WHEREAS The United States in general and California in particular face fiscal crises of unprecedented scope and depth; and
WHEREAS The United States has started a war with Iraq that could cost over a hundred billion dollars, first in warfare and then in the rebuilding of Iraq; and
WHEREAS Public funding for social services and schools - from pre-schools through primary and secondary schools as well as colleges and universities - would be likely to suffer profoundly, and for an undeterminable period of time irremediably, from the drastic cuts accompanying a wartime economy; and
WHEREAS Such cuts would seriously constrain access to public colleges and universities, and to the high-quality education without which the future of students for years to come, and the well-being of the country, would be severely damaged; and
WHEREAS The international community has not lent its support for war against Iraq; and unilateral preemptive action against Iraq by the United States would undermine the basic foundations of international law; and
WHEREAS A war with Iraq would jeopardize the lives of American soldiers as well as the lives of Iraqi civilians, who have already suffered enormously under the current Iraqi regime; therefore be it
RESOLVED That the Sonoma State University Academic Senate urge the government of the United States of America to work with the United Nations to obtain compliance by Iraq with United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning the disposal by Iraq of any nuclear, chemical, and/or biological weapons; and be it further
RESOLVED That the SSU Academic Senate oppose unilateral preemptive war against Iraq; and be it further
RESOLVED That the Sonoma State University Academic Senate urge the government of the United States of America to work with the United Nations to stop the war, and be it further
RESOLVED That the SSU Academic Senate direct that copies of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the United States Senators from California, and the Bay Area members of the United States House of Representatives, and be it further
RESOLVED Faculty at SSU voluntary suspend classes on a mutually agreed day to hold a campus wide convocation on the ethical, legal, humanitarian and historical aspects of the war on Iraq.