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On August 5 The University of Queensland will be holding an event that will see American rapper will.i.am speak to UQ Alumn and former chairman of Dow, Andrew Liveris, discuss ‘how global business cooperation drives innovation’.
The university appears to be targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as members of the UQ Union Queer Collective with this event by making priority tickets available to these students.
Sadly it appears that the university doesn’t think women and international students should be prioritised when it comes to global business and innovation.
In response to the event the UQ Union’s Environment Collective has signalled that they will be holding a protest against the event.
Who are the speakers?
American rapper William James Adams Jr, known professionally as will.i.am, is one of the founding members of The Black Eyed Peas, and has appeared in a number of television shows and movies.
Outside of his show business career Mr Adams was a founding shareholder of headphone company Beats Electronics which was acquired by Apple in 2014 for more than $3 billion.
A chemical engineering graduate from UQ, Andrew Liveris, is the former Chairman and CEO Dow, which is best known for their production of Napalm and Agent Orange during the Vietnam war.
Mr Liveris is currently on the board of directors of Saudi Aramco, the oil and gas company owned by the government of Saudi Arabia.
Opinion
I can’t help but feel that if UQ really wanted to support students that they could probably do something a bit more substantial than putting on an event that is clearly just looking to get attention with a big name.
We can’t wait to see what the next exciting event UQ will put on for students next! Will it be a conversation between Fergie and Gina Rinehart discussing the future of the Australian property market? Who knows.
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