Ban weapons manufacturers from UT Tyler's career fairs
The Issue
**[PLEASE ONLY SIGN WITH A VALID PATRIOTS EMAIL (_____@patriots.uttyler.edu) TO ENSURE THE PETITION IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STUDENT BODY, THANK YOU]**
We, the undersigned Student Organizations and Students of the University of Texas at Tyler, have written this petition to bring to the attention of UT Tyler Career Success the urgent need to prohibit defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and L3 Harris, from recruiting at our campus career events. Allowing companies such as these to have a presence on campus violates the UT Tyler Honor Code and jeopardizes the integrity of UT Tyler students, alumni, and the university as a whole.
The UT Tyler Honor Code’s goals include, but are not limited to, “[promoting] a level of commitment in the UT Tyler community to honorable conduct necessary to meet the ethical challenges faced throughout a lifetime of service to the global community” and also, “to embrace the spirit of the Honor Code in their lives rather than merely verbalize endorsement”
As stated by Cornell Law, a defense contractor is “any person who enters into a contract with the United States- (a) to furnish materials, industrial resources, or a critical technology for the national defense; or (b) to perform services for the national defense.”
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), has been to the UT Tyler Engineering career success fair, along with L3 Harris, the world’s tenth largest defense contractor, to recruit UT Tyler Students for internships and employment.
These companies are complicit in several atrocious crimes; for instance, it has been reported that fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin specifically have “....[destroyed] apartment buildings, hospitals, a school bus, a funeral hall, a prison, and other non-military targets.” (Craig, ‘War Atrocities in Yemen Linked to US Weapons’, Columbia Magazine, 2022).
The criminal actions of defense contractors force UT Tyler students and alumni they have recruited from our career fairs to violate the UT Tyler honor code’s goal of “[fostering] a commitment to honorable living”.
As of now, defense contractors are allowed to participate in UT Tyler Career Fairs through open invitations on Handshake, an online networking platform. Ultimately, it is the burden of UT Tyler Career Success to determine which companies participate in UT Tyler Career Fairs.
To reiterate, the undersigned demand UT Tyler Career Success prohibit all defense contractors from recruiting at any UT Tyler Career Success-related events.
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The Issue
**[PLEASE ONLY SIGN WITH A VALID PATRIOTS EMAIL (_____@patriots.uttyler.edu) TO ENSURE THE PETITION IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STUDENT BODY, THANK YOU]**
We, the undersigned Student Organizations and Students of the University of Texas at Tyler, have written this petition to bring to the attention of UT Tyler Career Success the urgent need to prohibit defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and L3 Harris, from recruiting at our campus career events. Allowing companies such as these to have a presence on campus violates the UT Tyler Honor Code and jeopardizes the integrity of UT Tyler students, alumni, and the university as a whole.
The UT Tyler Honor Code’s goals include, but are not limited to, “[promoting] a level of commitment in the UT Tyler community to honorable conduct necessary to meet the ethical challenges faced throughout a lifetime of service to the global community” and also, “to embrace the spirit of the Honor Code in their lives rather than merely verbalize endorsement”
As stated by Cornell Law, a defense contractor is “any person who enters into a contract with the United States- (a) to furnish materials, industrial resources, or a critical technology for the national defense; or (b) to perform services for the national defense.”
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), has been to the UT Tyler Engineering career success fair, along with L3 Harris, the world’s tenth largest defense contractor, to recruit UT Tyler Students for internships and employment.
These companies are complicit in several atrocious crimes; for instance, it has been reported that fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin specifically have “....[destroyed] apartment buildings, hospitals, a school bus, a funeral hall, a prison, and other non-military targets.” (Craig, ‘War Atrocities in Yemen Linked to US Weapons’, Columbia Magazine, 2022).
The criminal actions of defense contractors force UT Tyler students and alumni they have recruited from our career fairs to violate the UT Tyler honor code’s goal of “[fostering] a commitment to honorable living”.
As of now, defense contractors are allowed to participate in UT Tyler Career Fairs through open invitations on Handshake, an online networking platform. Ultimately, it is the burden of UT Tyler Career Success to determine which companies participate in UT Tyler Career Fairs.
To reiterate, the undersigned demand UT Tyler Career Success prohibit all defense contractors from recruiting at any UT Tyler Career Success-related events.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on September 30, 2026