UT Class Spikes CIA Project

An independent study project in which students conducted marketing research in University of Texas classrooms for use by the Central Intelligence Agency has been stopped after concerns were raised about whether the project runs afoul of UT research regulations.

The lecturer for the class, Herb Miller, voluntarily stopped the project when the head of the Office of Research Support and Compliance, Lisa Leiden, informed him of the concerns. Leiden originally learned of the project when the Chronicle called to ask about it. "It was his decision that it was the best thing to stop the project if there was a gray area," said J.B. Bird, a spokesman for the McCombs School of Business whom Miller asked to handle comment for this article.

While the fact that the client was the CIA raised eyebrows, where the class got tangled up was in UT "human subjects" policies, which require institutional approval for any research projects regarding people. These policies would apply whether the client seeking marketing data were Coca-Cola, Urban Outfitters, Greenpeace, or anyone else. The issue is "gray" because it could be debated that a project where students conduct brief surveys in classrooms is simply a benign opportunity to gain real-world experience, rather than the kind of "research" requiring approval.

However, Leiden says it looks like research to her. "If they want to do this in the future, they will need [human subjects] approval," she said. Miller worked with the students to develop alternative projects so they will still receive credit for the class. He also handed over the research they collected to Leiden, who destroyed it.

Leiden, for her part, expressed regret that the students lost an opportunity that many of them "love" – the issue is not that students can't do this kind of project, but that her office did not have the opportunity to make a ruling. She was also troubled that none of the professors who had concerns about the class had raised them directly with her. "There's a mechanism for them to voice these concerns on campus," she said. "We're here, and we're open five days a week, and I check my e-mail on weekends, and this is what we do. We take our responsibilities very seriously."