Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories: Action Anthropology against Michigan’s Company Town Culture
Brian McKenna
ABSTRACT: The article describes my eff orts as a public anthropologist/journalist in ad- dressing the offi cial culture of silence in Michigan’s colleges, universities and towns regarding Dow Chemical’s extensive environmental health pollution and corruption. These sites include Midland, Michigan, home of Dow’s international headquarters, and my own residence of East Lansing, site of Michigan State University, the state’s largest higher education institution. Both are benefi ciaries of Dow largess or philan- thropy. This relative silence – which extends to nearly all state media and universities – is remarkable considering the fact that, unlike turn of the century company towns, Dow Chemical operates in a civic culture where thousands of highly educated profes- sionals work in education, government and communications. Democracy is degraded by processes of accumulation, ideology, fear, suppression, conformity, specialization and, importantly, the self-censorship of professionals and academics. With Eriksen (2006) and Hale (2008) I argue for an engaged anthropology where anthropologists step out of their academic cocoons to embrace the local public. This is ‘not just a mat- ter of … reaching broader publics with a message from social science … it is a way of doing social science’ (Hale 2008: xvii). This case study illustrates how an anthropolo- gist engaged contradictions in order to show how Michigan universities are becoming veritable knowledge factories in service to Eisenhower’s feared military–industrial– academic complex.
KEYWORDS: civic engagement, company towns, environmental justice, higher education, journalism, public anthropology
‘Growth [is] the opiate we’re all hooked on …’ up to. Dow was in fact digging a deep water (Frank Popoff , former CEO of DOW Chemical; in well to mine the salty brine – from an ancient Brandt 1997: 575) underwater sea beneath the city – to make bro- ‘Growth for whom?’ mine. He was applying the knowledge he had mastered at Ohio’s Case School of Applied Sci- (in Dying for Growth, Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor, Kim 2000) ence to make a chemical – potassium bromide – that he would market to pharmaceutical When the enterprising Herbert Dow was rum- companies for use as a sedative and stomach maging in his Midland Michigan shed in the soother. The ‘chemical genius’ Herbert Dow 1890s, few locals knew what the Ohio man was had partnered with the ‘money men’ from
Anthropology in Action, 16, 2 (2009): 39–50 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2009.160204 AiA | Brian McKenna
Ohio to fi nance their obsessive quest to make prides itself on freedom of speech and aca- cash from chemicals (Whitehead 1968: 1–2). demic freedom? Midland locals were not impressed. As I discovered the Bhopal connection in 2002 reported in Don Whitehead’s, The Dow Story while updating my knowledge on the tragedy (1968), ‘In 1903 Midland residents threatened for a course I was teaching at Michigan State to sue Dow Chemical because of smelly gases’, University as an adjunct professor. The class which they claimed induced vomiting (White- was called ‘Global Diversity and Interdepen- head 1968: 57). Herbert Dow ‘hooted down’ dence’. I was surprised at the news because the protests as he would time and again a er Dow’s International headquarters in Midland explosions, chemicals and pollution seeped is just 60 miles from MSU. A er discussing the from his plants, disturbing civic life (ibid.). But Dow–Bhopal connection with my class of 250 hooting down the locals over environmental students, I was approached, a er class, by an contamination could not work forever. And, in irate student who expressed anger at my men- fact, Dow’s family and his executive staff lived tioning the issue. A very close relative of hers, in Midland too and sought its pleasures, what she told me, was the CEO of Dow Chemical. few there were in a moonscaped place made At the time MSU’s president was Peter Mc- barren a er the nineteenth-century logging Pherson, a close friend of Vice President Dick craze. Dow money fl owed into the village and Cheney. The former head of the U.S. Agency soon it seemed like every civic and cultural for International Development, McPherson arena had the Dow name a ached to it, from later took a leave of absence from MSU, in the library and gardens to the Museum of Sci- 2003, to serve in Iraq for President Bush. A er ence and Art and historical museum (White- my conversation with the student, I consulted head 1968: 277). Midland became a company with my friend Dave Dempsey, the Policy Di- town and the locals, dependent on the money rector of the Michigan Environmental Council, and grateful for Dow’s largess, were quieted. for advice. He suggested that I stage a debate. A century later Dow’s reach as a creator The subsequent debate, ‘Is Dow Chemical a of pollution extends around the globe. On 3 Good Corporate Citizen?’ was well received December 1984, just a er midnight, 40 tons and turned a potential problem into a good of poisonous substances leaked from Union pedagogical moment. Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, central India. A huge yellow cloud exposed half a mil- lion people to the gases, which hung over the Public Anthropology, Civic city for hours. It remains the worst industrial Engagement and Activism: accident of all time. Although the numbers are The Local as Exotic still in dispute there were over 3,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries in the fi rst few days and In fact, the question of Dow’s so called ‘cor- several thousand additional claims of injuries porate citizen’ status is an oxymoron. Dow’s or deaths to date (Doyle 2004: 420). In 2001 primary interest is capital accumulation. De- Michigan’s Dow Chemical purchased Union mocracy and citizenship education are threats Carbide, assuming the historic weight of its to its enterprise, as we shall see. Subsequent to outstanding liabilities to the people of Bhopal. the 2002 classroom debate, I published nearly The international community shi ed its a en- all of what follows as a Michigan journalist. tion to Dow Chemical for social justice. But in This included the Ann Arbor Ecology Center’s Michigan itself, few citizens are aware of any From the Ground Up (2004a) and Michigan’s relationship between Dow and Bhopal. How Lansing City Pulse newspaper (2002, 2004b), does this happen, especially in a culture that where I was a weekly columnist. This work 40 | Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories | AiA was reproduced or updated in several outlets conventional market ideology – research on including CounterPunch (2005, 2008a, 2008b, environmental pollution, poverty alleviation, 2008c) a daily Internet newsle er which re- occupational health hazards – has gradually ceives over half a million views per month, as diminished, as has the willingness of univer- well as Corporate Watch, Bhopal.Net, and Com- sities to defend professions whose fi ndings monDreams. It was also featured in the Ameri- confl ict with the interests of their corporate can Anthropology Association’s series Pulse of sponsors’ (Washburn 2005: 227). She asks, ‘Will the Planet in November 2008. This work is part universities stand up for academic freedom in of a larger project in which I seek to diagnose these situations, or will they bow to commer- a new company town culture, including the cial pressure out of fear of alienating donors?’ growing corporatization of the university and and concludes ‘Too o en of late, it has been media, in neoliberal America. It is also part the la er.’ (ibid.). And yet, without publicly of another project to improve the theory and engaged activist anthropology I would never practice of public pedagogy in anthropology have wri en this very article before you. As (McKenna 2009). Hale correctly notes, ‘Activism is not just a My Dow–MSU work is a form of what ma er of publicity or reaching broader publics anthropologist Charles Hale calls Engaging with a message from social science. It is a way Contradictions (Hale 2008) as his new book is of doing social science [emphasis mine], o en in titled. A few months a er learning about the collaboration with non-social scientists. … [it] Dow–Bhopal connection, for example, I found is part of the process of forming, testing, and another signifi cant contradiction. In the Spring improving knowledge’ (Hale 2008: xvii). of 2002, Dow co-sponsored a seminar series at It is not just corporate donors and disciplin- MSU’s Detroit College of Law called ‘Creating ary norms that can constrain free inquiry, but Sustainable Cities in the 21st Century’. On 19 for some universities, it is foreign governments. March the talk was titled ‘Abandonment of the This is of increasing importance in Great Brit- Cities’. I noted to myself that there was no men- ain. In March 2009 Great Britain’s Centre for tion that day of the irony that Dow Chemical Social Coherence released a groundbreaking had abandoned the city of Bhopal. Moreover, report A Degree of Infl uence: The funding of there were no protests even though MSU had strategically important subjects in UK universi- a nationally renowned campus sustainability ties (Simcox 2009) that detailed how Arabic programme. So, a few days later I wrote about and Islamic countries are contributing large it in my weekly environmental column as a lo- sums – o en anonymously – in strategic cur- cal journalist (McKenna 2002). This was one of ricular areas. It shows how universities are 33 weekly columns I wrote during that period. being used as diplomatic arms of those coun- Soon I was asked by an MSU social scientist, tries. With entire departments dependent on who had infl uence over my adjunct employ- foreign contributions, a climate of censorship ment, to stop writing about MSU a er s/he re- and self-censorship is fostered: ‘universities ceived a phone call from MSU administration. have insuffi cient safeguards in place to pre- I chose to continue writing since I considered vent donations aff ecting the way universities it important social science. are run. There is clear evidence that, at some Jennifer Washburn describes the stakes tell- universities, the choice of teaching materials, ingly in her important work, University, Inc., The the subject areas, the degrees off ered, the re- Corporate Corruption of American Higher Educa- cruitment of staff , the composition of advisory tion (2005), ‘As universities have become com- boards and even the selection of students are mercial entities, the space to perform research now subject to infl uence from donors’ (Simcox that is critical of industry or that challenges 2009: 12–13).
