By: Tim Donahue
In the generation of school shootings, we were born into the beginning of what would become an epidemic of gun violence by young Americans, against young Americans. While the gun industry makes an estimated $9 billion each year, their product has become the number one killer of kids and teens in America. [The Gun Industry Rakes in Billions While Our Communities Pay the Price | Everytown] “Am I Next?”
Students Demand Action and Everytown USA are a duo of organizations that are working to battle the powerful gun industry on a national scale. Taking the stance that gun companies won’t change until the killings affect their bottom-line, they’re calling upon Universities around the Country to rid themselves of stocks, bonds, and investment funds that pay into the gun industry’s bottom line.
Western Washington University made $109.2 million in total gifted endowments in 2022 (Reports | FOUNDATION | Western Washington University) and on April 12, 2023 the area’s local Students Demand Action protest group gathered in Red Square to make sure that this money is kept out of the hands that are directly responsible for the plague of our generation.
In their own words, Students Demand Action and Everytown USA “are asking for Western Washington University to divest from the gun industry if they are currently invested, to pledge not to invest in gun companies, and to adopt a socially responsible investment policy.” [https://act.everytown.org/event/divestment/51989/signup/?source=&akid=&zip=] and they took to the Western community with a loudspeaker in hand and provocative quotes and facts listed in chalk around the fountain on the bricks in Red Square.
“Life is precious, guns are not.”
“Industry owners profit off our death.”
“No more mass shootings.”
“Lives over guns. Life over profit.”
While it may seem like they were preaching to the choir in a state that just recently passed a landmark ban on assault weaponry, gun control is an issue that targets the safety of our youth on a national scale. Western Washington University houses a student body from all over the country and beyond, and it should be their number one priority to ensure that they are perpetuating a safe environment for those students both while on campus and out in the world.
“Am I Next?” Written in chalk as students sit in front of the fountain in the sun. Tim Donahue // Wavelength
$109.2 million is an endowment total that is meant to represent the students of Western, and even if the school isn’t taking an active role in contributing to the gun industry, it is imperative that they write and adopt official policy that will guarantee our school’s divestment for future generations.
Money talks, and Students Demand Action is looking at Western Washington University to become a beacon, an example as one of the leading universities in the fight against gun violence. While divestment campaigns have become an increased focus in recent years, Western still has an opportunity to become one of the first schools to write in policy that guarantees their divestment both from gun companies, and ETFs and Mutual Funds that include their stock.
If Western cares about the gun epidemic like they seem to want us to think they do, they should ensure their divestment for future generations and regimes by creating policy that takes a strong stance against the gun industry. There is a real chance that this could become a trend among colleges, and in a $9 billion dollar industry you need a lot of money to make a difference on the bottom line.