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For Canadian University i’ress by Patti F lather and Jacquie Charlton
in Bill Emery’s new office at the University of BC, photos f loved ones and a child’s artwork are displayed on the wall. trounde abymthes'ewpictures, ‘the' boyish oceanography ofessor appears as friendly as any, UBC professor as he sually sits down to talk about his latest research project.
But his projects are different than most — they are funded
Ei‘»"\'. v / ’ " One of a handful of UBC professors engaged in military lured research, Emery has no qualms about using military oney. _‘ '
“We’re doing basic research that I can see military piications for, but applications aren’t my business,” he \3'. ' ,
Emergy studies temperature structures in the oceans. Using .nadian/and American military ships to collect data, he ‘aies an overall picture of upper ocean structure, informa- n that is useful in the detection of submarines.
The professor says temperature struct‘tires affect the ration of sound waves in the Ocean. ‘
“The propagation of sound has to do with'the detection of marineS, depending on whether you are looking for them trying to hide them,” he explains.
He claims the military benefits him more than he helps it.
can contribute to understanding the Ocean, that’s, fine,” adds. ~ ' V
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“I think it’s pretty silly
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hfi Canadian government’s defense department puts more “ $5 milliOn into research activities, most of them at Versities. Students at several Canadian campuses this year 0Pposing the'chanelling of scientific expertise into military ications, but thepr‘ofessors involved aren’t too concerned. UBC student referendum calling for a'ban on military aK‘h during the last Week in January passed by 58 per i, but failed to receive, the necessary 10 per cent-voter 1Out forquorum: The ballot. also endorsed the creation of
' the Canadian national defence department and the US.-
5 e W ‘ ‘ § military \ \ _ destroyed.” _ Military funded projects at Canadian universities range r from improving heat retention of sleeping bags at Hamilton’s
- McMaster University to others with a more direct application
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an ethics committee to screen reseach applications.
Emery heard little about the vote, and took the whole issue lightly. “I think it’s pretty silly,” he said.
Other professors at UBC conducting defense research say the benefits of their work far outweigh any possible destruc- tive uses the Canadian or American defense establishment may have for them. _
Civil engineering professor Mervyn Olson commented on his work designing naval ships that can withstand bomb blasts.
“No, ‘I don’t see this research as helping the arms race. It is improving Canadian expertise in structural dynamics.”
At Concordia University in Montreal, a student group is leading a campaign to get a similar referendum‘question to UBC’s on a ballot. Quebec Public Interest Research Group member JOhn Kinloch claims theecivilian benefits of such research are “totally, iacademically, intellectually dishonest.”
concordia professor Frd Knelman concurred, pointing to the larger implications of “accepting work for the defense establishment. -
“The very fact is that it’s funded by the military and we cannot control its use and abuse,” said the sciene and human affairs professor. Seemingly innocent research put in the wrong hands can have more sinister applications, Knelman said. He refers to a skin cream absorption experiment 10 years ago at McGill University that turned out to be part of a study on nerve gases commissioned by the Pentagon.
“When you have a military industrial complex, the military
hen universities become part of the then the universities are
affect veryth in
ing. dustrial complex,
to military hardware. The University of Torbnto’s aerospace studies program ‘receives a large proporation of Canadian
‘defense' department grants. One project is the design and
While professors emphasize the acquisition of knowledge made possible by military grants, theyflhav‘e no knowledge of its ultimate use. Much of Canadian research and develop-
“ ment, both in the public and private sector, goes toward
American military industrial projects, according to a bilateral sharing agreement between the two countries.
A Concordia administrator countered the anti-military arguments saying universities should accept all funds directed into military research as a matter of principle. 7
“if an, elected government is contracting out (military) research-through one of its agencies I don’t think we would refuse it,” said John Daniel, Concordia’s vice rector academic. >
Daniel would “be delighted” to accept research from Paramex, a Montreal firm that in a few months time will develop electronic weapons control systems ships. '
Philip Auerbach, the president of Paramex, has already voiced hopes that his firm will develop an excellent rapport with Montreal universities.
UBC’s research services director Richard Sprately isn’t sure how ‘useful certain research is to' the military anyhow. Sprately syas UBC’s policy of only'allowing publishable research already lessens it potential military application.
“Let’s fave it, anything publishable is not going to be interesting to the military,” Sprately said. He did agree with the concept of a screenng committee to consider the ethics of accepting certain kinds of research.
But George Spiegelmann, B.C.’s presdient of Science for Peace, says he mistrusts some of the justificiations offered by researchers for taking the Pentagon’s money.
“If you’re taking the military’s money that’s because they want to fund you. They're not dumb.”
The federal and US. government should use military funds for peace research and should prohibit directly applicable military research on campuses, he said.
“The university is a place where we should solve human problems,” he says.
“I don’t think the military can do that."
The Netted Gem
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