US: Top schools reject government research restrictions

Caught between the demands of academic freedom and national security in a post-September 11 world, the Bay Area's two major research universities are walking away from lucrative research contracts rather than consenting to intrusive restrictions on their work, reports Mercury News. A new major study of 20 top schools found 180 instances of "troublesome clauses" attached by the federal government to research contracts -up from 138 in 2004.

The survey, conducted by two Washington, DC-based groups, Association of American Universities and Council on Governmental Relations, concluded that the vast majority of disputes involve the US Department of Defense or defence contractors.

The University of California at Berkeley reported 12 cases in which restrictions led to impasses in research grant negotiations; Stanford University reported three. University officials would not elaborate on how many of those cases were resolved - or how much money the schools lost by passing up grants.
Full report on the Mercury News site