UNM students and community activists are giving campuswide tours of sites they deem "militarized."
The free tours are part of Disorientation Week, organized by the Demilitarization Collective, which aims to raise awareness about weapons research at UNM.
The tours have seven stops from the Bookstore to Scholes Hall and run all week until 4 p.m. with a final tour Saturday at noon.
The tour stops at on-campus ROTC organizations and nuclear, computer and electrical engineering departments at UNM.
"Public universities, in particular, have been incorporated into the military-industrial-academic complex," said Andrew Marcum, a Ph.D. student majoring in American Studies.
Marcum said the "military-industrial-academic complex" is an agreement between universities and the military in which funding is exchanged for research that can be used to make weapons.
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The U.S. Defense Department has funded research in UNM's Physics and Astronomy Department.
A project called "Consortium for Laser Cooling in Solids," led by professor Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, received $3.4 million in government funding.
Sheik-Bahae said the research deals with cryogenically freezing sensors with laser technology to increase their sensitivity and that it may not be related to weapons research.
Sheik-Bahae said the work done at UNM and at other universities is basic research and isn't geared toward weapons development.
"There's always this misconception that anything that the Department of Defense funds is weapons-related," he said. "No one that I know is doing weapons-related research, and we wouldn't like to do it."
Sheik-Bahae also said that it would be difficult to do classified military work because much of the research's success hinges on international collaboration with students from countries like Iran, China and India.
But Marcum and the Demilitarization Collective say "UNM is a war profiteer" and emblazoned the slogan on stickers handed out at the group's table across from the Bookstore.
Sheik-Bahae said this assertion is untrue, as universities get more money from the Defense Department during peace than during war.
"It hurts during war," he said, "because more money goes to advanced weapons-related research that is not done during peacetime."
Bob Busch, a lecturer from the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department, said the nuclear research being done at UNM isn't supported by the Defense Department.
"All of the work that our students do at the graduate level must be publishable and therefore cannot be classified," he said.
Marcum said the Demilitarization Collective focuses not only on removing weapons research from UNM but also on financial accountability at the University.
"Last week, $150,000 went missing, and then it turned up again," Marcum said. "The administration got caught messing around with our money. We need as much transparency as possible."
Marcum said the lack of financial transparency could be a sign UNM is conducting weapons research and profiting from wartime activity.
"The evidence is there. The fact that it's kind of sketchy and hard to come by is a testament to the fact that they have something to hide," Marcum said.
Busch said UNM's research finances are perfectly transparent.
"We've published annual reports," Busch said. "The numbers are there."
