Cornell must reveal records

A New York court has ordered Cornell University to hand over safety protocols and financial records related to its multi-million dollar biotechnology research operation. The ruling, issued November 7, stemmed from a journalist's suit under New York's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) against the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, one of four colleges Cornell runs for the state. Handed down at a time when federal agencies are under orders from the White House to delay and defeat requests for information under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the New York ruling is one of a series of cases in which private schools have been ordered to open their books on the basis of state FOI laws.The state Supreme Court Appellate Division in Albany found that while Cornell is a private institution, it is performing a public function in running the agricultural science school and the experiment station associated with it in nearby Geneva for the state. Thus, the court ruled unanimously, the school is bound to respond to requests for documents generated by those facilities under the state's FOI Law.Cornell spokesman Henrik Dullea told The Scientist that the school did not go to court to keep its biotech research contracts secret or to hide the risks of genetic contamination from agricultural experiments, as some have alleged. The university fought the case, he said, to keep the shield of privacy around the four colleges Cornell runs for New York state: agriculture and life sciences, human ecology, veterinary medicine and industrial relations."Our legal position has been that Cornell and its state-assisted colleges are all part of a private university pursuing certain state services pursuant to law," Dullea said. "But that does not mean they are covered under the freedom of information law." Dullea added that the school had offered to hand the records over voluntarily and only resisted because the journalist invoked the FOI Law. Untrue, said Diane Campbell, the attorney who represented former radio reporter Jeremy Alderson in the lawsuit. Late in the case, Cornell offered to hand over a few documents, she said. But those did not include the critical information Alderson wanted to see: results of safety reviews of Cornell's experiments with genetically modified crops and contracts with the firms that sponsor the research.More than two years ago, Alderson said, he asked the school to prove its public claims that its agricultural genetic research did not pose a threat to food crops in the farmlands of upstate New York. The school refused. "Cornell has put out public relations material saying that they know the work is safe. One of the reasons they say this is that they claim to have done risk assessments," Alderson told The Scientist. "When you ask to see those risk assessments, they categorically refuse to show them to you."Alderson said he expects Cornell will appeal, and that it will use other legal maneuvers to keep the documents under cover. His show on public-radio station WEOS in Geneva, New York, has since been canceled and Alderson blames pressure from Cornell. Area residents, particularly farmers, should not have to take the university's word that their food supply will not be genetically contaminated, Alderson said. Records he was able to obtain from the city of Geneva indicated the experimental agricultural station was on the ropes financially, and counting on the new agricultural technology spending for survival."That particular branch of Cornell is financially desperate and dishonest," Alderson said. "That's just who I want testing dangerous things."Plenty is on the line for the school, which has strong financial ties to the state but until now has been able to offer privacy to commercial research sponsors. Earlier this year, Cornell announced a New Life Sciences Initiative, a $500 million program aimed at making the university a biology industry powerhouse.And a week before the state Supreme Court's ruling was handed down, the New York State Senate announced a grant of $25 million toward a new $110 million life science technology building at the Ithaca-based university.

Cornell must reveal records

Court finds private school running state research is subject to freedom of information law.

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