retirement of 20% of their workforce within the next 5 years. Devoting research capabilities to the development of weapons of mass murder is a perversion of the purpose for which institutions of higher knowledge were intended.

By managing the nation's primary nuclear weapons labs, the University of California is associating higher education with the creation of weapons that are immoral and whose use or threat of use would be illegal under international law. All great universities, including the University of California , should shine a light on truth and contribute to the social good, not act as a cloak to prevent public scrutiny of the development of weapons of mass murder.

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