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Don’t protest CIA recruitment events

In print | April 19, 2007

To the editor:

STAFF EDITORIAL

In your April 5 issue, the column entitled “Students Challenge CIA Recruitment on Campus” harangues upon the College’s decision to allow CIA to recruit on campus and challenges future decisions.

For those of us who are interested in eventually working for the CIA, this is blatantly denying us a right to hear the CIA’s goals for the future. Simply because the agency has made mistakes does not imply that the CIA is a rotten agency — and that those who express interest in it have blood on their hands. Protesting a recruitment event is adding a full dose of politics to a rather non-political situation.

Honestly, did you really expect a recruitment agent to sit down and chat about the way things are? Any single person would have been crazy to think that one recruitment officer would be willing to represent the agency in a political discussion.

Please, let those of us who want to hear what the recruitment officers have to say hear what they have to say! Protesting the CIA’s future recruitment events on campus is selfish and is not considerate of the interests of the entire student body.

And also — keep your criticisms to yourselves. There are thousands of Virginia farmboys defending this country who have nothing to do with torture and the violation of human rights. The fact that we are only informed of the CIA’s negative actions does not mean that there are no positives ones.

Kara Peterman ’09

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