The following is an editorial by Robert Bryce, who has reported on Freeport-McMoRan since 1990. William Cunningham must resign immediately from Freeport-McMoRan's board of directors. The October 10 letter from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to the company's subsidiary, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, is proof that the company has created an environmental disaster at its Indonesian mine.
Cunningham, the Chancellor of the University of Texas System, has gone on record several times saying that he would not be associated with any operations that harmed the environment. At a student forum on campus in 1990, he said "I have never been involved in any project in my opinion which would endanger or damage the environment." In 1991, in a story written by former American-Statesman reporter Bill Collier, Cunningham said that before he joined the Freeport board, "I satisfied myself that the company conducted its affairs all over the world in a highly responsible manner, respecting the environment and the people affected by its operations." He added that he was certain that the company "will continue to minimize environmental impacts and will interact with the indigenous people in a positive manner."
OPIC's rejection of Freeport's insurance coverage of its Indonesian mining operation clearly shows that the company is not the environmental stalwart that Cunningham claims it to be.
Cunningham has many reasons to end his association with a company that is closely allied with one of the world's most ruthless regimes. Three separate reports have determined that numerous cases of human rights violations, including murder and torture, have occurred in and around the mine over the past 18 months. Each report places blame on the Indonesian military. One also blames Freeport security personnel.
Freeport's activities support the Indonesian dictator, Suharto, who is directly responsible for at least half a million deaths. The National Review, one of America's most conservative publications, has called his regime worthy "of comparison to Pol Pot's bloody reign over Cambodia." The Suharto regime has murdered an estimated 200,000 civilians in recent years on the former Portuguese colony of East Timor. The New York Times recently called the Suharto regime "wildly corrupt," and a survey released last summer of business executives ranked Indonesia as the world's most corrupt country.
On numerous occasions, the Chronicle has asked Cunningham for an interview. The requests began in 1990, when Freeport-McMoRan's 4,000-acre development on Barton Creek was the hottest issue in city politics. Cunningham has consistently refused those requests. And he has not just refused to talk to the Chronicle. Other reporters have been forced to submit questions in writing, and Cunningham has responded via fax. He has also refused to discuss the matter with his own faculty. And that is the crux of the problem here. As the head of a prestigious university, a place where ideas are supposed to be freely exchanged, William Cunningham's reluctance to discuss the ethical ramifications of his association with Freeport mocks the spirit of learning.
Since 1987, Cunningham has lent the University of Texas' credibility to Freeport-McMoRan in return for several million dollars worth of donations from Jim Bob Moffett. Now, UT is even naming a building after Moffett, who once called the bloodthirsty Suharto "a compassionate man."
Cunningham has run away from this issue for five years, consistently refusing to talk openly and candidly about his association with Freeport. Enough is enough. Cunningham must choose. He can work for Freeport. Or he can work for UT. He cannot do both. n