The University of Wisconsin made a lasting statement in the world of genetic research today when it put the Geron corporation on notice for failing to develop human embryonic stem cells licensed from the University into viable medical treatments. If, as seems likely, the University ultimately revokes the company’s license, it will be a major blow to the corporation, but a victory in the battle over the future of biotechnology.

Over the past several years, a common refrain has been that the rise of the biotechnology field has rapidly outpaced society’s ability to deal with the new technology responsibly. In truth, individual researchers and research institutions willingly provided their finds to entrepeneurial companies with no interest or obligations to act responsibly. In many cases rights to scientific patents were sold outright, rather than licensed.

Which is all fine and good, frankly, the progression of scientific knowledge from academia to the technology sector has historically been of great benefit to mankind. Businesses operate for the purpose of generating profits, sometimes to the greatest possible public good, sometimes not.

What is alarming about the contemporary climate in biotech research, however, is that actions such as the University of Wisconsin’s, asserting control over the use of biotechnology research by a corporation, are not only rare but becoming increasingly so. The lengthening corporate shadow in America’s research institutions and institutes of higher learning is compromising academia’s ability to maintain an independent vision for the technologies that it creates. While the perspective of the business sector is valuable, it is often hopelessly compromised by intrinsic conflict of interest and incapable of properly weighing ethical considerations, in biotech as in a variety of industries.

On an increasing number of college campuses, scientific research is in a rapid transition from the pursuit of knowledge for the benefit of humanity to the farming out of corporate R & D. Professors and schools are losing their position of influence over the use of technologies that they produce. This shameful abdication of academia’s historical role in promoting the common good portends a future where universities outspoken in the appropriate use of technology are a thing of the past. I urge this campus community to reject this trend, and to defend our academic independence against this tide of institutional indifference.