Students for Responsible Research is committed to promoting responsibility, diversity, integrity, and open communication in research conducted under the auspices of the University of California. We urge researchers and administrators to recognize and act upon their responsibility to the University and to the public. We believe that diversity is critical to all stages of research, including (1) funding sources, (2) goals, and (3) the recipients of the produced knowledge. We believe that researchers and administrators alike should critically examine the role of outside financial and political influences in the determination of research goals. We promote transparency and openness of communication about the research process with all members of the University community and the public. We strive to raise awareness and appreciation of these values throughout the campus and the greater community.
| a recent $25 million research alliance between CNR and the Swiss biotech giant Novartis that puts the College’s academic integrity at stake. This agreement was signed despite the fact that it has weak oversight, that the alliance was hurried through while student and faculty concerns were ignored, that this contract amounts to tax dollars being used for the research & development of a foreign corporation, and that the alliance moves the College’s research agenda towards developing profitable genetically engineered crops at the expense of its mission: to meet societal demands for environmental quality, sustainability of natural resources, food safety, nutrition, and economic development through public good research and the extension of the results to the people of the state. |
| the selection of the new CNR dean |
| a proposal by the Bay Area Coalition for Urban Agriculture (BACUA) to establish a center for urban agriculture, based at the Gill Tract |