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Student Senator Andrew Hable's attempt to pass legislation condemning the production of weapons of mass destruction by the University of Wisconsin was postponed indefinitely at a Student Association Senate meeting on Jan. 29.

The legislation was based on an attempt by a consortium, which included the UW system, to take over management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.

Los Alamos is most commonly known for its coordination of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. effort to create the first atomic bomb during World War II. Today it is one of only two U.S. laboratories that participate in classified development of weapons of mass destruction.

"I'm opposed to the UW System getting involved in any way in the research or

development of nuclear weapons, and I felt the System should be concentrating more on ways to progress our culture forward and benefit our communities, in line with the Wisconsin Idea," Hable said.

Los Alamos, which had been managed by the University of California for more than 60 years, opened its management contract to bidders in 2003 due to the U.S. Department of Energy's dissatisfaction with lab security.

The lab faced many problems, including the disappearance of a computer disk containing classified data (which was later discovered to have never existed) and accusations of 59 counts of mishandling classified information directed towards a Los Alamos scientist.

The two major bidders for the laboratory's contract were the UC with its partner Bechtel Corp., and the University of Texas and Lockheed Martin consortium, which consisted of 19 major universities including UW-Madison.

In Dec. 2005, after seven months of deliberation, the DOE awarded the contract to the UC and Bechtel Corp. The DOE felt assured that although the University of California would again be managing the laboratory, a new management team would be assembled to handle the contract.

Although the UT-Lockheed Martin consortium was not chosen to manage the laboratory, Hable believes the UW system may become involved in similar situations in the future.

"I heard of no pressure being put on the UW System or UW-Madison for participating in the bid, so I see no reason why their practices would change," Hable said. "So I would expect them to take place in similarly-unethical research in the future."

Hable brought the subject to the attention of the UW-Milwaukee Student Association, who quickly motioned to postpone any action against future attempts of the same nature by the UW System. Because the bid winner had already been announced, Hable believes the Student Association saw the topic as out of date and therefore passed on his proposal.

Hable also feels that the public is unaware of UW-Madison's involvement in the bid to control Los Alamos.

"I have received some comments from students at senate meetings such as, 'I like the legislation you wrote' regarding the opposition legislation, but otherwise I don't think anyone knows about it," Hable said. "I don't think any faculty [or] staff are aware of the issue."

Representatives from UW-Madison were unavailable to comment on the issue.

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