Columbia Senate Acts to Prohibit Secret Research

The Columbia Senate adopted regulations on Friday which forbid the university to accept classified research contracts.

The Senate, composed of 78 faculty and administration officials and 23 students, recommend that existing classified contracts be made non-classified or terminated within one year. The new regulations also forbid the university to accept any contract in which the outside organization, public or private, requests the power to veto publication of the research findings.

Though they cannot use university facilities for secret research, faculty members may still act as part- time consultants to government agencies or private firms involved in secret research.

No Secrets at Harvard

Columbia's new policy is very similar to Harvard's. Since World War II, Harvard has not taken any classified contracts. Since then, no professor can, as part of his Harvard- supported research, work on any project whose result will not be made available to all those interested in them. However, all faculty members are free to spend some of their time as consultants for anyone whom they choose.

The Columbia board of trustees has the power to overrule the new regulations, but a spokesman for the university said Friday that such action was unlikely.

Columbia's Contracts

Columbia currently has contracts for only two secret projects. The university is also working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on two projects which involve access to classified information.

"In the various reports that led to this action, it was made clear that projects such as NASA's would probably be granted a waiver," Warren Goodell, Columbia vice-president for administration, said.