Miriam J. Wells

Collaborative research project with Professor Miriam Wells on the topic, "The Impact of Employer Sanctions on Labor Rights."

Miriam J. Wells

Professor of Anthropology, Human and Community Development, University of California-Davis

"Politics, Social Conflict, and Economic Restructuring: The Resurgence and Decline of Sharecropping on California's Central Coast"

Another professor, Miriam Wells, of the Department of Human and Community Development, sharply challenged the university's assertion that the work at the lab would be controlled by the university and bioterrorism research would be but a sidelight.

In a detailed point-by-point review of NIH and university documents, Wells concluded "it is almost certain that classified research would be conducted at this national biocontainment laboratory.The nature of university policy, the stated purpose and governance structure of the lab, the exigencies of operational funding, NIH's planned collaboration with the Department of Defense and our direct communication with NIH, all point to the likelihood of classified research."

The nature of what the lab would be used for concerned many faculty members "greatly."

"While limits on public knowledge may be necessary to combat bioterrorism, they are incompatible with the spirit of open intellectual exchange on which a public institution of higher education such as UCD is based," Wells wrote.

MIRIAM J. WELLS, October 22-24Professor of Anthropology, Human and Community Development, University of California-Davis