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Explore the rise of corporate corruption in universities, impacting research, funding, and integrity. Learn about conflicts of interest, misleading research, and the influence of big business. Discover ways to address these issues for a more transparent academic landscape.
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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>