Wednesday, April 11, 2007

E-mail to Board of Directors

I think it will be helpful, at this point, to try and somehow strike up a dialogue with the Board of Directors at ASIJ. One of the few ways we have of communicating with them is email. This is the simple message that I sent. I encourage everyone to do something similar.

UPDATE: Moreover, the Board is apparently going to make a decision very soon. Please contact the board ASAP the let them know what we want!

Dear Board of Directors at ASIJ,
I would like to bring up, once again, the issue of Jin Roy Ryu's donation to ASIJ. I believe, along with many fellow alumni, that ASIJ should be careful about the message that its business decisions send to students, alumni, and everyone acquainted with the ASIJ community. An acceptance of the donation would indicate to us that you acknowledge as a legitimate practice the involvement of Mr. Ryu and his company Poongsan Corporation in the manufacture of cluster bombs. I believe this is the wrong message to send, especially given ASIJ's stated commitment to "developing compassionate, inquisitive learners prepared for global responsibility". The lesson taught by your decision to accept Mr. Ryu's donation would be that manufacturing cluster munitions counts as compassionate and globally responsible action. On the flip side, if you were to politely decline Mr. Ryu's donation on the clearly-stated grounds that it conflicts with ASIJ's core values, this would be a significant message that would further ASIJ's educational mission for its students and for its broader community--more so than the installment of floodlights in the football field. Thank you for your time and your further consideration on this issue. Please let us know your position as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Michael Dickison, Class of 2003

7 comments:

yusei said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
yusei said...

I talked with some one who went to go and see Tim Carr last Friday, he said he was told that the board is coming up with a decision in the near future...

Michael Dickison said...

oh that is... hmm... actually I have no idea if that's good or not. But I guess it means we should hurry up because reversing a decision is probably going to be much harder. I should try and see if I can get anyone to contact the board as well.

yusei said...

forgot to write. Maybe you guys already know but I also heard that the BOD has switched the donation to an 'anonymous' donation... don't you think its a little too late to cut away the rotten parts?

Mike Yong said...

Have they really? I haven't heard a thing. They aren't exactly forthcoming with the transparency stuff.

Mike Yong said...

The reason why changing this to an anonymous donation is still wrong is that the lights are still going to be manufactured by Poongsan Corporation, so this is still a business deal.

Mike Yong said...

Although - and I am so disgusted by this - they refuse to respond on whether or not Poongsan Corporation is going to be building the lights, so we actually cannot say anything for sure.