Jennifer Washburn: All Publications, Events and Press

Jennifer Washburn in Journal of Life Sciences on Academia & Industry

Communications — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:35:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Merck and Harvard enter a collaboration that reflects the closer ties being forged between industry and academia, but it's a trend that is alarming to some. ...

At a time when federal research dollars have grown scarcer, universities are embracing industry partners interested in getting a first crack at their cutting-edge technologies.

The latest evidence of this comes from a recently announced agreement between Harvard Medical School and the pharmaceutical giant Merck. Merck and Harvard Medical School will collaborate to advance research programs in oncology and central nervous system disorders. Merck's decision to open a research facility just down the road from Harvard in 2004 put researchers at both institutions in walking distance of each other.

For Merck, the deal gives the company an early look at new discoveries and the right to negotiate licensing deals for technology that emerges from the collaboration before anyone else. For Harvard, the agreement provides not only funding, but a chance for researchers concerned about seeing their work commercialized an opportunity to interact with a major drug company. It also provides an avenue to advance their projects at a time when capital for early-stage development to carry potential products to a point they can garner private investment is hard to come by.

But for critics of the fading lines between academia and industry, it is another sign of a troubling trend that they say is changing academic research for the worse.

"The question is, do we want our universities to focus on short-term, commercially viable research, or do we want them to continue doing research that is on the frontier that is going to lead to the next generation of technological breakthroughs?" said Jennifer Washburn, a fellow with the New America Foundation and author of University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education (Basic Books, 2005). ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Science's Worst Enemy: Corporate Funding

Articles — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:14:00 -0400

In recent years there have been a number of highly visible attacks on American science, everything from the fundamentalist assault on evolution to the Bush administration’s strong-arming of government scientists. But for many people who pay close attention to research and development (R&D), the biggest threat to science has been quietly occurring under the radar, even though it may be changing the very foundation of American innovation. The threat is money -- specifically, the decline of government support for science and the growing dominance of private spending over American research.

The trend is undeniable. In 1965, the federal government financed more… more

An Unholy Alliance

Articles — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:20:00 -0400

Five hundred million dollars is a lot of money -- especially for a public university. When the giant oil company BP announced Feb. 1 that it had chosen the University of California, Berkeley, to lead the largest academic-industry research consortium in U.S. history, University of California officials appeared giddy.

If the deal is approved, BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, will give $500 million over 10 years to create a multidisciplinary Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley. Berkeley would partner with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to establish the institute devoted to researching biofuels… more

Stanford's Deal with Exxon Mobil Raised Concerns

Articles — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 17:22:00 -0400

The alliance between the oil giant BP and the University of California, Berkeley, stands out because of its $500 million price tag, its commercial scope and the potential for BP to exert excessive influence over the academic research. But it isn’t an isolated case.

The second largest such partnership is a 10-year, $225-million deal Stanford University signed with Exxon Mobil and other energy firms in 2002 to fund a Global Climate and Energy Project.

The Stanford deal was controversial from the start, but one aspect recently captured headlines. The San Jose Mercury News reported March 11 that Steve Bing -- a… more

Big Oil Buys Berkeley

Articles — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:59:00 -0400

On Feb. 1, the oil giant BP announced that it had chosen UC Berkeley, in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to lead the largest academic-industrial research alliance in U.S. history. If the deal is approved, BP will give $500 million over 10 years to fund a new multidisciplinary Energy Biosciences Institute devoted principally to biofuels research.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, UC administrators and BP executives immediately proclaimed the alliance -- which is not yet a done deal -- a victory for higher education and for the environment. But here’s another way to… more

Jennifer Washburn Condemns Corporate Sponsored Education on WABC-TV

Communications — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:23:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Westchester - WABC, October 26, 2006) -- A new trend in being seen in higher education: Big business spending big bucks to influence what's taught in college classes. Eyewitness News education reporter Art McFarland has the story.

Matt Ganis is teaching computer programming at Pace University in Pleasantville. But he's not paid by the university. He's an IBM employee, brought in to give this lecture as part of a worldwide, $100 million IBM program to shape college curricula in information technology...

