April 3, 2003 A matter of conscience By LEAH ETLING UCSB professor Joachim Piprek has worked on projects that could improve the military's abilities to communicate on the battlefield, but the electrical and computer engineering expert deeply opposes war. With the start of the U.S.-led military action intent on overthrowing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Mr. Piprek's personal belief system and the way he makes part of his salary collided. "I had to free myself," said Mr. Piprek, 46, who has worked for three years developing communications technology for the Navy. Right after bombs began falling on Baghdad, Mr. Piprek sent out an e-mail to his colleagues, informing them that he would no longer be able to participate in military research projects. Mr. Piprek came to the United States from Germany a decade ago. He taught first at the University of Delaware and arrived at UCSB in 1997. He was drawn to the U.S. by opportunities in his field, he said. He is not a U.S. citizen and does not plan to become one. "I think the people are very nice people, peace-loving. The government is the part of America I'm opposing," he said. UCSB receives millions of dollars for military-related research, although none of it is classified. In 2002, the university's overall research funding totaled $130.4 million; defense projects made up about $12 million of that. Faculty within Mr. Piprek's department are currently working on projects for the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The project he was working on was funded by a $2 million grant over four years. "These projects are financed by the Pentagon to ensure the superiority of U.S. military technology. We now see very clearly that this technology will not be used to maintain peace but to wage unjustified and aggressive wars," Mr. Piprek wrote. His decision is not without consequence. The military research projects he is involved in pays for 50 percent of his monthly salary; he would not reveal the exact amount. He expects to recover the lost income with private industry grants as early as next month, he said. While Mr. Piprek said he would welcome any of his colleagues following a similar path and dropping defense-related research, he said his motives are personal and he understands why they may not follow suit. After announcing his decision, he received many e-mails from others in his department. About 80 percent supported him, and the other 20 percent had questions or disagreed with what he was doing, he said. He has engaged in e-mail dialogues with some of those who disagree but said he would prefer to sit down and talk to them one-on-one. He said he hopes that his decision might lead to a discussion about the ethics of defense research after the emotional reactions inherent in wartime have died down. Because he has no family, it was easy for him to make such a financial decision, Mr. Piprek said. He has not changed his lifestyle due to the loss of income, he said. His background also influenced his decision. A native of Potsdam, Germany, he received his master's degree and doctorate in physics from Humboldt University in Berlin. "Germany has started two terrible world wars," he wrote in his e-mail. "Despite the fact that I was born 10 years after the last one ended, I was never proud of being a German." Dresden, where Mr. Piprek's family lives, suffered particularly heavy Allied bombing raids during World War II, especially a firebombing in February 1945. "More than 40,000 civilians were burned alive that night. I grew up with pictures of war and I was hoping that humankind will learn from history and that this will never happen again to anybody," he wrote. |
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