Universities as a critic and conscience of society : a study of four universities' involvement in the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification

Abstract

In recent decades, Aotearoa New Zealand's universities have become increasingly involved in the commercialisation of new technologies. Simultaneously, questions have arisen about their ability to critique these new technologies in a broad and balanced fashion, and to discharge their statutory role as a critic and conscience of society (i.e., their CCS role). Given the existence of these questions, this study explored the extent to which four universities (the universities of Auckland, Canterbury, Lincoln and Otago) discharged their CCS role during the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification. Interviews with university personnel, a Content Analysis of submissions, and a series of requests under the Official Information Act 1982 were used to gain insight into events within the four universities, and the interests and pressures that shaped the activities of university personnel. Based upon the results of this investigation I have concluded that the four universities implemented their CCS role in a weak fashion. While the four universities played an active part in the Royal Commission's inquiry, the flow of information from university personnel, to the Royal Commission, was constrained in a number of ways. As a result, it is likely that the Royal Commission only received a fraction of the knowledge and ideas that university personnel possessed on the subject of gene technology. It is also likely that areas of consensus and conjecture, amongst university personnel, were never adequately highlighted. Unless the universities' CCS role can be revitalised, their contribution to future societal debates and decision-making processes may be similarly constrained.