<p>Prevost J.R. Cole of Columbia offers some very interesting perspectives on the university in America in the latest edition of the Columbia University Magazine. One circumstance he reports on gave me great concern; government interference with academic freedom (not to be confused with the classic idea of free speech) has had serious detrimental effects. For example, he cities post 911 restrictions on research which has led to the virutal elimination of university labs [like at Cornell] that studied certain viruses. Cole seems to indicate that the government fears the weaponization of some biological agents, but that the research often results in beneficial inovation in fighting disease. He also bemoans the politicization of research, such as is present in the stem cell debate.</p>
<p>Are we becoming like France, Germany and China, where the government has the last say in university research? And as regards undergraduate standing and the university’s wealth, will government intervention concerning curriculum lead to a two tier system of the elites (Harvard, MIT, Stanford) and then everyone else?</p>
<p>With respect to research, what the government usually controls is the funding rather than the research itself. I’m not sure that the government refusing to pay for certain research is the same thing as government “interference.” In reality the government isn’t obliged to fund any university research at all. And prior to WWII it mostly didn’t.</p>
<p>If colleges and researchers are unwilling to live with the strings that come attached to government money, they need to start developing other sources of research funding for themselves.</p>
<p>The government powerful enough to give you everything you want is powerful enough to take everything you have. Any chance human beings will learn this lesson one day? No? I didn’t think so.</p>
<p>You are free to study whatever you want, just don’t ask the taxpayers to fund it unless you are willing to let their representatives have a say in how the money is spent.</p>
<p>Of course people complain about the government.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that university research, which is conducted in the public and everything generally goes into the public domain (if conducted at a state university), does pose certain security risks. And the fact that many people who work in research labs are from other countries adds to that risk.</p>
<p>I don’t think the US government interfers much with research labs except to say that certain kinds of research are off limits. But that kind of research is off limits to all labs, whether university run or otherwise.</p>
<p>It leaves lots of opportunity for research and the government sure won’t be telling which university to do what kind of research.</p>