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”
1. Tuition costs are growing
2. Downsizing of teaching efforts
3. Big Business influence
4. Increase in industry funding
5. “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
• $25 million
• Support for 5 years
• Access to gene-
sequencing technology and
DNA database of plants
•First rights to negotiate
licenses to patents
•2 seats on a 5-person
committee which selects
research projects
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
www.sfu.ca/mediapr/files/sfunews/opinion.jpg
Skewing data in one’s favor
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)
Colleges and Universities are unique institutions
Americans responsibility “to make sure that the world of higher education is not for sale”
http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/07/college.costs/story.college.costs.jpg
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>