Industry Investment in University Research

Constrained by reductions in public funding, many United States universities have been accepting large sums of money to perform research work sought by industrial investors. The recent proliferation of significant contractual arrangements between universities and private corporations has broadened both the scope and the importance of industry-funded university research, as well as increased the presence of industry at institutions of higher learning. The implications of this trend are substantial. On a practical level, a chief concern is research quality: can research be pursued competently and efficiently, according to the best scientific principles and methodology, when many of the parameters of that research are dominated by commercial interests? An even more compelling question arises at the ethical level: will industryfinanced research serve the public good, or will it tend to serve best only those whose funding makes its existence possible? And, finally, at the political level, what of societal purpose and direction, and social equity? To the extent that the ethos of educational institutions affects the ethos of society, will the biases of those who fund university research become, or substantively influence, the biases of society? To the extent that the fruits of academic research influence the political and economic direction of society, will in-