The Vice Chancellor for Research, Randy Katz, recently sent all faculty and staff a proposed Presidential Policy on UC Research Data and Tangible Research Materials. It declared that “the Regents of the University of California own all research data and tangible research materials produced during the course of University research.” The message came out of the blue, with little indication of whether the proposal is a significant shift in policy and what might justify that shift. On further exploration, it would seem that there have been cases in which a researcher took precious data to another university, costing UC several million dollars. The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate has pushed back, arguing that certain data—for example, the personal field notes of ethnographers, linguists, and sociologists or archaeologists working with indigenous communities. If you are concerned about this policy, you should write to Jennifer Johnson-Hanks, Chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, johnsonhanks@berkeley.edu before April 7.
Michael Burawoy and Celeste Langan for the Board of the Berkeley Faculty Association.