Sunday, May 25, 2008
Editorial: VCU's deal with the devil
A public university shouldn't sign over its rights -- or those of its faculty members -- to win research funding from any industry.
From the RoundTable blog
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It isn't clear how much research money Virginia Commonwealth University received from Philip Morris USA.
But whatever the amount, it could not be worth the price paid by the public university, which signed a deal with the devil to get the cash.
The New York Times obtained a copy of the contract through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. In exchange for an undisclosed amount of money (apparently less than $1.3 million), VCU signed over its researchers' academic freedom.
Professors cannot publish the results of their research, or even discuss the research with a third party, without permission from Philip Morris.
Most of the fruits of the research -- patents and intellectual property -- will go to the company.
The arrangement is extremely troubling, especially for a public university.
Sheldon Krimsky, a professor at Tufts University who is an expert on corporate influence on medical research, told The Times, "When universities sign contracts with these covenants, they are basically giving up their ethos, compromising their values as a university. There should be no debate about having a sponsor with control over the publishing of results."
Indeed, there appears to have been little debate at VCU, despite the fact that the arrangement violates the university's own rules and standards -- which require ensuring that professors and students are free to publish results of research they conduct.
The guidelines for industry-sponsored research also mandate that the university retain patents and intellectual property rights.
"There is restrictive language in here," Francis L. Macrina, Virginia Commonwealth's vice president for research, told The Times. "In the end, it was language we thought we could agree to. It's a balancing act."
There is no balance, though. The power all rests with Philip Morris. It gets the legitimacy conferred by research conducted by a public university without sacrificing any control.
The Times performed an invaluable public service by exposing this contract, which had gotten little notice and no debate among the university's faculty.
That debate should start now. Scientific inquiry at a public university should not be a business undertaking.
If Philip Morris -- or any other corporation -- wants such restrictions, it should find private consultants to do the work.
And VCU should look for research funding that comes with fewer strings -- and no acrid smell of sulphur (or is that just tar and nicotine?).
