Classified Research at MIT Should Be Off Campus, Panel Recommends

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty committee has suggested that the university provide off-campus facilities to help faculty perform classified public service or research involving the nation’s security. In the Public Interest, a report of the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Access To and Disclosure of Scientific Information of MIT, presents recommendations for the university in handling classified work in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Appointed by Provost Robert A. Brown and Professor Stephen C. Graves, the panel stresses that MIT is firmly committed to it long-standing policy of the intellectual openness of the campus. The panel expresses concern that allowing classified research on university grounds would create two classes of individuals and would restrict faculty and student interaction on campus. It also states that students should not be required to have security clearance for thesis research.

The team proposes that MIT provide nearby facilities off campus for faculty to work on classified national security matters. They also recommend that MIT not provide storage on campus for any classified material. Use of the campus and its resources for a short-term response to a national emergency should be allowed, according to the group.

The panel presents 12 findings ranging from classified research occurring on MIT’s campus and faculty participation in that research to relationships with other research laboratories involved in national security research.

In the Public Interest is available in its entirety at: http://web.mit.edu/faculty/reports/publicinterest.pdf