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Dec. 13th, 2004 10:12 pmI was at a student government meeting tonight when an interesting issue came up. The representative from another department brought up what she perceives as a problem in her department--the start of a major, SSHRC-funded research project that's being done in partnership with a company that draws a substantial part of its profit from the Canadian military. Apparently many of the students in the department are in an uproar about it, and are trying to protest it.
Corporate influence in academia can be a major problem. Corporations should not dictate either the direction or outcome of research, and too often they do (especially in areas like pharmaceutical research--sociology tends not to be a popular target of corporate research). That, however, does not seem to be the source of the students' objection. In fact, they seem to have acknowledged that a corporate partner of some sort is necessary here, and are encouraging the project to find a different corporate partner. The company in question does not manufacture weapons; they're responsible for developing flight simulations. The research being done has nothing to do with weapons; it's about the use of technology in learning. So far as I can tell, no one is being forced to participate in that project--it's entirely voluntary. There may be other issues that I haven't heard about it, but right now the sole source of objection seems to be the belief by some graduate students that doing anything remotely related to the military is inherently unethical. I'm still processing it, but I find this attitude utterly fascinating, and I'm curious now how widespread it is.
Corporate influence in academia can be a major problem. Corporations should not dictate either the direction or outcome of research, and too often they do (especially in areas like pharmaceutical research--sociology tends not to be a popular target of corporate research). That, however, does not seem to be the source of the students' objection. In fact, they seem to have acknowledged that a corporate partner of some sort is necessary here, and are encouraging the project to find a different corporate partner. The company in question does not manufacture weapons; they're responsible for developing flight simulations. The research being done has nothing to do with weapons; it's about the use of technology in learning. So far as I can tell, no one is being forced to participate in that project--it's entirely voluntary. There may be other issues that I haven't heard about it, but right now the sole source of objection seems to be the belief by some graduate students that doing anything remotely related to the military is inherently unethical. I'm still processing it, but I find this attitude utterly fascinating, and I'm curious now how widespread it is.
