Higher education gets down to business

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Winter 2003 by Harney, John O, Doan, Lynn

Sometimes, the strings are attached more ominously. A University of Wisconsin sponsorship agreement with Reebok requires that "the University will not issue any statement that disparages Reebok" and that it will take steps to address any such remarks made by university staff. The University of Kentucky's $25 million deal with Nike is terminated if the "university disparages the Nike brand." The Kent State student council routinely denies Amnesty International funding because the nonprofit criticizes one of Kent State's sponsors, Coca-Cola.

Critics are also sounding the warning about corporations using non-disclosure agreements to take ownership of university scientific research that once would have fallen into the public domain. Gary Ruskin, executive director of Portland, Ore.-based Commercial Alert, worries that educational institutions could "become factories for commercial products."

What is fair involvement for businesses? "Only philanthropy," says Ruskin, "when corporations give money to schools with no strings attached and all they receive is a heartfelt letter of thanks. There's been a drift from philanthropy into marketing."

Meaningful codes of ethics to guide business-highereducation partnerships are hard to find. But Ruskin is happy to improvise: limit corporate seats on college boards of trustees, limit naming rights on buildings, give faculty rights to their inventions, limit conflicts of interest, ban college presidents from serving on corporate boards, limit ad space in college media... and, of course, keep sight of mission. "The mission of education must stand," concludes Ruskin. "It must be a dominant value in any university-corporate activity."

John O. Harney is executive editor of CONNECTION.

Lynn Doan is a junior majoring in journalism at Boston University who served as NEBHE/CONNECTION intern during the fall of 2002.