CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Issues & Campaigns
Stéphane McLachlan and Ian Mauro
University of Manitoba professor Stéphane McLachlan and doctoral student Ian Mauro researched the impact of genetically modified crops on farming and in 2002 compiled their findings in a documentary entitled Seeds of Change: Farmers, Biotechnology and the New Face of Agriculture. Their research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
When it was time to disseminate the research documentary, the University of Manitoba administration effectively blocked its release. It did this by utilizing a long-standing university policy that states, in part: “The University has, to the extent hereinafter defined, an interest in every recording, made on tape, film, phonograph record, kinescope or other recording medium belonging to the University.”
The experience of McLachlan and Mauro is an object lesson in how a university’s claim to intellectual property ownership can interfere with academic freedom.
Resources
- Controversial Video to be Released across Canada (Nov 2005)
- Monsanto, Lawyers, Lies and Videotape: Seeds of Censorship Sown at University of Manitoba (Canadian Dimension, Sept/Oct 2005)
- Video Held Hostage (Sept 2005)
Links
Seeds of Change website: www.seedsofchangefilm.org
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