A new report released by the American Civil Liberties Union June 21 charges the Bush administration with hampering academic freedom and scientific inquiry. The report, Science Under Siege, delves into the administration’s practices after Sept. 11 that have restricted the free flow of information and research. 

According to Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, some classification is necessary to protect the nation’s security, but the Bush administration’s imposition of unreasonable restrictions goes “far beyond anything that is justified.” 

“At the base, the war on terror is a war on ideas,” says Romero. This war on terror, which the Bush administration cites as the reason for its restrictions, cannot be won without the preservation of academic freedom and advances in scientific research.  

Abuses noted in Science Under Siege include the over classification of information and designation of areas of research as “sensitive but unclassified”;  censorship or prescreening of scientific articles before publication; exclusion of foreign students from access to research projects; suppression of environmental and public health information; and increased restrictions on materials and technology commonly used in basic scientific research. 

When asked about the progress the ACLU has made toward loosening restrictions on scientific research, Tania Simoncelli, the Technology and Science Fellow with ACLU, said that the biggest problem right now is that foreign students feel turned off from applying to programs for fear of restriction. There has been a large decline in application rates, she added, especially in the sciences and technology. 

Last summer at the American Federation of Teacher’s convention, delegates passed a resolution opposing administration policy, noting "a pattern of suppression and distortion of scientific findings by high-ranking Bush administration appointees across numerous federal agencies.” The resolution states, “It is critical that the government use accurate and unbiased scientific information to make policy."

A copy of the report can be downloaded at the ACLU’s Web site at http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=18445&c=39). [Molly Kinsella]

June 23, 2005