Dive Summary:
- Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has withdrawn his previously agreed upon donation of his papers to the Harkin Institute of Public Policy at Iowa State University after an argument over academic freedom.
- The quarrel began when Harkin discovered a memo banning his namesake institute from studying agriculture last summer; university President Steven Leath responded by revising the memo to say that such research "is expected to be planned, conducted, and published in a cooperative, collaborative manner."
- While the director of the Harkin Institute, Professor David Peterson, dismissed Leath's revision as mere "bureaucratic linedrawing," Harkin and the institute's advisory board remained troubled by such an impingement on academic freedom and voted 5-1 to recommend Harkin withdraw the donation of his papers.
From the article:
"... Harkin, a near 40-year veteran of Capitol Hill who will retire when his current term elapses in 2015, announced on Tuesday evening that he would not donate papers documenting his congressional career to the Harkin Institute of Public Policy at Iowa State, his alma mater. Harkin, who had previously agreed to donate his papers to the institute, argued that doubts about the institute's academic freedom had caused him to change his mind. ..."