IBM has invested more than a quarter of a million dollars at Pace, for hardware, software, faculty training and student field trips to IBM research labs. But critics say businesses should not have such influence.

New America Foundation's Jennifer Washburn writes on the subject.

"We really depend on our institutions of higher education to be independent institutions that train students to be very versatile and creative in their thinking," Washburn said. "We don't turn our institutions into corporate training grounds..."

For the complete article, please visit the WABC-TV website.

Textbook Foolishness

Articles — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:03:00 -0400

An important education bill -- sponsored by state Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) and supported by prominent education groups -- is sitting on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk awaiting his signature. The bill would allow publishers to develop textbooks for the state that would be designed to foster the language skills of non-native English speakers.

Virtually everyone agrees that these English language learners, who make up about 25% of the state’s student population, need more help mastering English. According to a 2006 state-commissioned report, fewer than 40% of English learners in California schools are likely to meet the linguistic and academic criteria needed… more

Jennifer Washburn on Company-Designed University Curricula in the Wall Street Journal

Communications — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 07:56:00 -0400

New America in the News:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When graduate students at North Carolina State University took their seats on the first day of a class called Services Management, the kickoff lecture wasn't delivered by a professor. Instead, it was given by a manager from International Business Machines Corp.

The company, in fact, helped develop the curriculum and awarded grants to the school with the expectation that the course would be taught -- all with the aim of producing graduates better prepared to work for IBM. The guest speaker, a regional manager, began his lecture by saying, "My name is Craig Nygard, and I am a services professional," later adding, "You have started thinking about tackling big problems and turning them into revenue opportunities."

A fast-moving, competitive economy -- and the perception that students are unprepared for its demands -- is creating a new phenomenon at colleges and universities: courses supported by, and tailored for, potential employers. In addition to IBM, other major corporations seeking to increase their presence and influence on campus include Credit Suisse Group and German auto maker BMW AG...

To read the rest of the article, please visit The Wall Street Journal website.

The Best Minds Money Can Buy

adminn — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:09:00 -0400

Most of us place enormous faith in our universities. We trust that they are autonomous, independent institutions committed to education, scholarship, academic freedom and the production of knowledge free from the influence of special interest groups. Right?

Wrong. In the last 25 years, the United States has given birth to a market-model university, one where professors increasingly work "for hire." Just last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that a major academic study -- which found that antidepressants were safe and effective for pregnant women -- was tainted by undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Apparently, although the study itself was financed… more

Want an Exit Exam? Spend the Money

Articles — Sun, 21 May 2006 16:20:01 -0400

The recent court ruling clearing the way for students who flunked California's high school exit exam to receive their diplomas anyway was frustrating to anyone who wants the state to reclaim its former glory as home to the nation's greatest public education system. The fact that 47,000 students lack a rudimentary proficiency in either eighth-grade math or 10th-grade English is appalling. More appalling is that the exam doesn't test 12th-grade proficiency.

The unpleasant truth is that decades of severe financial neglect have undercut the ability of the state's public education system to administer the exam equitably. About 61% of the… more

The Legal Lock on Stem Cells

Articles — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400

California's $3-billion stem cell program has encountered repeated setbacks since it was approved by voters 17 months ago. Now it faces an entirely new and potentially even more worrisome challenge arising from two powerful patents -- patents No. 5,843,780 and No. 6,200,806, to be exact -- which cover all human embryonic stem cells and the method by which they're made.

Patents are supposed to stimulate innovation. That's why they exist. But it appears that these two patents, held by a foundation affiliated with the University of Wisconsin, may exert a dangerous monopoly over all future research in the… more

Bush Makes His Pitch to be a Pro-Science President

Articles — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400

When President Bush announced his support for an American Competitiveness Initiative in his State of the Union address in January -- including $136 billion over 10 years to boost research funding in the physical sciences and train 70,000 math and science teachers to improve the skills of American students -- many of California's scientists and teachers were stunned. Bush hasn't exactly shown much respect for science during his two terms as president.

