Some years there was a debate at UH about how classified research would factor into decisions on faculty tenure and promotions, and whether unpublished classified research be given equal weight in that process with research published in the open literature. The argument against it is that classified research does not add to the body of open scholarship and thus does not serve the University's educational purpose. Does anyone know how that debate turned out?

Carl_Christensen · 1 year ago

President Eisenhower warned us to "Beware of the Military Industrial Complex....It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." It's unfortunate that his warning was ignored. We are now living in a nation that is involved in 1984's Perpetual War, "The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous." In the 79 years since the end of WWII the US has been at war for 66 of those years. The US spends more on the military then the next 10 countries combined and 8 of them are our allies. The US spends 8 times more on the military than Russia. Even if we cut the US military budget in half we would still spend 4 times more than Russia. The number one export product of the US are weapons of war. Some 60% of our hard earned tax dollars goes to the military, siphoning off billions of dollars away from essential social services. Military funding for UH military research is just one example of funding being siphoned away from medical, climate, and other non-military research. If we spent a fraction of the money we waste on the military we could find the cure for many diseases, or develop a more effective battery to fuel EVs, etc.

David · 1 year ago

Of course the military research will provide "jobs," that is how they co-opt/bribe the University and broader community. Classified research is less beneficial than normal campus-based research because the results are not shared commonly, therefore not contributing to the general expansion of knowledge and peer review that general scientific research does.Let's be frank. The UH administration is out for a source of income. Any advancement of knowledge or training of graduate students is secondary at best. "Thirty pieces of silver" to overlook the likely consequences of how the technology will be applied. When I was an undergraduate, UH was helping the military train dolphins out at Coconut Island to attach mines to enemy ships and attack enemy divers. While it was classified and the Navy repeated lied about it, I had friends helping with the research. That work was immoral, but talk of "jobs" and "research" were used to excuse the harlotry.During the 1960s, UH helped develop Agent Orange which was used to destroy the jungles of Vietnam. They also poisoned people, both "ours" and their's. But UH closed their eyes and counted the cash.Same as it ever was.

Bart808 · 1 year ago