Southwestern to rework training contract with Xe

Union Tribune (2009-03-12) Chris Moran

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Southwestern to rework training contract with Xe

2:00 a.m. March 12, 2009

CHULA VISTA: Southwestern College's governing board voted last night to renegotiate its decision to send its police academy cadets for weapons training to a South County firing range owned by Xe, the company formerly known as Blackwater.

The board had unanimously approved a deal in January that gave the college free use of the Xe training center in exchange for offering the military contractor use of college conference rooms. Xe's center and Southwestern's police academy are blocks apart in Otay Mesa.

The trustees voted 4-1 to have college officials try to amend the deal by striking clauses granting Xe a contractual right to use college rooms, requiring Xe's approval of news releases and providing reimbursement to Xe for any costs it incurs as a result of college use of the range.

An amended deal would ultimately require another vote of the trustees.

Educators, students and other community members rallied before the board meeting to call for trustees to rescind the agreement. They said the college should not be associated with Xe because of the company's involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in September 2007.

In December, federal prosecutors in the United States charged five Blackwater guards with manslaughter in connection with the shootings. A sixth guard admitted in a plea agreement to killing at least one Iraqi during the incident. –C.M.