I hope you should have the chance to indulge me as it pertains to my plea for fellow students and science faculty at UW-Madison to continue fighting this fight and not back down. This intro shall be pithy so as to get to the meat of the e-mail I just sent off to my fellow classmates.
Dear classmates,
I am sure you are all aware of what is going on in our world, the nation, and the Capitol itself right now. I am also sure you are aware of the University's l'aissez-faire policy inspired to counter Vietnam protests in the 1960s, which I feel personally is invalid given the specific implications Walker's Bill has with respect to UW-Madison policy, costs, and academic reforms. As a result of being wholy preoccupied with the acute nature of events ongoing at the capitol, I have not attended class since Tuesday, nor have had the opportunity to study. I am attending medical school at UW-Madison next year and thus am somewhat torn on my responsibilites and duties as a future health provider for those protesting and beyond. I thought I should however indulge with you why I have chosen to neglect a sense of immediacy with respect to the material covered in our class as compared to what is going on in our community. I am not attempting to undermine our class, just highlighting my choice as a medical & science student, and how the sacrifices of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1930s have galvanized in me a sense of righteousness in this cause. That said, I wish to share a few excerpts from the book American Prometheus on Oppie's life and dedication to public service as a scientist, and why this is a unique opportunity for us given our audience to show what values we stand for in Madison.
*It is further worth noting that this is directly relevant to Wisconsin's political legacy, as the first excerpt comes from during an interrogation from governmental officials who were inspired by Joe McCarthy's Red Scare to accuse Oppenheimer of being a Communist.
On how economic inequality affected him as it does myself and many other medical science professionals:
" 'Beginning in late 1936,' Oppenheimer would explain to his interrogators in 1954, 'my interests began to change ... I had a continuing smoldering fury about the treatment of Jews in Germany. I had relatives there, and was later to help in extricating them and bringing them to this country. I saw what the Depression was doing to my students. Often they could get no jobs, or jobs which were wholly inadequate. And through them, I began to understand how deeply political and economic events could affect men's lives. I began to feel the need to participate more fully in the life of the community.' "
On fighting for equality and integration with labor movement colleagues Hannah and Bernard Peters:
"...[Hannah and Bernard Peters's] politics were clearly left-wing. By 1940 Hannah had a private practice in a poverty-stricken district of downtown Oakland, and this experience 'strengthened a conviction that had been growing for some years, namely that adequate medical care can only be provided by a comprehensive health insurance scheme with federal backing.' Hannah also insisted on racial integration in her practice, accepting black patients at a time when few other white physicians did so. Both views stamped her as a radical--and the FBI concluded that she was a member of the CP. All of these friends drew Oppenheimer into their world of political activism.
On the resistance he and fellow professor Haakon Chevalier faced:
"[Oppenheimer] and Chevalier joined the American civil Liberties Union, the Teachers' Union, the Inter-Professional Association and the Consumer's Union...In the spring of 1935, Berkeley campus mobilized to protest the expulsion of a student who had offended university authorities by advertising his communist affiliations. The meeting held to protest this expulsion was then broken up by the football team, egged on by the coach. According to one account, 'only one faculty member [present]--Haakon Chevalier--'gave shelter and moral support to the trialed and terrorized students.'
On the cause of unionizing being a work of tediousness, being difficult and unpopular at NOW liberal but then conservative Cal-Berkeley:
"Oppie was particularly active in Local 349 of the Easy Bay Teachers' Union. 'It was a time of great tension in the faculty,' recalled Chevalier. 'The few of us who were left-wingers were very conscious of the fact that we were frowned upon by the elders.' In meetings of the faculty council, conservatives 'always won.' Most Berkeley academics refused to have anything to do with a union... Over the next four years, Robert worked hard to increase the union's membership. According to Chevalier, he rarely missed a union meeting and could be counted on for the most tedious of tasks. Chevalier recalled staying up with him until 2 in the morning on one occasion, addressing envelopes for a mailing to the union's members. It was tedious work for an unpopular cause. One evening Oppenheimer appeared as the featured speaker at the Oakland High School auditorium. The event had been widely publicized, and the Union fully expected hundreds of public school teachers to show up to hear Oppenheimer expound on the promise of the union cause. Fewer than a dozen came. He nevertheless stood up and made his union pitch."
I ask you to join me at the Capitol this week in spite of the fact that mid-terms loom in the balance. So too does the fate of our community.