Demilitarize McGill urges Senators to vote NO for proposed research policy

(Français plus bas)
Students and community members are distressed by changes proposed in the Regulation on the Conduct of Research – a policy statement that governs the conduct of all research taking place at McGill. The policy up for approval has been the subject of extensive criticism and involves the complete removal of a section requiring transparent reporting on research receiving military funding. A votefor approval of the policy will take place in Senate at approximately 15h00 on Wednesday February 10th in Leacock Building Room 232. Concerned students and community members will be in attendance. Continue Reading →

Don’t sell our integrity

By Nikki Bozinoff
Published: 11/30/09

In a November 23 interview with The Daily, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum shrugged off the fact that her administration is determined to remove sections of McGill’s research policy that require transparent reporting on all research receiving military funding.

“We have so many protocols that govern the ethics of the research that we do, that this would take the onus off of us to review our own research proposals,” she said.
Continue Reading →

Opt-in Ethics? QPIRG-McGill and Demilitarize McGill Present Student Papers on Militarization and Research Ethics

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Opt-in Ethics? QPIRG-McGill and Demilitarize McGill Present Student
Papers on Militarization and Research Ethics

Friday, November 27th
Shatner Building
3480 McTavish
Clubs Lounge, 4th Floor
5:15 PM

Cleve Higgins and Nikki Bozinoff will be presenting works they have
completed in the past year on military research at McGill and policies
for the regulation of this research:

–> From Bibliographies to Battlefields: Military Research at McGill
from 1967–2007
Cleve Higgins, Demilitarize McGill

–>Laissez-innover? Unpacking Research Policies in Canada
Nikki Bozinoff, QPIRG Research Stipend Recipient
Continue Reading →

Principal talks on military research and tuition

AUDIO OF THE PRINCIPAL ON MILITARY RESEARCH POLICY:

[audio http://www.radio4all.net/files/[email protected]/4059-1-hmb.mp3]

The Daily sits down with Heather Munroe-Blum to discuss campus issues

By Humera Jabir, published Nov 23 in the McGill Daily

In a week of engagement with the student body, Principal and Vice Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum met with campus media to field questions on critical issues that impact the McGill community. The principal responded to questions on military research, tuition fees, and the future of McGill as a vehicle-free campus.

Early this month, the administration announced that it would lift regulations on military-related research. The Daily asked the principal to account for the change in policy, and to explain why regulations which were previously accepted would no longer be applied. Continue Reading →

La recherche se dérègle à McGill

L’administration de l’Université tente de modifier sa politique de réglementation de la recherche.

L’armée envahit-elle le campus de James McGill? Marie McCulloch / Le Délit

Alexandre Ruiz de Porras Guédon  Le Délit

La question sur la recherche militaire a encore une fois fait débat lors de la réunion du Sénat de l’Université mercredi dernier. Dans la nouvelle politique qu’elle a présenté à l’instance décisionnelle qui regroupe administrateurs, étudiants, professeurs et employés, l’administration souhaite voir la suppression de la réglementation existante sur la recherche militaire et l’insertion d’une clause sur l’anonymat de la source de financement.

Continue Reading →

CKUT Interview

Nikki Bozinoff from Demilitarize McGill, and SSMU VP University Affairs Rebecca Dooley interviewed on CKUT’s news show “The Friday Morning After” on November 6th, 2009. The interview starts at 12:45 in the audio file below.

[audio http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20091106.08.00-09.00.mp3]

McGill Senate meeting, Nov. 4th 2009

The audio file below is a recording of the McGill Senate discussion of the new Conduct of Research policy. It begins with a presentation of the new policy by VP Research Denis Therien, followed by questions from different senators. Ed. Note: Due to an indirect request/threat from the McGill administration, this audio post has been removed.

Stay tuned for excerpts from the discussion.

McGill removes research regulation

Senators critical of McGill’s stance on military research and anonymous funding

By Stephanie Law, published Nov 5, 2009 in the McGill Daily

The proposed addition of an anonymity clause and the removal of regulations on military-funded research in McGill’s new Regulations on Conduct of Research policy sparked debate at the Senate meeting on Wednesday.

In his introduction of the policy to Senate, Denis Thérien, McGill Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations) repudiated recent concerns over the removal of two regulations on military-funded research from the draft of the new policy. Continue Reading →

Keep academia out of the war room

By The McGill Daily Editorial Board
Published: Nov 5, 2009

The new research policy put forward at Senate yesterday not only fails to address the harmful intent and effects of military research taking place at the University, but also removes 20-year-old mechanisms that partially dealt with such problems. The new rules do not require transparent reporting of research and they also allow anonymous research sponsorship. It is unacceptable and disturbing that McGill’s policy allows research that both contributes to the development of weaponry and increases such weapons’ lethality. The administration’s dubious attempts to deflect student demands regarding transparent and ethical research are equally unsettling.
Continue Reading →

McGill’s de-militarized zone: Will new research guidelines give peace a chance?

By Peggy Curran, University City, the Montreal Gazette online

A brigade of McGill students are calling on the university to give peace a chance.

They are threatening to kick up a stink this week when the university senate sits down to weigh  its proposed revamp of research guidelines – measures which were already in the works, by the way, before this fall’s ghostwriting scandal involving senior psychology professor Barbara Sherwin.

Members of Demilitarize McGill are troubled by proposed changes outlined in Regulation on the Conduct of Research, particularly the decision to remove a section which required the university to report any research which received military funding, and the insertion of a clause which would allow the sponsor of research to remain anonymous.

“The new policy is very regressive and stands to erase 25 years of student activism against military research at McGill,” says Cleve Higgins of Demilitarize McGill.

McGill amended the Regulations on Research Policy in 1988 to include sections dealing with research projects funded by a military agency in the wake of a six-day occupation of administration offices to protest the use of U.S. military funds by  McGill professors researching explosives.

McGill’s position is spelled out in this senate document.

Discussion on the new research guidelines is scheduled to take place Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. in Room 232 of the Leacock building.


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