At its meeting on Thursday, January 9, 2003, the Thirty-fifth Senate of the Academic Council heard reports and took the following action:
By a unanimous voice vote, the Thirty-fifth Senate on a seconded motion adopted a Resolution on Universities and Anti-terrorism legislation.
Resolved that:
In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001 the United States government has acted to limit the threat of further terrorism in the United States. The need for an effective response to terrorism is clear. Some of the actions taken, or contemplated, by the federal government, however, may harm the fundamental educational and research missions of colleges and universities. These include some aspects of restrictions on who may use certain biological materials, some limitations on visas for foreign students, the discussed possibility of going beyond the existing security classifications to restrict broad set of vaguely defined "sensitive" information, and the broadened range of monitoring of public and private communications.
Therefore, the Senate of the Academic Council of Stanford University calls on the Administration of the University, on leaders of other colleges and universities throughout the United States, and on executive and legislative leaders of the government of the United States to work together to ensure that governmental actions against terrorism do not compromise research and education.
EDWARD D. HARRIS, JR., M.D.
Academic Secretary to the University