Report Lists, Criticizes Gov. Research Restrictions

Harvard will soon release a comprehensive report on recent federal proposals to restrict universities' ability to conduct and share certain kinds of research.

The report, written by Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs John H.F. Shattuck, discuss in detail the latest federal research restrictions, which he believes severely limit academic freedom. The study emphasizes the impact of publication limitations and access of foreign scholars to research findings.

Since be took up residence in Massachusetts Hall last June, Shattuck, formerly a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, has focused his energies on the issue of academic freedom. Shattuck has so far addressed this issue in magazine and journal articles, several public speeches, and in this report.

Public and Comprehensive

Though President Bok (who earlier in the semester wrote an Open Letter on the topic of academic freedom) and Shattuck's predecessors were concerned with federal research restrictions, none had taken a public and comprehensive look at recent trends in federal restrictions, said Parker'L Coddington, director of governmental relations.

"It's something that I felt needed attention," Shattuck explained, adding that, in the public debate over the limitations, "higher education has not been visible enough, especially Harvard."

Universities such as MIT, CalTech and Stanford-which receive large chuncks of Department of Defense (DOD) funds-have thus far dominated the debate which has focused on research with possible national security implications. But Shattuck said last week that "Harvard is uniquely suited to raise the issue precisely because we have fewer Defense Department dollars than other universities."

The Restrictions

The 30-page report, which will read the desks of the presidents of matter research universities within the next two weeks, deals with four types of federal constraints:

* Prepublication review requirements for federal employees and some government-sponsored research contracts.

* government classification of previously unclassified research:

* restrictions on the international

distribution of certain kinds of research and access to facilities under the Export Administration Act:

* and, the denial of U.S. Visas to foreign academics because of their political beliefs.

Despite the longstanding existence of mechanisms for such restrictions. Shattuck and other said the situation appears to have worsened under the Reagan Adminsitration, endangering academic freedom beyond tolerable levels.

Coddington, who advised Shattuck on the report, called the paper "a compendium [of recent federal research restrictions], which illustrates that the forests is getting much larger."

Like most other major federal grant recipients, Harvard handles most cases on a contract-by-contract basis, rather than fighting federal policy as a whole, University officials said. "Most cases we've been able to negotiate in a very quiet way," said Patricia R. Benfari of Harvard's office of Sponsored Research.

Non-Defense Infringements

Shattuck's report, however, cited the increased incidence of prepublications and other restrictions in non-defense contracts awarded to Harvard in recent years.

"Some of the most restrictive proposed contract clauses contained in non-technology, social research contracts." the report stated. It cited examples of prepublication restrictions-most eventually removed through negotiation-in grants from the National Institute of Health, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental protection Agency.

"I simply hadn't been aware of the contract restrictions in other [non-defense] areas," said Robert M. Rosenzweig, president of the Association of American Universities, a coalition of 50 major research universities including Harvard.

Rosenzweig and Coddington agreed that the report's value is in its completeness in covering the various federal policies which affect academic freedom.

"To the extent that it serves as a comprehensive sort of Iayman's guide to federal violations of academic freedom, it will be useful," said Yale University General Coursed Lindsey C. Kiang, who had not yet seen the report.

Shattuck said he timed the study's release to coincide with relative calm on Capital Hill. He said that universities needed to convince other segments of society--including Industry and the press--that federal inroads into a academic freedom boded ill for them too