Think twice when you walk through the doors of Princeton’s Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library, the Daily Princetonian says.
In an editorial published in the student newspaper this month, a student urges others to remember the allegations of human rights abuses that have swarmed around the world’s largest rubber plant – Firestone’s Harbel in Liberia—when they walk into the campus’ iconic library.
“For 70 years, ‘Firestone’ has lived in the jargon of the Princetonian. The word connotes feverish nights spent cramming for exams, as well as our most serious intellectual moments. Yet, despite our affectionate remembrance of the library’s benefactor, we have largely forgotten his mixed legacy,” the editorial, written by first year student Jon Ort reads.
Firestone purchased the one million acres in Liberia that the plantation lives on at six cents an acre, the editorial says. But since the rubber plantation’s inception, workers have been struggling for better wages and working conditions.
Ort cites that a 2006 lawsuit alleged “conditions of slavery” at the plantation. A 2010 article published in The Nation cites complaints including backbreaking quotas, meager wages, atrocious housing and pollution.
The editorial says the Firestone transferred common stock of the company to the university to pay for the library, which “should give us pause,” Ort says.
“Liberian labor not only enriched the Firestones, but also directly benefited our institution,” the editorial reads.
The editorial points out that Firestone built Harbel before workers’ rights legislation went into effect. And at Harbel, Firestone operates a hospital and a hydroelectric power plant among other buildings. The company also maintains roads, housing, schools and a literacy program. But despite this, Ort asks the university to consider investigate the university’s “historical links” to the company.
“Our beloved library safeguards innumerable records of the past, allowing us, as scholars, to learn the lessons of history,” he says. “If we are to keep with both the library’s highest aim, we must come to know the whole of our past. The legacy of Harvey Firestone is no exception.”