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PhDs and the Magical Circle There is a growing scholarship on this crisis. of Knowledge In the book Campus, Inc. (White 2000), for ex- ample, 39 contributors explored topics includ- One might think that a large group of highly ing the myth of the liberal campus, organizing educated PhDs is suffi cient to protect critical advice for campus combatants, and rethink- inquiry. Midland, Michigan ‘has more PhDs ing academic culture. One necessary form of per square acre than you’ll fi nd most anywhere academic rethinking concerns the very content else’, Don Whitehead reported in The Dow Story and structure of disciplinary knowledge itself: 40 years ago (1968: 276). That is just as true to- specialization. Academics need to understand day. But all that brainpower has not translated be er the forms of social control that have into much critical intervention against Dow’s transformed them into specialists writing for practices and policies in Midland, where citi- a small, narrow audience (Jacoby 1987). Bled- zens live under the conditions of a company stein’s formulation of the ‘magical circle of town. Many are beholden to Dow for their live- scientifi c knowledge’ (1976: 90), has character- lihoods, and everyone’s property values are ized academics as self-conscious members of held hostage to the idea that dioxin – one of an exclusive club in which members believe the most dangerous substances known to man that only the few specialized by training and – is not really harmful and the contamination indoctrination are privileged to enter. Academ- of their yards, parks, playgrounds and water is ics confi gure social problems in accordance really not that signifi cant. Whitehead provides with the specialized rituals of their specifi c insight into this mindset: ‘Those who seek ano- disciplines, he said. For Bledstein (1976), these nymity a er working hours and who wish to magical circles of specialized expertise are the build a wall between their business lives and basis for both the professions’ contribution their private lives fi nd the small town a very to society and for the avoidance of society’s diffi cult place. Such walls are not easy to build problems. The result was a fragmentary eff ort in a small town. The town’s life is not diff erent whereby any holistic notion does not work from the life of the company. One impinges on very well. It is ironic that anthropology, the al- the other in many ways’ (Whitehead 1968: 10). leged science of holism, too o en tends to fall One might expect Michigan’s universities – under this academic hegemony. located safely outside Midland’s geographical A holistic engagement is a civic engagement. sphere of infl uence – to be more independent It is by its nature critical. Therefore it comes and critical of Dow Chemical. But as Stanley with risks. And yet, this holistic, interdisciplin- Aronowitz makes clear in The Knowledge Fac- ary engagement – as journalists or public writ- tory, Dismantling the Corporate University and ers – is all the more important at a time when Creating True Higher Learning (2000), the cur- the journalistic profession has signifi cantly rent business craze in academia has blurred been scaled back and chilled under severe cor- the distinctions between training, education porate pressure, undermining critical public and learning. As educational theorist Henry culture (Giroux 2007). Anthropologist Thomas Giroux pointed out in an interview, ‘educa- Eriksen (2006) agrees. He argues for an ‘en- tors need to take seriously the importance of gaged anthropology’ where anthropologists defending higher education as an institution step out of their academic cocoon to embrace of civic culture whose purpose is to educate the wider public. ‘[Anthropology’s] lack of students for active and critical citizenship … visibility is an embarrassment and a challenge’ markets don’t reward moral behaviour’ (Gir- (Eriksen 2006: ix). Eriksen argued that anthro- oux, personal communication) And markets pology must write in a popular vein to make are what Dow is all about. sense of peoples’ lives to the people in their 42 | Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories | AiA own communities. Anthropologists can alter- the past decade … I don’t think that’s a prob- nately use their intellectual resources to make lem, as long as we protect what the university the familiar exotic or the exotic familiar in stands for – the free and open dissemination of their own communities. The corporation as a data’ (Martin 2000: B4). cultural form is tailor-made for this treatment. But the free and open dissemination of It is perhaps the most animistic entity known data (which is not always so easily accessible), to man. It is treated constitutionally as a living while very important, is not the same as a rig- breathing human being. Anthropologists need orous search for the truth, or the free and open not travel to all four corners of the globe in dissemination of ideas, a supposed hallmark of search of the exotic: it is right before their eyes universities. Does education produced for the ‘at home’. market undermine education produced for a critical citizenry? Befi ing its interdisciplinary goals, does the university present a complete On the Dow Dole portrait of Dow to all its students? Is Dow a good corporate ‘citizen’ deserving of an asso- Dow has invested millions into Michigan State ciation with a university? University. For example, it gave US$5 mil- lion to build the Dow Institute for Materials Research, a 46,000-square-foot addition to the The Long Shadow of Dow east wing of MSU’s Engineering Building, in 1996. In March 