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Getting the Candidates On Record for Science
Over the past several months, there has been great interest
within the scientific community in getting the Presidential candidates on record
with regard to their views on science issues. Although both candidates have
expressed their views about science on their campaign websites and more recently
on the pages of Science (October 1 issue), stem cell research was the only issue
that received much attention during the debates. On September 30, in a forum
sponsored by the Washington Science Policy Alliance and held at AAAS
headquarters, representatives of both campaigns were invited to share the views
of their respective campaigns, followed by a Q&A session moderated by Mary Woolley, President of Research!America (one of the coalitions that figured
prominently in the advocacy campaign to double the NIH budget). The full
exchange, as well as links to the campaign positions, is available on the AAAS
website.
There were two back to back questions that may be of special
interest to SPIN readers because they dealt sequentially, first with behavioral
science, then with the scientific integrity of the peer review process. A
transcript of that portion of the Q&A is available here.
It's still the hope of the scientific community (although
dwindling) that the candidates themselves might consider engaging in a virtual
forum to answer questions from the scientific community directly. A Herculean
effort to bring that concept to fruition has been lead by David Cooper of the
American Physical Society since August. APA, along with 54 other
scientific organizations, partnered in the effort with commitments of financial
support. In addition, Steve Breckler, Executive Director for Science, sent an
appeal to 757 Psychology Department Chairs asking them to make preliminary
arrangements to assemble faculty and student audiences in support of the
proposed webcast. Steve's email can be found here.
Dr. Breckler received a vigorous response from the Department Chairs, and
we will be certain to issue a special edition of SPIN if the virtual Town Hall
Meeting can in fact be arranged.
More
information about the virtual Town Hall Meeting
Learn
more about the candidates' views on science policy
Read
a transcript of the Q&A session
Read
Dr. Breckler's email to Psychology Department Chairs
Back
to SPIN October 2004
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