Many Americans still deeply resent the president's decision to restrict funding for embryonic stem cell research because of opposition from a small religious minority. (Fifty-nine percent… more

Colleges' New Economics

Articles — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0500

A trend toward privatization and a shift in spending priorities is putting California's public colleges and universities at risk of forsaking their mandate to deliver a quality public education to the state's growing ranks of would-be college students.

The eye-popping compensation packages paid by the University of California to its top administrators--even as Sacramento raised fees, cut services and increased class sizes--are the latest sign that the state's higher-education system is in trouble. Last year, according to recent reports, UC quietly doled out more than $871 million in bonuses and other benefits to its top employees and administrators. Former Chancellor Robert… more

Rent-a-Researcher

Articles — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Earlier this month, Sheffield University in Britain offered $252,000 to one of its senior medical professors, Aubrey Blumsohn. According to a copy of a proposed settlement released by Blumsohn, the university promised to pay him if he would agree to leave his post and not make any detrimental or derogatory statements about Sheffield or its employees. For several years, Blumsohn had been complaining of scientific misconduct. His concerns primarily revolved around a $250,000 research contract between Sheffield and the Ohio-based Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. Blumsohn claimed that the company had denied him access to key data and then tried to… more

Tainted to the Core

Articles — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0400

In the fall of 2001, the editors of 12 prominent medical journals collectively announced that they would refuse to publish research on new prescription drugs unless the authors provided assurances that they had had unimpeded access to the data and were fully responsible for the paper's conclusions. The announcement was an extraordinary admission of just how extensive industry control over medical research had become. The editors noted that more and more, the authors of scientific papers -- even authors based at prestigious universities -- did not have access to the complete trial data. In some cases, the editors observed, authors… more

University, Inc.

Communications — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
03/21/2005 - 12:00pm

During the past two decades, commercial forces have quietly transformed virtually every aspect of academic life. Corporate funding of university research is growing -- and the money increasingly comes with strings attached. Universities themselves are starting to behave like commercial entitities, while professors are behaving more like businessmen. The speakers will discuss the origins of this remarkable commercial transformation, and explore its impact on education, medicine, and U.S. innovation over the long term.

University Inc.

adminn — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 18:02:00 -0500

Selected reviews of University Inc. are featured below:

Publishers Weekly

American universities are the envy of the world, but they may be on the brink of discarding the very values and practices that have made them so successful, argues journalist Washburn, as secretive connections between private industry and the academy have begun to "undermine the foundation of public trust on which all universities depend." Washburn has a muckraker's keen eye for scandals and coverups; her examples of academic research suppressed in… more

Selling Out

Articles — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Elias Zerhouni, director of the US National Institutes of Health, last week took one small step along the road to repairing the tainted ethical reputation of government science. New conflict-of-interest rules that he announced will at last bar NIH scientists from moonlighting as consultants for private industry. The move follows a series of investigations by The Los Angeles Times and the US Congress that uncovered extensive financial ties -- many previously undisclosed -- between agency scientists and the drug and biotech firms that have a financial stake in the outcome of their research.

This is reassuring news, but it… more

Hired Education

Articles — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0500

M. Michael Wolfe, a gastroenterologist at Boston University, admits he was duped by the Pharmacia Corporation, the manufacturer of the blockbuster arthritis drug Celebrex. (In 2003, the company was purchased by Pﬁzer.) In the summer of 2000, The Journal of the American Medical Association asked Wolfe to write a review of a study showing that Celebrex was associated with lower rates of stomach and intestinal ulcers and other complications than two older arthritis medications, diclofenac and ibuprofen. Wolfe found the study, tracking 8,000 patients over a six-month period, persuasive, and penned a favorable review, which helped to drive up Celebrex… more

The Tuition Crunch

Articles — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0500

A four-year college degree has become all but a necessity for getting ahead in the information age. Since the 1980s the average real income of workers with only a high school diploma has fallen, while salaries among those with at least a college degree have risen: they now earn 75 percent more than high school graduates. At the national level, having a highly educated work force is critical in order to sustain our technological edge in the global economy.

America's higher-education system ranks among its greatest achievements. But in the past two decades our commitment to equal opportunity in post-secondary… more