Before Ron Barrett even began working as a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas, he battled the oft-cited frustrations that the University’s current classified research policy creates.
A 1988 KU graduate, he spent the last 14 years working in academia at top-tiered universities around the world, jumping from Japan to Holland and back to the United States. He’s not quick to bash his alma mater, but his return to the Lawrence campus was somewhat less than welcoming. At Auburn University, his place of employment before coming to the University of Kansas in the fall of 2005, he had been contracted by the U.S. Air Force to assist in building adaptive wings in Boeing airplanes. He intended to carry on his research for this project when he made the job switch, but the transition proved tumultuous. The fact that the work was considered proprietary research - something the University usually shies away from - sent up red flags within the KU Classified Research Committee.
“The way the policy works caused for immense delays. This was a $100,000 project, but KU just threw that money away in part because of the policies here,” Barrett said.
So immense were the delays that Boeing actually missed a reporting deadline. They were “somewhat less enchanted with KU after that,” Barrett said. The Air Force has said it will avoid working with the University in the future.
“It’s really sad,” Barrett said. “I’ve worked with Boeing and the Air Force for so long. I had built up a trusting business relationship over my 14 years in academia. That just got shot to hell."
Unfortunately, that type of situation plays out all too often. Business connections are being severed, potential research money is being cut off from coming in, and there’s nothing professors and students can do about it. Just in the past 10 months, the KU aerospace engineering department has lost three definitive contracts with businesses, and four working relationships with major companies in that field altogether. Although the School of Engineering receives the most blows as a result of prohibiting classified and proprietary research on campus, the parameters reach every corner of campus.
Those adverse effects of the policy may soon be curtailed. A task force of KU professors is in the thick of reviewing and revising the University’s policy on such research, something that hasn’t been attempted since 1986. While the likelihood of freely allowing classified research to be conducted on campus seems unlikely, those affected by the policy hope that improvements will be made toward creating more academic freedom on campus. However, philosophical arguments about what the University should lend its assistance to has created for a debate not soon to die.
Classified research is defined as “research in which the University accepts from the outside some abridgement of the usual requirement.” (From the University’s Statement on Classified Research .) In other words, any project that has time restrictions on dissemination to the masses or includes other restrictions on who can see and deal with the data is considered classified. The current research policy prohibits a university professor or student from conducting research on something that cannot be published within three years. It also restricts any research whose data would not be made available to international students, which is often a ramification for most classified or proprietary research projects. James Roberts, vice provost of research at the University, said the most troubling and limiting clause is the “harm to humans” restriction. The policy severely suppresses what should be a forum of academic freedom, the creed of any university system, he said.
What's the difference? Classified vs. Proprietary Research
- Classified Research
- research that bears security classification from the government, including top-secret and confidential data
- Proprietary Research
- sponsorship research in which the owner (usually a business) of the data imposes publication restrictions
“This policy is an affront on academic freedom,” Roberts said. “Frankly, it may be violating the Board of Regents policy."
The “harm to human” clause is the only one of its kind in Big 12 universities.
“I don’t know of any school with such prohibition on subject matter,” Roberts said. “It’s just wrong for one professor to be able to tell another one what they can and cannot do.
For Richard Hale, professor of aerospace engineering and the chair of the task force, that clause is far too overbroad for its own good. He said the task force will focus especially on this section and attempt to tighten the language. As an example, he explained that such wording actually prohibited his department from working on any research in satellite technology.
“I suppose this technology can be abused and used as spy devices on humans,” Hale said. “ It’s just another reason why this current policy is in desperate need of updating.
Not all feel that way, however. Susan Kemper, professor of psychology and another member of the task force, said she believes that while certain parts of the policy need to be improved, and that exceptions to the rules should be allowed, the “harm to humans” clause acts in the best interest of the University.
Kemper also said she believes that the foreign national limitations, something that often comes hand-in-hand with restrictive research proposals, are imcompatible with the University’s goal to promote diversity on campus. The foreign national rules state the only U.S citizens can work with and view research data on certain projects deemed classified.
