Require Disclosure of Funding Sources in Academia
Reader comment on article: Redeeming the Wayward University

Submitted by James Vesce (United States), Dec 18, 2006 at 10:58

Universities, academic departments, faculty, research and scholarship programs, should all be required to declare sources of funding in all publications, and before each lecture. The purpose would be to reveal sources of potential bias and influence.

The alternative would be to require Universities to refuse foreign funding, to prevent influence from sources hostile to American-style Democracy, as suggested by Gaffney, et al. "Arab governments, in particular, and their registered agents spend money not for the sake of education but to buy influence, (p 262, War Footing, Gaffney et al, 2006, Naval Institute Press)."

Since we, as a nation, would rather spend our money on feel-good social programming and frivolous consumer trinkets manufactured in foreign countries than on the highest quality education, the practice of excluding foreign funding sources could bankrupt our colleges and universities. Requiring the declaration of funding sources, especially foreign funding sources, might be a compromise step that would preserve the funding sources while limiting the potential for covert influence.

Rather than go on and on here, I will just refer readers to the Chapter entitled "Waging the' War of Ideas' ", in War Footing, by Gaffney, et al. Brigitte Gabriel addresses a description of the problem nicely in Because They Hate.

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