2000, Dow Chemical made a In November 2003, Steve Meador completed biotech deal with Michigan State University a 90-minute documentary titled, ‘The Long in which it would pay MSU about US$4 mil- Shadow’ – a critical investigation of Dow’s lion over several years. The project focuses on dioxin dealings with Michigan’s state gov- plant oils that might be used in areas like low- ernment – alone and on a shoestring budget, cholesterol cooking oil and plastics (McKenna as a master’s project for his environmental 2004a). Dow hopes new patents will arise to journalism degree. Meanwhile, just down the improve its bo om line. Tim Martin, a journal- hall from the environmental journalism of- ist with the Lansing State Journal, spoke with fi ces at MSU’s Communication Arts Building, Bob Hugge , MSU’s vice president of research a fl edgling undergraduate Public Relations and graduate studies about corporate infl u- specialization is just ge ing off the ground. It ence, in his 17 April 2000 article, MSU Weighs is in honour of E. N. Brandt, whose 1997 book, Rewards, Risks of Research (Martin 2000). Martin Growth Company, Dow Chemical’s First Century, pointed out that ‘critics worry that universities largely sang the praises of ‘one of the wonders can get too cozy with corporations that spon- of the modern business world’ (Brandt: 2000: sor their research, fearing that competition for xii). The endowed E. N. Brandt chair was the money could lead schools like MSU to do re- result of a US$1.3 million gi to MSU from the search that does not help the public, or worse, Carl Gerstacker Foundation in 2000. And who skew research test results in favor of those is Carl Gerstacker? Most MSU faculty do not paying the bills’ (Martin 2000: B1). Martin know. He is the former CEO of Dow Chemi- reported that MSU offi cials said the source of cal. I will address Meador’s fi lm fi rst and later money does not infl uence their quest for truth. return to Brandt. ‘Are we selling our soul to the devil by taking Meador’s fi lm documented what happened industrial money? I don’t think so, [Hugge a er Michigan Governor Engler learned, in told Martin] … Corporations have relied more 2001, that dioxin levels in the Ti abwassee on universities to help their research eff orts in River fl oodplain, downstream from Midland’s
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Dow Chemical were found at over 7,000 parts ant), WFUM at the University of Michigan per trillion (80 times Michigan’s cleanup stan- (Flint), WTVS (Detroit), and WKAR at Michi- dards) near parks and residential areas. They gan State University (East Lansing) in Decem- did not bother to tell anyone. Finally, two ber 2003. ‘All of these stations had broadcast citizen groups, the Lone Tree Council and the a previous documentary of mine entitled “A Michigan Environmental Council fi led a Free- May to Remember” about the Bath School dom of Information Act request to get the data, bombing of 1927. Strangely, all of the stations alerted by conscientious Michigan Department were completely unresponsive to “The Long of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) insiders. In Shadow” (i.e., phone calls and e-mails not re- January 2002 the FOIA revealed that MDEQ turned)’ (McKenna 2005: 2). Meador said the Director Russ Harding had blocked further soil fi lm’s merits have been recognized by environ- testing and was suppressing a state health as- mental reporters from the Bay City Times (Jeff sessment that called for aggressive state action. Kart) and Detroit Free Press (Hugh McDiar- Later the Engler administration secretly tried to mid). ‘“The aff ected residents in the fl oodplain work out a ‘sweetheart deal’ with Dow to raise also had very nice things to say about it,” he the clean-up level of dioxin to 831 parts per tril- added. “I’m not sure why the PBS stations lion, thus circumventing clean-up of the dioxin didn’t bite. A number of people have suggested in most areas. A judge later threw this out. that the stations shied away because they are In an eff ort to appeal to the widest audi- underwri en by Dow, and I think that is a pos- ence, the documentary carefully explained all sibility”’ (McKenna 2005: 2). sides of the controversy. It is neutral in tone, When the focus is on a single demented unsensational and almost legalistic in its style. terrorist the public airwaves are available, but For example, Meador politely interviewed when the gaze turns to a transnational guilty Harding in the fi lm. The fi lm also interviewed of poisoning vast swaths of mid-Michigan with Kathy Henry, one of the fl oodplain residents dioxin – which the Environmental Protection who lives downstream from Dow’s Midland Agency classifi es as a highly toxic persistent factories. She was advised by the MDEQ to organochlorine that causes cancer – that’s a dif- remove her clothing the moment she enters the ferent story, especially when the public airwaves house a er mowing her lawn. Henry looks out are partly underwri en by the trans-national at her property as a wasteland. Verifying this, corporation. In fact, Dow Chemical is associ- in November 2004, the state of Michigan is- ated with a world historic form of industrial ter- sued a game consumption advisory for the Tit- rorism. Given the death counts, the prolonged tabawassee river fl oodplain because of Dow’s agony and the persistent callous treatment of dioxin. Turkeys and deer are now considered its victims, the Union Carbide/Dow Chemical potentially toxic. This was only the second time disaster is far worse than the September 11th in Michigan history that such a warning was tragedy. Yet it is invisible in Michigan. made (McKenna 2004a).
