Comments on The Pensive Quill: Safe for Research? Boston College: The Truth Behin...

James, Orwellian is right. And the double standa...

2013-08-18T08:32:29.453+01:00

James,

Orwellian is right. And the double standards applied as Ed pointed out in a an earlier piece blows a hole in any claim that they are interested in solving cases - only some and for specific reasons.

Menace, spineless institutional instinct. I have...

2013-08-18T08:30:06.097+01:00

Menace,

spineless institutional instinct. I have since discovered that it is a pretty frequent occurence in universities where they rush off to drop the researchers and the research participants

As James say's, the final paragraph is the key...

2013-08-16T20:58:37.586+01:00

As James say's, the final paragraph is the key, there is ongoing conflict internationally, Boston College will probably want to undertake similar research with combatants and ex-combatants in these places.
Following Ed. And Anthony's experiences I doubt anyone anywhere ever will trust research projects by Boston College or, by extension, any other United States university.
It does raise the question though, just why did/does such a prestigious college feel it has to leave aside commitments it has given to participants, would it have been as compliant had the project involved information from a Libyan, Palestinian or Chechen rebel?
Or, was it simply an extention of the old brit/US 'special relationship' exploited to an extreme.

It goes to show how low bc will stoop to pass the ...

2013-08-16T19:11:47.108+01:00

It goes to show how low bc will stoop to pass the buck and lie.

In my opinion after all the fiasco , they are not worthy of having those tapes.

And herein lies a very important message. Boston C...

2013-08-16T16:38:17.719+01:00

And herein lies a very important message. Boston College should be shunned as an institution for academic research until it proves that it will fight with integrity and determination to protect the confidentiality and interests of its research subjects. Until then BC simply cannot be trusted. It is not a safe place to conduct research.

This paragraph of the article basically summed it up for me.

When I hit university, especially undertaking various dissertations at MA, BA Level and learning research methodologies ALL centred on themes such as ethics, confidentiality, codes of conduct and academic professionalism, it was paramount that for your research would be viewed as valid, it basically had to follow academic research footsteps and principles, or conductive research failure was a given guarantee by the institution.

Boston College have really let themselves down here bigtime. Whether the material was lost, coded, whatever, I have a hunch there is more than meets the eye here, there is weaselling in my opinion on the go here, about what should and couldn't be made public after the deaths of the participants.

The US government has delivered two straight jabs and a liver bound right hook in relation to what research will be made public in the future, as the material could be highly sensitive, or a threat to someone in high places.

Anything that goes outside the norm, possibly against the mainstream will be vetted from now on in Orwellian society.

Maybe, we can only live in hope of the whistle blowers, to get to the real truths in the future, anything else with be stopped, shunned, vetted, scrapped, lost or made redundant somehow. At least we know, their MO, I suppose there are ways around everything?

GOVERNMENT’S REQUEST FOR MODIFICATION OF THE COURT’S OPINION (Petition for Panel Rehearing)