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The Public’s Growing Mistrust of the University. Rachel Griego September 18, 2006 The University as a Local and Global Citizen. “10 Things You Should Know About Corporate Corruption on Campus”. Tuition costs are growing Downsizing of teaching efforts Big Business influence
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The Public’s Growing Mistrust of the University Rachel Griego September 18, 2006 The University as a Local and Global Citizen
“10 Things You Should Know About Corporate Corruption on Campus” • Tuition costs are growing • Downsizing of teaching efforts • Big Business influence • Increase in industry funding • “Selling Off the University…Piece by Piece”
“10 Things You Should Know About Corporate Corruption on Campus” 6.Conflicts of Interest 7.Misleading/Inaccurate research 8. Focus away from students 9. Only money matters 10. “The Threat to U.S. Innovation”
Academic Duty TO TELL THE TRUTH: “THE RELATIONSHIP between universities and their public is more dependent on trust than on anything else” ~Don Kennedy
Conflicts of Interest • Can be very vague • Public is not aware of possible conflicts of interest • “Are Conflicts of Interest Hazardous to out Health?” oregonstate.edu/research/Images/coipres.gif
Big Business Influence • Companies are being invited in • Direction towards “commercially oriented areas of science”
Berkeley – Novartis Agreement • First rights to negotiate licenses to patents • 2 seats on a 5-person committee which selects research projects • $25 million • Support for 5 years • Access to gene-sequencing technology and DNA database of plants
Why the controversy? • Involved an institution rather than an individual • Ignacio Chapela = critic of the agreement • Genetically modified corn in Mexico • Denied tenure http://www.ecplanet.com/canale/varie-5/diritti_umani-65/0/0/15875/it/ecplanet.rxdf
Misleading/Inaccurate research • Ghostwriters and “Guest Writers” • Concealing information • Human Guinea Pigs • Skewing data in one’s favor www.sfu.ca/mediapr/files/sfunews/opinion.jpg
Examples • Tyrone B. Hayes at U.C. Berkeley • “Frog Man” • Atrazine turns male frogs into hermaphrodites www.nrdc.org/onearth/03win/images/brief_frog.jpg
Conclusion • Tighter Conflict of Interest Regulations • Outside source • Federal Regulations • Decrease Pressure to Patent and Promote “open source” • Monopoly • Amend Bayh-Dole • “Federal Oversight of Clinical Research”
Conclusion (continued) Research Teaching
http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/07/college.costs/story.college.costs.jpghttp://www.cnn.com/US/9810/07/college.costs/story.college.costs.jpg Conclusion (continued) • Colleges and Universities are unique institutions • Americans responsibility “to make sure that the world of higher education is not for sale”
Works Cited • Kennedy, Donald. Academic Duty. Harvard University Press:1997. • Washburn, Jennifer. University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education. Basic Books:2005. • Washburn, Jennifer. University Inc.: 10 Things You Should Know About Corporate Corruption on Campus. Campus Progress: 2005. <http://www.campusprogress.org/features/121/university-inc-10-things-you-should-know-about-corporate-corruption-on-campus>