Felicia Lee, The Academic Industrial Complex, New York Times, September 6, 2003. Excerpt: "Financial pressures, of course, have always existed. But a series of developments over the last 20 years or so --a university's ability to patent and license scientific discoveries, the Internet's potential to market ideas, and a competitive cultural ethos that relies more and more on rankings in many fields of endeavor, including college admissions-- are creating new ethical quandaries. At the same time, government financing for college is decreasing, and tuition covers only a portion of the rising cost, which goes up about 6 percent a year. The university, critics warn, is in danger of selling its soul." (PS: The article does not cover the university's conflicting roles as knowledge producer and knowledge consumer, and hence its dual interest in generating revenue from its research and providing open access.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/06/2003 12:18:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
