Costs of UARC outweigh pluses


Karl Kim has a commentary in the Advertiser. Here's the first few grafs:
The plans to create a University Affiliated Research Center, a "contracting vehicle" for facilitating research funds from the military, may have started off as a well-intentioned effort to enhance research at the University of Hawai'i.

But upon deeper inspection and consideration of our university's mission, purpose, and needs, it has become clear that the UARC is not right for us.

While one can blame the clumsy and heavy-handed process that was deployed to advance this proposal, there are also some fundamental inconsistencies, flaws and problems created by the blind pursuit of this initiative.

To begin, the UARC is not consistent with our values and core commitments to public higher education and the unfettered exchange of knowledge and ideas. Taking "task orders" from the military is not what a great university should be about. Creating an environment where the research agenda is set not by faculty and students but instead by the military or corporations or others outside academia is against the true purpose of a university.

UARC is not about academic freedom. If faculty members want to do research on topics related to military hardware or warfare, they are free to do so. UARC is really about an institutional commitment to serving the military.

If the UARC is accepted, the university would be giving unprecedented access to our resources, facilities and intellectual power to the military. This sort of cozy relationship may indeed enable more money to be funneled more easily to research enterprises, but it also circumvents many of the long-standing processes of peer review, institutional due diligence, and academic management of research and scholarship.


Posted: Sun - October 23, 2005 at 11:45 AM    
   
 
Categories
XML/RSS Feed
Search
World Court Case DVD
Larsen Case on DVD
Larsen DVD
Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom at the
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Hague, 2001
DVD Mini-Documentary & Booklet
Order your copy
FREE HAWAII STICKERS
Free Hawaii
Over at the Free Hawaii blog, Koani Foundation is giving away "Free Hawaii" stickers and pins, and will post photos of them displayed in interesting places. Spread them far and wide!
HAWAII DOCUMENTS
HAWAII LINKS
HAWAII BLOGROLL
HAWAII FORUMS
HAWAII PODCASTING
PROGRESSIVE BLOGROLL
TV Worth Watching
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Colbert Report
NOW with David Brancaccio
Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry
Real Time with Bill Maher
Washington Journal on C-Span
PBN Friday with Howard Dicus
Portfolio
Archives
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Browse archives by date
CURRENT IMAGE
Support Organ Donation
DONATE LIFE
Comments powered by
Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com
TECHNORATI
SUPPORT THIS BLOG
If you find this weblog valuable, please consider making a secure donation via PayPal to support its ongoing maintenance:

Mahalo!
Or contact me about sponsoring this blog in exchange for space in the Sponsored Links area above.
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 27, 2005 10:17 PM
Powered by
iBlog


©