Students: Ire Against Fire

For U.S. college students who oppose the war in Viet Nam, a single corporation, the Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich., has all of a sudden become the most popular target for protests. Reason for student antagonism is that Dow, at a small plant in Torrance, Calif., produces virtually all the napalm that is being used by U.S. armed forces in Viet Nam.

The student protests—which in some cases have been quietly encouraged by faculty members—are intended to disrupt Dow’s current campus recruiting efforts. Despite the campaign of harassment, however, the company is running at about the same pace as last year in signing up graduating students. At Harvard last week Dow Lab Director Frederick Leavitt was barricaded for seven hours in a conference room by 250 students demanding that Harvard officials ban him from the campus. University officials instead picked up the I.D. cards of the protesting students, pondered whether to punish them.

Similar angry demonstrations disrupted Dow job interviews at Boston College and at Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin universities. So virulent were the demonstrations at Madison that university officials reluctantly called in city police to disperse the protesters. At least 65 people were hurt, nine students were arrested, and the university now plans to suspend protest leaders from class.

The ire over Dow’s ability to produce fire is largely misdirected. So far this year, Dow has supplied the Government with $5,170,000 worth of napalm—less than one-half of 1% of Dow’s $1,034,000,000 world-wide sales. By contrast, Lockheed Aircraft supplied $1,531,000,000 worth of equipment to the Defense Department last year. Only about 100 of Dow’s 35,000 employees are involved in making napalm. Looming larger in the company’s marketing list of more than 800 products are water-purifying chemicals, cold medicines, insecticides and anesthetics—many of which are also used in Viet Nam. A major supplier of antifreezes, plastics and cleaning fluids, Dow is also the maker of Saran Wrap, which some amorous college students have found handy in nonmilitary emergencies.

National Commitment. Dow President Herbert D. Doan insists that napalm is of no economic importance to the company, and that principle rather than money is involved in its manufacture. “As long as the U.S. is involved in Viet Nam,” he says, “we believe in fulfilling our responsibility to this national commitment of a democratic society. Napalm is highly effective in certain specific combat situations encountered in Viet Nam. General Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has described the necessity for the use of this material and the great precautions taken to avoid injury to civilians. He has also made the point that effective weapons such as napalm are saving the lives of American men.”