Please sign and mail to:

Students for Responsible Research
c/o Jesse Reynolds
University of California
Division of Ecosystem Sciences
151 Hilgard Hall #3110
Berkeley, CA 94720-3110

We must receive signatures by May 4!

We are a group of students, primarily graduate students in the College of Natural Resources (CNR) at the University of California, Berkeley, who are concerned about the impact of large-scale funding by for-profit corporations on university research. Specifically, we are worried about the influence of a recent alliance between CNR and the Swiss biotech giant Novartis, who have forged a $25 million alliance that puts the College’s academic integrity at stake. This agreement was signed despite the fact that it has weak oversight, that the alliance was hurried through while student and faculty concerns were ignored, that this contract amounts to tax dollars being used for the research & development of a foreign corporation, and that the alliance moves the College’s research agenda towards developing profitable genetically engineered crops at the expense of its mission: to meet societal demands for environmental quality, sustainability of natural resources, food safety, nutrition, and economic development through public good research and the extension of the results to the people of the state.

The details of the contract became available only after its signing. It revealed that Novartis gets access to the results and first rights to exclusively license - and profit - from not only the research they fund, but nearly all the research in the entire Plant and Microbial Biology Department - including government funded research. Yet many details of the alliance remain unclear. For example, the contract does not clarify if the alliance includes the appointment of adjunct faculty from Novartis, whether the University will be held liable for the products developed from the research, or if the alliance is with a select group of faculty, the Department, or the entire College.

If you are in the College of Natural Resources, you should be concerned about the damage to the reputation of the College. If you are in the University of California, you should be concerned that this deal indicates the future of funding in the entire UC system. If you are involved in academic research, you should be concerned that this sets a dangerous precedent for the future of public universities. And if you pay taxes, you should be concerned that your money is being used, not for the public good, but to give exclusive, profitable product licenses to a Swiss biotechnology giant.

More information is available at http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~reynolds/srr .

Petition to Amend the Novartis - UC Berkeley Contract

Drafted by Students for Responsible Research, UC Berkeley

	Specify that the contract exists between NADI and a group of faculty in Plant & Microbial Biology, removing any involvement of the College of Natural Resources’ faculty or dean. Furthermore, either the Dean of CNR or the Chancellor of UC Berkeley should clarify this relationship to the UC Berkeley community, the media and the public.
	Specify that the contract does not reserve any number of adjunct faculty positions for Novartis employees. UCB faculty members may propose adjunct status for a Novartis employee, but he/she must be judged solely on academic and professional merits. The mention of available adjunct faculty positions in a contract, or in associated materials and discussions, creates an expectation that could bias objective evaluation of proposed appointments.
	Specify that Novartis/NADI shall have reserved first rights of negotiation only on patents developed through research that NADI has directly funded, not as the contract currently delineates (NADI has the option to first negotiation on a percentage of all patents developed by participating faculty of PMB. This provision enables NADI to "cherry pick" the most valuable patents. Current exclusions include only for-profit agencies). If this step is not taken, contract administrators should notify all sources of public and private funding to the Plant and Microbial Biology Department of the terms of the Novartis contract in order that they may designate their research off-limits to NADI’s first right of negotiation, as provided for in the current contract.
	Specify that patents licensed to NADI/Novartis through the contract will transfer 100% of product liability – protecting UC Berkeley from litigation resulting from technologies produced and/or marketed by NADI/Novartis.
	Specify that parties involved in the negotiation of or participation in the contract disclose any conflicts of interest to the University community and to the public, as suggested by the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

Drafted by Students for Responsible Research, UC Berkeley