Dow’s Version of History Two Films and Two Terrorisms: Public or Private TV? Dow is a big funder to universities that house three of these public television stations. For ‘Unfortunately, The Long Shadow was never example, WCMU is at Central Michigan Uni- shown on Michigan PBS’, said Meador in an versity, 30 miles from Midland. In 1978 Dow’s interview (McKenna 2005: 1). Meador sent a President withdrew money from CMU a er rough cut to four stations – WCMU (Mt Pleas- Jane Fonda spoke there on economic democ- 44 | Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories | AiA racy. ‘[It] will not be resumed until we are con- Brandt defended Dow against the 1941 vinced our dollars are not expended in sup- charge by the U.S. Justice Department that Dow porting those who would destroy us’ (Brandt conspired with the Nazi’s I.F. Farben to hold 1997: 527). CMU got the message. It’s new down magnesium production in the United ‘Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of States in the pre-war era (Dow later pleaded Health Professions’ touts Dow even though nolo contendere), but failed to mention Dow’s DOW only gave US$5 million, while MI tax- 1951 hiring of O o Ambros, the Nazi war payers gave US$37.5 million. Brandt approv- criminal convicted at Nuremberg for slavery ingly quoted columnist George Will on Dow and mass murder in the killing of thousands Chemical’s decision at the time: ‘“Capitalism of Jews with poison gas (well detailed in the inevitably nourishes a hostile class,” said Will. excellent 1991 book, ‘Secret Agenda’, by Linda “American business has been generous with Hunt). Brandt informed us that Dow was the gi s to universities … but too indiscriminate. fi rst company to receive a phone call from Dow has given the business community a Pinochet’s military in 1973 soon a er his forces timely sample of appropriate discrimination”’ assassinated democratically elected Chilean (Brandt 1997: 527). President Salvador Allende, toppling his gov- Brandt’s thick volume represented Dow’s ernment, asking Dow to come back, which Dow view of the world. Predictably, it dismissed ‘readily accepted’ (a Dow offi cial saluting the dioxin’s real-life dangers, citing study a er economic ‘miracle’ of Pinochet) (Brandt 1997: study apparently disproving a health problem. 453). But Brandt’s book never mentions the Brandt tells the story of a ‘60 Minutes’ crew thousands tortured and 3,000 killed during who arrived in Midland, soon a er Times Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship. Beach, Missouri was evacuated for dioxin pol- lution in 1982, expecting Midland to be the next town evacuated because of dioxin con- Tapping the Brain Bank tamination (Brandt 1997). ‘They came at the busiest weekend of the Dow Chemical has established deep-seated year,’ Brandt quotes a Dow offi cial as saying, connections to everything from biotechnology, ‘everybody’s laughing and having a big time at engineering and military research, to public the art fair, and the antique show you have to health, public relations and journalism. In see to believe … They’re having trouble fi nd- so doing, Dow has constructed a benevolent ing beleaguered folks. To make a long story corporate image while mining expertise and short, with the exception of a few environ- reaping patent rewards. In recent years Dow mentalists from a local organization, they gave and its off shoots (like the Gerstacker Founda- up. That story just went away because they tion) have contributed more than US$10 mil- could not fi nd any substance for their story lion in direct contributions to the University line’ (Brandt 1997: 365–366). This 649-page of Michigan, including US$5 million in 2000 to treatise spent a great deal of time defending fund a new College of Engineering laboratory; Dow against various interlocutors. In a chapter US$2.5 million in 2000 for the Dow Chemical called ‘Flower Children’ Brandt dismissed all Company Professor of Sustainable Science, the ‘napalm hubbub’ (Brandt 1997: 362) cre- Technology, and Commerce; and US$1.2 mil- ated by Vietnam War activists, claiming that lion to the U-M School of Public Health in 1996 napalm was, according to secretary of defence for a Dow professorship focusing on the health McNamara, of li le consequence to civilians eff ects, risks and benefi ts of chemicals in the and was ‘a great service for the armed forces’ environment. The Dow Chair at Saginaw Val- (Brandt 1997: 357). ley State University is chemistry Professor
