Academics 'fear speaking out'

The Scottish and UK Governments should make it clear that university principals and academics will not face retribution in terms of future funding if they speak out in the independence debate, the president of the Royal Society has said.

Sir Paul Nurse said some working in Scotland‘s universities feel inhibited about expressing their views.

He made the comments during a Better Together event in Edinburgh at which he said medical and scientific research would suffer in the event of a Yes vote.

His concerns were endorsed by Sir David Carter, a former Chief Medical Officer in Scotland, who said he feared the general public may take silence from universities as “tacit support” for the Scottish Government.

Both men have made their views public in letters outlining why they believe Scotland’s research funding is threatened by independence.

Sir Paul, who co-signed a letter to newspapers with Lord Stern president of the British Academy and Sir John Tooke, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, told the audience : “Some in our universities feel inhibited about speaking out because of fear of retribution in relation to future funding.

“I do not know if this is correct but I am sure politicians in both Scotland and the rest of the UK will want an open and free debate, as it is so central to the democratic process and coming to the right decision.

“To promote this important debate both the Scottish and UK Governments should endorse a free and open expression of views from academics, and make it clear that there would be no subsequent retribution concerning funding regardless of the views expressed and the final outcome of the referendum.

“This is essential for the democratic process and if the right decisions about this extremely important constitutional issue are to be made.”

Sir David said: “My concern is that the general public might take silence on the part of Scottish universities as tacit support for the Scottish Government.”

He said he had contacted the principals of the five universities in Scotland with medical schools to ask if they felt “constrained and unable to speak out”.

“The answer came back that yes we do feel constrained and unable to speak out, and we would apply that not just to ourselves as principals but to our senior management as well,” he said.

Sir David said he had “no doubt” they would be voting against independence.

Meanwhile he said 93.5% of the fellows in Scotland of the Academy of Medical Sciences said they would vote No, with 91% stating a Yes vote would have a “negative or strongly negative effect” on research funding.

Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/scientific-research-suffer-082019260.html

Academics 'fear speaking out'