An open letter from University of Waterloo students

Student Pledge on Weapons Work

– students have signed – verified

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1 The open letter

Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering
Peter Teertstra, Director, Sedra Student Design Centre
Justin Nankivell, Director of Research Security
University of Waterloo

Dear Dean Wells, Director Teertstra, and Director Nankivell,

We, the undersigned students of the University of Waterloo, recognize the profound devastation of war and are committed to ensuring our work minimizes, rather than contributes to, this harm.

Many of us are training to build the systems of tomorrow. Technologies that can sense, move, and make decisions. Through co-op placements and startups, Waterloo students are frequently asked to develop technologies intended for warfare. Weapons projects on campus may say their work is reviewed, but the review, its criteria, and any limits it sets are not public.

The industry relies on our talent. Design teams need members, and companies depend on a steady pipeline of co-op students and new graduates. By collectively defining our ethical boundaries, we hold the power to demand accountability from those who recruit us.

We acknowledge the legitimate need for national defense, and this pledge does not demand a blanket refusal of all defense-related work. Rather, it is a call for clear, transparent limits on the technologies we help create.

We ask you to:

  1. Say whether weapons projects can use the university's name, labs, and faculty supervision, and under what review.
  2. Name who is accountable for that oversight.
  3. Require such teams to publish their ownership, sponsors, and limits on sale and use.

Sincerely,
The undersigned students

2 The personal pledge

Each signer also makes this commitment:

  1. I won't build systems designed to target people.
  2. I won't work on weapons without binding, public limits on who they're sold to and how they're used.

Signatories

Questions

Is this against all defence work?

No. The pledge rules out two things: systems designed to target people, and weapons work without binding, public limits on sale and use. Plenty of defence work falls outside both, and signers decide for themselves where it does.

Is this about one team?

No. It applies to any weapons work students are asked to join, through any team, company, or lab, now or later.

What counts as binding?

A limit is binding if it is written into something the team cannot quietly change on its own, such as a contract, licence, or charter, and if someone outside the team can check it and enforce it. It is public if anyone can read it. A values statement on a website is neither.

How is my signature verified?

After signing, you send a pre-written email from your @uwaterloo.ca account. Only you can send from that account, so when it arrives we mark your signature verified. Until then it shows as unverified.

Can I take my name off later?

Yes. Use the removal link you got when you signed. If you lost it, email the organizers from your @uwaterloo.ca address and we will remove it.

Sign

Open to current University of Waterloo students. Signing adds your name to the letter and commits you to the pledge.

After you sign, you send one email from your @uwaterloo.ca account to confirm it's you. Your signature shows as unverified until it arrives. We publish only your name, program, and year. We never display your WatIAM ID or email.