RIT Students, faculty object to CIA work by Jennifer Hyman Democrat and Chronicle April 30, 1991
Students and faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology yesterday accused their president, Richard Rose, of deceiving them about his four- month sabbatical working for the Central Intelligence Agency.
They say that in February, when the sabbatical began, official announcements by the school gave the impression that Rose's "confidential assignment" was related to the Persian Gulf War and that it was military in nature.
At least one report, which appears to have come from a Washington news service, identified his job as assisting in rebuilding the Middle East.
"There is a strong feeling that the faculty were deceived into thinking he was working for the war effort," said Jean Douthwright, a professor of biology and member of the Faculty Council who attended a protest and news conference at RIT yesterday.
History Professor Richard Lunt said faculty were given the impression that Rose had been called up "as a reserve officer."
"This was a clear deception and we had to wait to learn the truth from the media," he said.
Lunt opposes Rose's involvemnt with the CIA on ethical grounds. "I don't believe any educator shoud have a formal connection to any institution committed to secrecy and deception."
RIT spokesman Jack Smith yesterday denied there was any deliberate deception. "We've never said one thing that has in any way indicated that President Rose is doing anything for the military, for the command authority or for the Persian Gulf War," he said. "We didn't even know the nature of his assignment."
Smith also defended Rose's work and RIT's relationship with the CIA.
"The institution has been very open about this direction, and the fact that a few students don't agree with it, doesn't mean it has to change what it's doing," he said.
Douthwright, Lunt and several other faculty members and alumni have joined students in forming a "CIA Off-Campus Coalition," to force the school to cut its ties with the agency.
These include a CIA "Officer-in-Residence" program, regular recruiting by the CIA, cooperative work experience for students and a substantial amount of CIA-sponsored research. (This particular fact is still going strong on the campus today. It is called the RITRC)
Student members of the coalition also have called for Rose's resignation or termination on the grounds that his work for the covert agency compromises the college and damages its reputation in academic and research circles.
At yesterday's news conference, coalition spokesman Brian Lang said the CIA was not only an intelligence organization but also an organization that "has consistently violated both international law and the U. S. Constitiution. The international community perceives the CIA to be a terrorist organization no different from Stasi and KGB," he said. He referred to the former East German and current Soviet secret police.
Lang, a senior mechanical engineering student, accused Rose of acting as "an employee and an advocate of the CIA" and said he was using the RIT campus as a base of recruiting for the agency.
Officially, faculty members are not calling for Rose's resignation at this time.
They had hoped Rose would respond to a Faculty Council request that he return within two weeks to explain his assignment to the RIT community. However, Rose told council Chairwoman Joan Stone yesterday morning that the would not be back until June 3. (an evasive s.o.b. to say the least)
And the rabbit hole gets deeper.
