There are many ways in which corporations are entering into university campuses. Obvious ones include corporate sponsored classrooms, while there are not so obvious ones like scientists plugging away at the latest biotech crop and drug research. The corporatization of public universities has led to the university/industrial complex and has become a serious threat to academic freedom. The main goals of unversities' governing boards and certain faculty and departments are to secure investments from corporations, develop patentable technologies, create start-up/spin-off companies, and train graduates to meet employer's goals. The federal and state governments are playing a strong role in strengthening corporate-university links, by cutting back on funding for research at public universities and at the same time enacting laws encouraging corporations to invest in university research. Laws like the Bayh-Dole Act (1980) have played a key role in strengtheing coporate-university ties by enabling public universities and companies to patent discoveries made under federally funded research and encouraging universities to commercialize research. This has led to spurring increases in tuition fees and the underfunding of many academic departments, especially in the liberal arts.

- The Privatization of Public Universities (May 23, 2003) by Robert Berdahl

- Summary of Technology Transfer Legislation (2003) from Rand's publication "Technology Transfer of Federally Funded R&D"

- Understanding Technology Transfer: The process of commercializing university research

- "Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education" (2003) by David Kirp, UC Berkeley Professor

The Biotech-University Links:

Universities are the main source of research for the biotech industry, since the univesities offer access to talented researchers and a research infrastructure heavily subsidized by the governement. Biotech corporations become involved with unversities by setting up partnerships with unversity lab or departments, contribute to fundraising campaigns, endow chairs, sponsor events, award scholarships, and provide money for infrastructure.

- Bio Justice Project - Corporate Biotech University (Polaris Institute)

- Report emphasizes biotech's need for academic-corporate study (SF Chronicle, June 11, 2001)

- Biotech, Exclosures, and the Privatization of Life by Kenneth Worthy, Biotechnology and Society, May 15, 2001

Novartis deal with UC Berkeley:

On November 23, 1998, the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the UC Berkeely signed a 5-year $25 million contract with Novartis. It permitted Novartis to commercialize participating professors' research, temporarily delay publication of researcher's findings, and make participating professors sign confidentialilty agreements. The deal was not as successful as Novartis had hoped and by December 2002 only one invention was available for licensing. The contract ended on November 23, 2003, when an option to renew it was not picked up. Some faculty, including Professor Ignacio Chapela who was denied tenure recently, and students, led by Students for Responsible Research, actively protested against the Novartis-Berkeley deal.

- $25 million legacy for the love of science April 22, 2004 (SF Chronnicle)

- Letter's to the Editor regarding "Novartis Gone but not forgotten" February 2004 article April 2004 (California Monthly)

- Novartis Gone but not forgotten February-2004 Issue (California Monthly)

- To learn more about Professor Ignacio Chapela's tenure case click here

News Items:

- Campus Office to Lure Private Investment June 24, 2004 (Daily Californian)

- Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute and UC Berkeley Collaborate on Nanotech (June 1, 2004) Azom.com

- UC rejects tobacco money for research May 15, 2004 (SF Chronicle)

- Prof. David Kirp discusses the marketing of higher education Real Audio File (March 15, 2004) KQED Radio - Forum

- Academic Industrial Complex (September 6, 2003) New York Times

- The University-Industrial Complex: A threat to the public funded institution? (August 2002) Science in Africa

- A Vilified Corporate Partnership Produces Little Change (Except Better Facilities) The Chronicle 6/22/2001

- Is the university-industrial complex out of control? (January 11, 2001) Nature

- The Kept University (March 2000) The Atlantic Monthly