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David H. Swenson. In a 9 April 2002 article in Albion’s Board of Directors from 1960 to 1988. the Saginaw News he said that when environ- Albion received US$3 million in 1997 from mental groups clash with alleged polluters, the Dow Foundation to upgrade its science the claims of both groups o en are suspect. In facilities. In 2001 the Gerstacker Foundation a follow-up interview Swenson said that ‘the awarded it another US$2 million to build the [dioxin] data is fuzzy and unclear … we know Carl A. Gerstacker Liberal Arts Institute for it’s [damaging] to mice [at given levels] but it’s Professional Management. Other small liberal hard to see if that translates directly into hu- arts colleges have also fared well. In 2002, mans’. He said he knows people on both sides Hope College received US$1 million to help of the issue and that his position was ‘in the construct a new science facility. Also in 2002, middle’ (McKenna 2004a: 11). Alma received US$500,000 for a recreation In May 1999, the British publication Lancet centre. In 2003 Kalamazoo College received its – perhaps the most prestigious medical journal fi nal instalment of a US$3.2 million gi from in the world – ran a news story reporting the the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation latest dioxin fi ndings from the Journal of the for its Enlightened Leadership in the 21st Cen- National Cancer Institute. It reported on Dr Rob- tury Initiative. In 1999 Michigan’s Hillsdale ert N. Hoover’s belief that ‘based on the cur- College received US$500,000 for the Herbert rent weight of the evidence … TCDD [the most H. Dow II Program in American Journalism. potent dioxin] should be considered a human It is ‘devoted to the restoration of ethical, carcinogen’ (Larkin 1999: 1681). But they found high-minded journalism standards and to the a sceptic in Michigan. Dr Michael Kamrin, a reformation of our cultural, political, and so- toxicologist from Michigan State University, cial practices’ (McKenna 2004a: 11). That year was quoted as saying that the dioxin data is the Dow Program sponsored Richard Lowry, ‘unconvincing and epidemiologically weak. Editor-in-Chief of the National Review, as a These data don’t suggest to me that there’s any guest speaker. In his speech, titled ‘The High health risk from dioxin [TCDD]. I didn’t think Priests of Journalism: Truth, Morality, and the so before, and I don’t think so now’ (Larkin Media’, Lowry criticized American journalism 1999: 1681). Dr Kamrin later served on Gover- for ‘reinforc[ing] the radical side in America’s nor Engler’s Michigan Environmental Science culture wars’ (Lowry 2000: 6). He continued: Board in 1999–2000 where he voted against raising Michigan’s standards for protecting What do I mean by the radical side? I am re- children’s environmental health. ferring to those intellectuals on the Le who are a empting to remold American society and the way we view ourselves as human be- ings in keeping with an extreme feminist and A Company State? multicultural world view … [we need to] get more conservatives in journalism, which means Does corporate money aff ect criticism of the supporting projects such as Hillsdale College’s benefactors? Michelle Hurd Riddick, with the “Dow Program in American Journalism” … [and] strengthening institutions that work to Lone Tree Council, an environmental group change the prevailing culture, from the National contesting Dow, believes that ‘all that Dow Review Institute to conservative institutions in money to universities refl ects Dow’s ability to higher education’. (Lowrey 2000: 6) buy complacency’ (McKenna 2004a: 8). There is plenty of money being cast about. A full accounting of Dow Chemical’s historic Albion College has been a favourite Dow involvement in Michigan universities is yet to recipient, owing in part to the fact that Carl be wri en. Such a project would help make Gerstacker, a former CEO of Dow, served on transparent a cultural politics that serves cor- 46 | Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories | AiA porate interests more than citizen interests. sociation from the Dow Corporation’, he was University scholars are well equipped to carry surprised at how few of the faculty signed his out this research. But will they? petition: ‘We approached the Women’s Studies department and one person said, “my col- leagues might say it’s outside our discipline”’ Like Having a Foreign Country (McKenna 2004a: 8). In the public health and in Your Backyard health professions fi elds, there seems to be li le excuse not to study the links between Dow Chemical is the richest chemical company the environment and human health. The Her- in United States. With revenues of US$46.3 bil- bert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health lion in 2006, Dow Chemical is worth more Professions at CMU is