“We actively seek international students to come here,” Kemper said. “They help form a creative atmosphere and are an integral part of this university. To conduct research on something they can’t view is discriminatory. KU doesn’t have to be a part of that kind of research.”
But in order to keep up with other universities around the nation, it may have to allow for at least exceptions to the rules. Department rankings are continuing to slide because the classified research document hasn’t been examined in 20 years. The aerospace department, for example, went from a top-10 program in the late 1980s to its current ranking of 25th in the nation. The University of Kansas as a whole ranks 49th in the nation in science and research expenditures. While only a handful of top colleges permit classified research to be conducted on campus, many turn to off-campus facilities designated generally for militarily classified research projects. MIT is one of those universities. Johns Hopkins University, the top research university in the nation, conducts most of its big-money projects in its Applied Physics Laboratory, designated a non-academic division of the University. An off-campus facility for the University of Kansas will most likely not happen soon due to budgeting, but what professors and students hope for is an allowance of exceptions for individuals to be subcontracted with businesses.
One Lawrence-based engineering firm owned and run almost exclusively by KU graduates refuses, or at least greatly avoids, working with their alma mater. The last time they contracted with KU professors and students was a little less than a year ago, and unless drastic changes are made, it may be the last time ever, one of the co-owners and a 1996 graduate of the KU business school said. The identities of the company and people were requested to be kept anonymous due to the nature of the research done there.
The owner of the Lawrence aerospace firm approached several of his own former professors to ask if they were interested in participating in research and development of an anti-terrorism demonstration funded by the U.S. Navy. The goal of the technology was to create an early warning system for strikes from the sea.
“You should have seen these professors’ and students’ faces,” he said. “They were thrilled to have an opportunity to work on such technology that has now become pivotal in our field and for the nation.”
However, they never got a chance to see the project through.
“KU management stepped in and couldn’t decide whether they wanted their professors and students to be engaged in this – as it was proprietary in nature,” he said. “We need very quick turnaround time in our field and KU was just dragging its feet.”
The company was forced to take the second stage of the research elsewhere, to universities around the nation that are without the frustrations and bureaucracies of the KU policy, the owner said. Had the University of Kansas stayed on board, the University would have seen “hundreds of thousands of dollars just from that research alone,” he said.
Such instances are troubling for Barrett, who has seen many former partners - many of whom are ironically KU alum - leave him in the dust since joining the KU faculty in August. One of the reasons his wing of engineering gets hit particularly hard in this deal is because of the growing importance of military research within the field.
“Ninety-six percent of available research dollars within aerospace engineering falls within defense research,” Barrett said. “That leaves us with 4 percent of the pie – 4 percent to even try to get. That’s just shooting us in the foot.”
It’s harmful for the University’s students, as well. Roberts said that a great majority of students will go into the workforce and work with projects considered classified. It’s a lost opportunity, he said, that they can’t attempt to build business relationships during their colleges years as well as they could.
Chris Leitenberger, Girard senior, is majoring in aerospace engineering. He said he hoped the policy would change while he’s still at the Univerisity. He intends to graduate in May of 2007, and he said that the worth of his diploma could go up in stock if more restrictive research was allowed.
“One of the ways a university gains acclaim is through research and publication,” Leitenberger. “Plus, more money would come into the University and it could be applied toward more facilities and research projects in the future. And that means, for students, more experience.”
Barrett agreed, noting that the connection between the business world and academia is pivotal in progressing in the age of technology.
“The relationships between industry and academia are critical,” Barrett said, “especially for survival of both. Industry needs academia to provide new spark and new ideas. Academia needs industry support of those idea.”
The task force has already done a substantial amount of rewrites and revisions to the policy, which still contained language from the Vietnam War era. A copy of the new classified research policy should be ready for public viewing within the next few weeks, but they’re taking the time to find a balance between individual beliefs and what is in the best interest for the University in general.
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