Chapela on the Berkeley British Petroleum Deal

In 2007, hundreds of UC Berkeley faculty, students, and community activists opposed the $500 research agreement between British Petroleum and UC Berkeley. Despite the concerns over the oil giant's environmental irresponsibility, academic integrity, the death of public (not for-profit) research, and the impact of genetically modified organisms on the ecosystem, UC Berkeley signed the agreement anyway.

In this video, Professor Ignacio Chapela eloquently makes the case against BP and the privatization of university research before the academic. He is promptly pushed off stage.

With the devastating aftermath of BP's irresponsibility in the Gulf Coast on front pages across the nation, it is time to reflect on the BP-Berkeley research agreement. Should UC Berkeley be engaged in for-profit research for one of the most irresponsible and evil corporations on earth, responsible for the largest environmental disaster in the history of the US?

The BP-Berkeley deal explicitly states that the research agreement can be terminated if association with BP is counter to UC Berkeley's values. If BP's actions are not counter to UC Berkeley's values, then what on earth is?

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• bp
• british petroleum
• berkeley
• uc berkeley
• research
• academic senate
• chapela