VCU's secret deal?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/opinion/27tue2.html?_r=1
While most universities are struggling to ensure that any research supported by industry remains free of corporate control, it is shocking to find Virginia Commonwealth University going in the opposite direction. It has signed a contract to do research for Philip Morris that gives the company the final say over what results, if any, can be published.
The contract also stipulates that the university cannot respond to any news media inquiries about the deal and must promptly notify Philip Morris. That effort to hide this unsavory bargain fell apart when The Times’s Alan Finder obtained a copy under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Law.
University officials say the restrictions on publishing research are designed to protect the company’s proprietary information. However, the contract defines all material created by the university as the company’s proprietary information — so Philip Morris will always have the final say. The first two research tasks, according to the company, involve identifying early warning signs of pulmonary disease and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from tobacco processing plants.
At least 15 public health and medical schools, including schools at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, no longer accept tobacco money, mostly because of the industry’s history of warping research to promote smoking. Other schools, including Stanford and the University of California system, rejected bans after extensive debate.
Virginia Commonwealth is getting only $286,000 from Philip Morris this year, roughly a tenth of a percent of its total research grants. There is speculation that the university — a public institution based in Philip Morris’s hometown of Richmond — is hoping to entice the company to support other university functions. Nothing justifies this abandonment of academic freedom.
Schools that accept tobacco money need to be sure that their scientists have the final say in designing studies, interpreting the results and publishing the findings. Anything less undermines the credibility of their scientists’ research — and the integrity of their universities.
:)
You think I won't get an American visa?
Sheesh... I guess I have something to worry about in 2018 when my current ten year American visa expires... LOL!!
you might have gotten into VCU -- that is, if you could get a visa :-D
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
you can roll on the floor all you want, all you'll be doing is getting the dust all over you
What are you talking about corruption in Indian schools?... maybe in some of the shady universities, definitely true... but the top ones, there is no corruption
And why do you say I will never have the chance to go to VCU?
You think I am not good enough for a college which considered credits from the University of Phoenix online in order to award its own degree to a police chief? :-p
into corruption in Indian schools -- rofl!
"One that is more liberal on smoking on its own campus?" What is that to you? You will never have the chance to go there so why would you care what they do in the US?
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
its a question of the reputation of the institution...
One that is more liberal on smoking on its own campus?
One that's willing to cut a few corners for more grants!
and give degrees while violating 37 rules! :-o
From what I have read both incidents put the nails in the presidents coffin :-)
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
but I thot it was more interesting than the chief of police who got a fraud degree :-)
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
A University with accommodations for smokers?!?!?!
http://vabio.blogspot.com/2008/07/latest-on-vcu-and-philip-morris.html
At VCU, tobacco is anything but taboo. President Eugene P. Trani, who serves on the Universal board of directors, worked out plans with Philip Morris to provide "accommodations for smokers" in 1991 in all VCU buildings but the medical school. The university takes pride in its ties to tobacco. A 2006 "Campaign for VCU" fund-raising report praised Philip Morris as an "old friend" for its $2.2 million for VCU's business and engineering schools and smaller grants to help students with career choices.
"The School of Engineering is most fortunate to have such a long-standing relationship with Philip Morris USA," said Dr. Robert Mattauch, engineering school dean, in the report.