Statement of Professor Stephen C.

Halpern Professor of Political Science, UB, June 28, 2012 These are difficult times for public universities. Diminished financial support is taking a drastic toll. It has produced a frantic search for money. While understandable, that scramble for dollars can undermine the unique stature, legitimacy and public trust universities enjoy. That public trust derives from the perceived independence of the university. The independent search for truth is the noble enterprise at the core of university life. It is the core value at stake in the controversy over UBs Shale Institute. Consistent with the value of independence, legitimate academic research is not undertaken to benefit any one interest. In conducting research, neither universities nor faculty should be beholden to outside interests, answerable to them, or dependent upon them. Even the appearance of such dependence compromises a universitys integrity. Independent research about the safety of fracking is a proper and important subject for scholarly inquiry. It can inform public debate nationally and in our own state. But it is imperative for universities to take the most vigorous measures, open to public scrutiny, to insure that research priorities and results are not skewed to curry favor or future funding from outside interests. That imperative is especially compelling in the case of research on the safety of fracking. For in that case, powerful forces outside of the academy have a huge financial stake in the outcome of academic research. In pursuing their own private interests, those forces may be willing to provide or withhold significant funding to cash-strapped universities depending - - and here is the key - - depending - - on whether they conclude that their interests will be served by the research conducted at the university. That is the concern at the heart of the controversy about UB's Shale Institute. How can UB dispel that concern? Simply. It can be transparent. It can disclose for public accountability all of the documents bearing upon the founding,

funding, hiring and expenditures in connection with the Institute. The citizens of New York deserve no less. There may be perfectly good answers to the many questions raised about the Shale Institute. But the university has never really addressed those questions. It can do so only by the fullest disclosure of all documents bearing on the formation and operation of the Institute. For the sake of the university for which we all have an abiding regard, it must do so.