already commi ed than 122 of the world’s countries according to to ‘fostering an understanding of health in World Bank statistics. It is like having a foreign its varied dimensions through relevant, com- country in your own backyard! Would that munity-based experiences’ (McKenna 2004a: Dow could be studied like a foreign country, 13). In the Midland dioxin case, community- which is what it deserves. Many universities based experiences could include rotations with boast area studies programmes that critically environmentalists from Ti abawassee River investigate the political economy and culture Watch, Michigan Department of Environmen- of specifi c regions of the world, like Africa, tal Quality fi eldworkers, public health nurses, Latin America or Asia. It is very common for local journalists and citizens living in the pol- these programmes to house perspectives that luted areas. Students could also be encouraged are very critical of capitalism. But, the only sec- to pursue real research projects on Dow and tor of the university that regularly studies cor- dioxin. porations is business colleges or departments, Let us suppose academics from various dis- though they rarely off er a critical perspective. ciplines got together to pursue research around Because Dow is such a big presence at most Dow Chemical’s dioxin scandal, as the basis for Michigan universities, its name plastered on a book. Communications professionals could buildings and on endowed chairs, it remains diagnose Dow’s media manipulation tech- off -limits to critical enquiry. niques, studying its PR strategies, deceptions and omissions. Political Scientists could look at the ‘crisis of democracy’, exploring the politics The Importance of Critical Enquiry surrounding Dow’s infl uence with govern- and Action: True Higher Learning ments. Philosophers and political economists (Is Holistic) might question former Dow CEO Frank Pop- off ’s assertion that ‘Growth [is] the opiate we’re To understand Michigan’s dioxin crisis, you all hooked on’ (Brandt 1997: 575). They could must dig into history, gain a fuller appreciation begin by asking simply, ‘What is growth?’ and of the stakes involved, study the politics and unpack it. In fact the philosophers could point follow the money. Universities have a name out that what Popoff and Brandt call economic for this: interdisciplinary research. But many ‘growth’ has a dark side of oppression, pollu- academic professionals are reluctant to ven- tion and danger. Others might argue a more ture publicly into this issue. When Ryan Bo- accurate description is ‘capital accumulation’ danyi, Campus Organizer for the International – the real opiate Dow is hooked on. Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, was collecting On the 30th anniversary of a Dow recruiting signatures at the University of Michigan for sit-in at the University of Wisconsin in Madi- a ‘Resolution in Support of University Disas- son, two veterans refl ected on the event in an
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article published in Madison’s Capital Times. 11 of Dow’s 14 Board members, including the Recalling the 5,000 students who were gassed, CEO, William Stavropoulos, and former U-M and 63 who were taken to the hospital, they and Princeton President Harold Shapiro. They credited the civil disobedience with ‘pushing asked Dow to accept its moral and legal re- the anti-war movement beyond the campus sponsibility for the world’s worst industrial and into the community’ (Bodden 2006). One disaster. News of these protests was relatively of the writers, Paul Soglin, would six years invisible in Michigan media and on Michigan later (1973) be elected mayor of Madison. He campuses (McKenna 2004a: 17). served six two-year terms, three in the 1970s and another three in the 1990s (Bodden 2006). Whereas Brandt argued the Dow sit-ins Summary: Take Back Higher Education of the 1960s were misdirected and a failure because corporate recruitment did not suff er, Michigan’s Democratic Governor Granholm Soglin’s refl ections were diff erent. The sit-ins has never seriously challenged Dow Chemi- galvanized wider opposition to the war and cal, worried about jobs at a time when the helped to nourish future political leaders, like Michigan economy ranks near the bo om of himself. Dissent is a fundamental part of the the nation. In fact, Dow’s power and infl uence American project. Just as importantly, active even reaches deeply into the White House. dissent is a fundamental part of identity for- When Mary Gade, a toxicologist and the EPA’s mation against the forces that would social- top Midwest offi cial (of Region 5, located in ize citizens to