The ethics of ethics appear to be out of hand at American colleges and Universities. Yesterday, the New York Times has an interesting article about the way college ethics panels are expanding their powers over an ever-greater sphere of academic study. The power and questionable value of ethics panels was a common discussion in my graduate classes, so my interest was peaked by this article.
Ever since the horrors of Tuskegee colleges and universities have made an attempt to provide protection for people participating in research. Panels were formed to review proposed research projects, and to vet them for any possible danger or abuse to participants. Originally, these protections were intended to cover biomedical research with human subjects only. However, as the years go by it seems that the scope of these panels has increased dramatically. For example, virtually all psychology, sociology, and anthropology research has been subjected to oversight for some time. One could certainly make the case that these schools work in areas where harm could come to study participants in the form of mental distress or exploitation.
However, when these panels begin to encroach on fields such as history and art, people begin to think twice. There are hundreds of stories about stupid requirements or even research completely denied because of panel decisions. The article has several of these stories, but my favorite is about the anthropologist who wanted to study a pre-literate tribe. The panel required that he have them read and sign a consent form first. Do you think the members of the panel even noticed the irony?
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