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Fr. Simon Harak, new to Marquette’s theology faculty, used to be the lead organizer of the “Stop the Merchants of Death” project of the War Resisters League. Fr. Harak, a pacifist, had this to say about military contractors:

In my work with the national ‘Stop the Merchants of Death’ campaign, I have spoken to dozens of audiences- students, activists and faith groups- about the role of corporations in making war for profit. Yes, you heard right: these companies do not just profit from war. With their vast influence, they make wars for profit, in effect commandeering the U.S. military for corporate takeovers of entire countries. War profiteers influence government decisions on what weapons systems to buy, what countries to invade, and what lands to occupy. Campaign contributions create a “revolving door” between politics and the business of war profiteering.

That’s typical of his rhetoric, which you can find ample examples of with a simple google search, condemning corporations that do defense contracting.

Yesterday the NewsBriefs announced that the Sally and Terry Rynne Foundation was making a $500,000 four year grant to fund Marquette’s new Center for Peacemaking. The Tribune reported last spring that Fr. Harak would serve as the director of the new Center.

So what is the Sally and Terry Rynne Foundation? Based in Winnetka, Illinois, it had assets of $1.5 million in 2005, according to its IRS 990 filing. Sally and Terry Rynne are regular supporters of Democratic candidates.

The IRS 990 form included a list of companies that the Foundation owns stock in. These include a number of “Merchants of Death” :

Honeywell is listed as one of the fifteen largest defense contractors in the nation, doing $4.2 billion in US defense contractors in 2004. 3M does a fair amount of defense contracting as well. Shell was once a top 50 defense contractor. Microsoft, not surprisingly, does some defense business, as does Chevron. Exxon Mobil and BP Amaco are top 50 defense contractors. Bell South and Wells Fargo are on the Army Pays list, which the “Stop the Merchants of Death” campaign identified as a way for non-military contractor corporations to support war and violence.

Given that Fr. Harak has defined the last several years of his life in opposition to the corporations that profit on war, I think the only way he can maintain any measure of integrity and intellectual consistency is to refuse the gift from the Rynne Foundation. If he allows Marquette to keep the gift, he would, arguably, be making Marquette complicit in this nasty business of war profiteering…

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