conform and keep quiet. In a Chicago) ordered Dow Chemical in 2008 to 1967 article about the Dow protests, historian begin cleaning up dioxin pollution, the Bush Howard Zinn (2003) directed some criticism at appointee found herself ousted from her job. the universities. ‘The University’s acceptance She was stripped of her powers and told to of Dow Chemical recruiting as just another quit or be fi red by 1 June 2008. She resigned. business transaction is especially dishearten- ‘“There is no question that this is about Dow,” ing, because it is the University which tells Gade said, “I stand behind what I did and students repeatedly on ceremonial occasions what my staff did. I’m proud of what we did”’ that it hopes students will be more than fact- (Hawthorne 2008). Meanwhile Michigan uni- absorbing automatons, that they will choose versities remain relatively quiescent to this humane values, and stand up for them cou- powerful leviathan in their backyard. As this rageously’ (Zinn 2003: 307). A new generation article implies, Dow is only one representa- has rediscovered this fundamental truth, and tive of how universities operate as knowledge again a focus of dissent is Dow Chemical. On 3 factories. December 2003 Dow faced its fi rst nationwide Writing is a form of action. As noted, nearly student protests since the Vietnam War. Stu- every sentence above was published, in jour- dents from 25 colleges, universities and high nalistic form, in popular newspaper outlets in schools organized protests around the country Michigan and elsewhere on the Internet. The against Dow Chemical, as a part of the fi rst- stories generated much discussion and there annual Global Day of Action against Corporate were some tangible consequences. I was asked Crime. Organisers included Students for Bho- (and accepted) to be the keynote presenter pal, Association for India’s Development chap- for the three-day ‘Backyard ECO Conference ters, and the Environmental Justice Program of 2005’ sponsored by Citizens for Alternatives to the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) (McKenna Corporate Contamination, a group of environ- 2004a: 16). Students delivered contaminated mental activists who have been together since water samples from Bhopal to the homes of 1983. Later they asked me to join their Board 48 | Dow Chemical’s Knowledge Factories | AiA
of Directors. Also Michelle Hurd-Riddick, a Bledstein, B. J. (1976), The Culture of Professionalism: leader of the Lone Tree Council, the central The Middle Class and the Development of Higher group contesting Dow, informed me that sev- Education (New York: Norton). Bodden, M. (2006), History of the Miffl in Street Co- eral EPA offi cials had read my work and had op, Madison, WI. Cited in Paul Soglin’s blog: been infl uenced by it, citing it in their eff orts to
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——— (2003a), ‘Education for What? A Chronicle Anthropology: How “Yes, Sir,” Necessarily Be- of Environmental Health Deception in Lansing, comes “No sir”’, CounterPunch, 30 December. Michigan’, Cooley Law Review 20, no. 2: 1–54. ——— (2009), ‘How Anthropology Disparages ——— (2003b), ‘Who is Michigan’s Empire Man? Journalism, Shortchanging Citizens, Damaging Big Ten University President Does Bush’s Bid- Profession’, CounterPunch, 10 March. ding’, The Free Press (Ohio), 18 August. Simcox, R. (2009), A Degree of Infl uence: The Funding ——— (2004a), ‘On the Dow Dole, Can Michigan’s of Strategically Important Subjects in UK Universi- Universities Be Critical of Chemical Giant’? ties (London: Center for Social Cohesion). From the Ground Up (Ann Arbor Ecology Center) Swenson, D. (2002), ‘Informed Decisions Needed 1, 7–16 January. on Dioxin’, Saginaw News, 9 April. ——— (2004b), ‘Dow’s Knowledge Factories: The Washburn, J. (2005), University, Inc.: The Corporate MSU Connection’, Lansing City Pulse, 6 October. Corruption of American Higher Education (New ——— (2005), ‘Dow Chemical Buys Silence in York: Basic). Michigan, Documentary on Dow’s Dioxin White, G. (ed.) (2000), Campus, Inc. Corporate Power Scandal Ignored by Four Local PBS Stations’, in the Ivory Tower (New York: Prometheus). CounterPunch, 18 April. Whitehead, D. (1968), The Dow Story: The History ——— (2008a), ‘Conjuring Freire in Dearborn: of the Dow Chemical Company (Texas: McGraw Higher Ed’s “Civic Engagements” Get Dumbed Hill). Down’, CounterPunch, 23 February. Zinn, H. (2003), ‘Dow Shall Not Kill’, in The Zinn ——— (2008b), ‘How Dow Chemical Defi es Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy Homeland Security and Risks Another 9/11’ (New York: Seven Stories Press),
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