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Tufts University to dissolve relationship with family behind OxyContin amid national opioid epidemic
Tufts University announced that it is severing ties with the billionaire family that owns Purdue Pharma, the firm that manufactures OxyContin.
The Massachusetts school announced Thursday that it is stripping the Sackler family name from its campus and will no longer accept any donations from them amid concerns that they are helping fuel the ongoing opioid crisis. The Sacklers and Tufts had maintained a nearly 40-year relationship that helped funnel millions to the school's science and medical programs.
"Our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others have shared with us the negative impact the Sackler name has on them each day, noting the human toll of the opioid epidemic in which members of the Sackler family and their company, Purdue Pharma, are associated," the school said in a statement. "We are grateful to those who have shared their thoughts with us. It is clear that the Sackler name, with its link to the current health crisis, runs counter to the school's mission.
"In taking these actions, we will more fully enable our university and medical school to move forward in support of their missions and to help the countless individuals and families who have suffered as a result of the opioid crisis," the statement added.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday December 11 2019, @10:05AM (8 children)
No mention of how much sweet oxymoney they received before cutting the ties. Hundreds of millions? Billions? Considering it's been going on for 40-something years it should be a fairly substantial amount. They didn't seem to have minded so much until the it became a PR problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:23AM
That's just your guess about this. You have no idea what was the situation in Tufts U wrt the university population and their opinion of Purdue Pharma before the Sackler controversy.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Wednesday December 11 2019, @11:53AM (3 children)
It's more than just the Sacklers, Universities have always been happy to take money from drug dealers (the Sacklers), pedophiles (Epstein), and who knows what else, their money's as good as anyone's until the publicity gets too severe. It's kinda disturbing when large investment funds, not exactly what you'd hold up as a model of ethical behaviour, are still more ethical in terms of environmental and socially responsible investing than Universities, who seem happy to take anyone's money as long as the publicity over it doesn't get too bad.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Wednesday December 11 2019, @12:50PM (2 children)
Drug dealers and pedophiles want to give away their money? BRB, registering a charity.
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(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday December 11 2019, @01:39PM (1 child)
Greenwashing for Humanity!
"Kid, take the money and do something good with it"
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 11 2019, @03:46PM
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday December 11 2019, @12:17PM (2 children)
Maybe, maybe not. You tend to be benevolent instead of inquisitive with the guy who gives you money.
It is interesting to note that the behavior of removing all ties with a perceived malefactor is decried as bigotry when the author is Christian, tolerated and encouraged in all the other cases.
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(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday December 12 2019, @03:35AM (1 child)
Enough with the bullshit Christian persecution complex narrative. If that were true, we wouldn't have had 45 Christian presidents (44 IMO, but Trump calls himself one...) in a row. You wanna be persecuted, I'll staple a flag to your ass and mail you to Iran. You can bitch and whine...or more likely scream and howl and writhe, about Christian persecution there.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 12 2019, @09:47AM
see? even the observation itself is attacked with inconsistent arguments.
the zeitgeist against selective bigotry is either present and documented or not. The answer is there for everyone to notice, ignore, or verify as missing. The faith of guys pulling 9/11 or self proclaiming partners of the sionists is for the hypothetical guy upstairs to judge. The explicit persecution of Christians is still another matter.
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