Arin Iverson led a Tuesday protest at Stanford’s DEFCON tabling event outside Encina Commons, where around fifteen students stood across the road as the university’s fourth annual defense contractor conference opened. The student organizers said the goal was to show opposition to recruiting for military, AI and weapons work on campus.
Encina Commons tabling event
The opening tabling event brought Arkenstone, Z1, Umbra, Castlelion and Gallatin to the campus table, with companies displaying images of their technologies in action alongside physical drones. Stanford’s fourth annual DEFCON this week is built around industry engagement and recruitment, and the tabling event marked the first public moment of that effort.
Iverson said, "The most important thing was not to change hearts and minds because I think that’s very difficult" and that the protest was meant to show "there is an active opposition to the presence and recruitment of students by defense contractors on campus." He said, "We weren’t using amplified noise, we weren’t blocking any sidewalk or road," and said the group kept the protest small to stay within Stanford’s Time and Place restrictions.
Iverson and Smith
Reid Smith, who is co-president of Jewish Voice for Peace, said, "We’re funneling all of the immense talent at our university to military/AI tech startups … to kill people overseas". Andrew Chen said, "I just don’t think we should be killing people in Palestine [or] using our army to suppress people all over the globe…Stanford plays a direct role in funnelling students into that type of career" and added that Stanford was "platforming these people who run these huge corporations that do objectively evil things."
The protest also targeted Palantir, which Iverson and Smith identified as one of the biggest sponsors of DEFCON, and the signs read WELCOME TO DEATHCON. A DEFCON staffer, Andreas, said, "I’m really thankful we live in a country where people can protest and disagree. It’s their right and they should protest if they feel strongly," drawing a line between the event’s recruiting purpose and the students’ objections to it.
DEFCON speakers
This year’s speakers include the founders, CEOs and CTOs of major defense companies, members of the U.S. Office of the Secretary of War and the former Taiwanese president. The protest at Encina Commons put that lineup in direct view for students walking past the opening tabling event, and it underscored how the conference has become part of Stanford’s campus recruiting pipeline.
