Susan Snyder’s article at the Philadelphia Inquirer Temple probing funding of two professors’ research describes the background to the following open letter.
October 14, 2014
Office of the Secretary
Sullivan Hall – 3rd Floor Mezzanine
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
RE: Temple University Policy for Disclosure of Research Funding
Dear Members of the Board of Trustees:
We, the undersigned current and former faculty members and scholars at institutions of higher learning, submit this joint letter in reference to a controversy concerning the integrity of academic research at Temple University.
According to recent news reports, a working paper released last year by Temple Professors Simon Hakim and Edwin A. Blackstone, entitled “Cost Analysis of Public and Contractor-Operated Prisons,” did not initially disclose that the study had received funding from the nation’s three largest for-profit prison companies.
In addition, when Professors Hakim and Blackstone submitted editorials to at least five newspapers concerning their research findings, the majority of their editorials failed to disclose the corporate funding they received from the private prison industry.
When questioned about this lack of disclosure, Professor Hakim was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 10, 2014 (enclosed) as saying: “It’s not that important.”
We disagree.
While we take no position on the methodology and conclusions of Professor Hakim and Blackstone’s study, we are troubled about the lack of transparency and adequate disclosure of the funding source of their research.
Working papers released in advance of publication may circulate for a lengthy period of time, in some cases for years, before the research is peer reviewed and published. In other cases the research may never be published, leaving the working paper as the only version of a study made publicly available.
Further, editorials are intended to inform and influence, and disclosure of a study’s funding source in such writings is essential to ensure that the public is fully informed with respect to material issues such as actual or apparent conflicts of interest.
In this case, we believe it is material that Professor Hakim and Blackstone’s cost analysis of private and public prisons was funded by the very industry that is the subject of the study and which stands to benefit from the findings of same.
We understand that an ethics complaint was filed against Professors Hakim and Blackstone regarding their failure to adequately disclose the funding source of their study, and that the University took action as a result (see enclosed July 16, 2014 Inquirer article). While that is encouraging, unless policy changes are made there is no guarantee that future research by Temple staff will include transparent disclosure of corporate funding sources.
Therefore, we urge Temple University to adopt a formal policy requiring disclosure of the funding sources for academic research at all stages of the publication process—including working papers—as well as for other writings produced by all faculty members related to their research, such as editorials and white papers, that are made publicly available.
We submit that the integrity of academic research at Temple University requires nothing less and that Temple has a responsibility to its faculty and the public to adopt such a policy.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter;
Sincerely,
(Institutional affiliations below are included for identification purposes only; signatories are in their individual capacities)
Byron E. Price, Ph.D.
Professor of Public Administration
Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Michelle Alexander
Associate Professor of Law
Ohio State University
Professor Robert Barsky
Department of French and Italian
Vanderbilt University
Joanne Belknap, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
University of Colorado Boulder
C. George Caffentzis
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
University of Southern Maine
Andrew Dilts
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Loyola Marymount University
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Professor Emerita
California State University, East Bay
Sara M. Evans
Regents Professor Emerita
University of Minnesota
Eric M. Fink
Associate Professor of Law
Elon University School of Law
Robert Gable, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Claremont Graduate University
Dr. Lisa Guenther
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Vanderbilt University
Dr. Hans B. Hallundbaek, M-Div, D-Min.
Adjunct Professor Ethics and Prison Issues
Marist College
Dr. Grace Hunt
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Western Kentucky University
Marie Kennedy
Professor Emerita of Community Planning
University of Massachusetts Boston
Visiting Professor in Urban Planning
University of California Los Angeles
Paul Landsbergis, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
School of Public Health
State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center
Lewis L. Laska
Professor of Business Law
Tennessee State University
Dr. Paul Leighton
Dept of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology
Eastern Michigan University
Mechthild Nagel, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
SUNY Cortland
Visiting Fellow, Cornell University
Professor Nicole Rafter
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Northeastern University
Professor Norma M. Riccucci
School of Public Affairs & Administration
Rutgers University
Gwenola Ricordeau, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Lille (France)
Marguerite G. Rosenthal, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, School of Social Work
Salem State University
Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Criminal Justice
University of Baltimore
D. Fairchild Ruggles
Department of Landscape Architecture
University of Illinois, Urbana-Illinois
Amy L. Sayward
Professor of History
Middle Tennessee State University
Dr. Shannon Speed
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies
University of Texas at Austin
William Sullivan
Professor of Landscape Architecture
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chris Tilly
Professor, Dept. of Urban Planning
University of California Los Angeles
Sam Vong, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor
Gustavus Adolphus College
Janet L. Wolf
Adjunct Professor
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
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