The University of Connecticut announced plans were moving forward to expand several aspects of the Avery Point campus in a March 4 UConn Today article. This expansion includes building a residential hall to provide on-campus housing and offering psychological sciences as a four-year undergraduate program, which is UConn’s most popular major according to UConn Today. While these plans may seem admirable, they act as a cover for the more controversial aspect of the Avery Point expansion: UConn’s continued entanglement with major United States military suppliers.
UConn has well-known connections to several defense companies, including RTX and Lockheed Martin. One corporation that is perhaps most connected to Avery Point is General Dynamics Electric Boat. Located in Groton, Conn. — a stone’s throw from the UConn Avery Point campus — Electric Boat provides the U.S. Navy with an extensive fleet of nuclear submarines. Together with RTX and Lockheed, Electric Boat receives more than $20 billion for defense spending from the federal government.
Electric Boat’s association with UConn goes far beyond the geographical. The company is the largest source of jobs for UConn graduates, providing a career pipeline for many engineering students. In 2019, UConn was granted millions of dollars to research technology for the U.S. Navy and Electric Boat as part of the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology initiative. This program, according to its website, is an “industry-university partnership that collaborates with the Navy to advance the capabilities of the next generation US undersea fleet.” Electric Boat is the primary benefactor of this research, as their submarine technology is greatly valued by the U.S. Navy, since submarines make up a quarter of overall fleet strength — 68 hulls out of 232 total units. While the grant marked the beginning of official collaboration with the U.S. Navy and Electric Boat, UConn also conducted indirect research for these entities for several years prior.
In short, Electric Boat needs UConn, and in the coming years they are going to need the university’s graduates more than ever. The company is in the midst of a contract with the U.S. Navy to deliver 29 submarines in just 17 years and is supposed to deliver the first of 12 Columbia-class vessels, all powered by nuclear engines, by 2027.
With this need for submarine construction, it is natural to assume why the UConn Avery Point expansion is moving forward. According to UConn Today, the growth will align “with the region’s economic priorities” and provide “a skilled workforce for the myriad industries in that area.” While there are indeed multiple companies in southeastern Connecticut that may benefit from a growing workforce, the fact is that Electric Boat’s size and scope makes them the largest manufacturer in the state. This means the company will be by far the greatest recipient of the boon Avery Point’s expansion may bring to the region.
There are two main problems with Electric Boat’s association with UConn and Avery Point’s expansion in turn. The first issue rests with the parent company of Electric Boat, General Dynamics. General Dynamics has a large and diversified portfolio within the U.S. military, including Ordnance and Tactical Systems, which provides armaments and munitions for defense capabilities. One such armament is the 2000-pound bomb that has been delivered by the thousands to Israel from the U.S. for the purposes of its recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. These bombs, often known as “bunker-busters,” have been subsequently dropped on Gaza and Lebanon’s civilian populations by Israel, contributing to a death toll that numbers in the tens of thousands across both countries.
General Dynamics, as Electric Boat’s parent company, stands to benefit from increased investment into Electric Boat. Therefore, UConn’s planned expansion of Avery Point and its reasons for doing so provide a tacit acceptance of General Dynamics’ contributions to the destruction wrought on both Gaza and Lebanon.
The other issue falls on Electric Boat itself. The current contract with the U.S. Navy has fallen far behind schedule and has been plagued by cost overruns. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office in September 2024, the lead submarine in the new Columbia class is likely going to cost six times more than Electric Boat’s estimate of $8.6 billion — an amount that was already significantly over budget. Electric Boat can afford these massive cost increases because the government will have to cover the difference — the U.S. Navy desperately needs new vessels to replace the aging Ohio class of submarines, and Electric Boat is realistically the only provider that can do so. The problems are also not new — Electric Boat has been dealing with delays for years.
As such, the Editorial Board views UConn’s increased commitment to Electric Boat as contributing to a company that has often failed to adequately conduct its operations and is inextricably connected to the rest of the military-industrial complex. UConn’s expansion of Avery Point, planned in service to Electric Boat’s own buildup, benefits defense contractors the most, putting aside humanitarian and monetary concerns. Instead of providing a genuine opportunity for the betterment of students and the unique academic endeavors that our seaside campus provides, UConn’s main goal is to support the military-industrial complex.
Typical anti-imperialist agitprop. General Dynamics will stop making bombs for Israel when those who seek Israel’s destruction lay down their arms. But this editorial board cannot bring itself to call for Hamas to lay down its weapons, can it?