PDA

View Full Version : Yale Denies USSOCOM Center for Excellence for Operational Neuroscience


Richard
02-23-2013, 16:07
Bet Texas Tech would take the contract and there would be no such protest. ;)

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Defense Department Retracts Statement That It Gave Yale $1.8 Million Grant For Green Beret Training
NHRegister, 22 Feb 2013

Opponents of a controversial military training center at Yale University declared victory Friday, after the Department of Defense said no such center will be created and apologized to Yale and the citizens of New Haven.

“Don’t for a minute believe that the proponents of the interrogation center changed their minds out of the sheer goodness of their hearts,” Yale graduate student Daniel Spaulding told a group of about 20 people rallied outside of Yale’s main library.

“We showed them our power and they gave way. That’s an incredible achievement,” Spaulding said.

Over the past week, public outcry against the proposed Center for Excellence in Operational Neuroscience reached a national audience. The brainchild of Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist Dr. Charles Morgan, the center would teach communications skills and interviewing techniques to small groups of Green Berets, with volunteers from the city’s immigrant community used as interview subjects.

Criticism came from students, alumni and city residents.

“We request that Yale disassociate itself from Dr. Charles Morgan, repudiate these practices and repair its potentially flawed relationship with the immigrant community by engaging the targeted communities directly and in substantive ways,” said a statement released Friday afternoon by the local activist group JUNTA for Progressive Action.

“As a city that has worked to establish itself as a welcoming and inclusive city for immigrants, the idea of targeting immigrants specifically for the purpose of identifying the distinction of how they lie is offensive, disrespectful and out of line with the values of New Haven,” the JUNTA statement said.

Confusion over the proposed training center was rampant. The Department of Defense initially said it had awarded a $1.8 million grant for the creation of the center, while Yale released a statement saying the proposal had not been formally submitted.

The university also stressed that no center would be approved unless it complied with strict ethical standards and a proper review, in keeping with other medical research.

Yale reiterated that stance Friday afternoon, in a new statement, but admitted that “in this case, the review should have occurred at an earlier stage of discussion. A Center for Excellence in Operational Neuroscience will not be established at Yale University.”

Meanwhile, the military retracted its earlier statement about funding.

“After a review of the facts, we have determined the information initially provided to and released by this office concerning a center of excellence for operational neuroscience was incorrect,” said Ken McGraw, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Special Operations Command, in an email to the Register Friday.

“U.S. Special Operations Command has not and will not provide Yale funds to establish a USSOCOM Center for Excellence for Operational Neuroscience,” McGraw indicated. “We sincerely apologize for any problems, concerns or confusion releasing the erroneous information has caused Yale, its student body and the citizens of New Haven.”

At the small victory rally Friday, participants vowed to remain vigilant in keeping tabs on medical research at Yale that might be used for military purposes.

“This is the way to fight totalitarianism,” said Wendy Hamilton, a retired nurse who lives in New Haven. “The danger, for me, is, why the hell are medical people doing research for the Defense Department?”

Michelle Morgan, a doctoral student in American Studies at Yale, said she was worried about “an increasing military presence on campus.”

She also said she was uncomfortable with the idea of using local immigrants in a program to teach interviewing methods to the military. “Interviewing, to me, seemed like a friendly euphemism for interrogation,” she said.

For Spaulding, the incident pointed to a troubling “lack of transparency” at Yale regarding how it conducts research.

“There isn’t a system for bringing up ethical concerns with the administration before projects are approved,” Spaulding said. “This was sort of a fluke that we learned about it in time, a lot of people got upset and we were able to do something about it.”

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/02/23/news/doc5127b601ddfbb069803144.txt

The Reaper
02-23-2013, 18:13
I guess they missed all of the humanitarian civic action projects we do.

Be nice to be able to communicate with people without letting 5.56 and 7.62 do the talking, but if they want, we can do that, too.

I guess they forgot who provides them with the freedom to protest and speak their minds.:rolleyes:

TR

blacksmoke
02-23-2013, 19:04
I left the Army thinking I was in for a more professional and mature lifestyle. I went to college and later found work in a hospital, now wishing I could go right back in. Education does not equal wisdom.

SF_BHT
02-23-2013, 19:23
I guess they missed all of the humanitarian civic action projects we do.

Be nice to be able to communicate with people without letting 5.56 and 7.62 do the talking, but if they want, we can do that, too.

I guess they forgot who provides them with the freedom to protest and speak their minds.:rolleyes:

TR

Bring back the draft and put all of them in the military......... He'll not it is bad enough right now and we do not want to completely destroy what is remaing.....

I hate those POS that have no idea what they have and why it exist.

Utah Bob
02-23-2013, 19:36
Yale.:rolleyes:

SF18C
02-23-2013, 20:06
Yale.:rolleyes:

Liberals!!! :confused:

SOF_VET
02-23-2013, 22:24
“Don’t for a minute believe that the proponents of the interrogation center changed their minds out of the sheer goodness of their hearts,” Yale graduate student Daniel Spaulding told a group of about 20 people rallied outside of Yale’s main library.

Michelle Morgan, a doctoral student in American Studies at Yale, said she was worried about “an increasing military presence on campus.”

Sadly, Mr. Spaulding and Ms. Morgan are not the first professionals I have met whose words & actions betray their lack of critical thinking skills. :confused: It seems to me that Mr. Spaulding is willfully misrepresenting the proposed program or harbors illegitimate fears based upon fictional imagery/imaginary.

I read this article yesterday & have been wrestling with the sad state of affairs at higher institutions of learning. I won't tread on the theme of colleges being liberal thought hatcheries or out of touch ivory tower-types, but these kids are way out of touch with the function/role of the US military, DoD & quite possibly US domestic & foreign policies. Frankly, I hope I'm wrong.

The lingering question is how does a university, government, military service and/or local community go about countering this willful ignorance and fantasy? Seems ROTC is finally back on campus after a 40 year hiatus. Maybe that can help. :rolleyes:

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/08/29/rotc-returns-after-decades-long-hiatus/

Cheers,
Dale

MtnGoat
02-25-2013, 08:12
Bring back the draft and put all of them in the military......... He'll not it is bad enough right now and we do not want to completely destroy what is remaing.....

I hate those POS that have no idea what they have and why it exist.

I say just go "Starship Troopers" style in that service guarantees citizenship.

Marauder06
02-26-2013, 16:37
Until this incident, I thought Yale had turned a corner in terms of its relationship with the military. Just this year, Air Force and Navy ROTC have returned to campus after a long absence, (Army decided not to open an ROTC unit here) and last year we had our first Army fellow since... ever, maybe. This year we have a Marine fellow (active duty O5(P)) and an O6 (active duty Army O6, former brigade commander in the 82nd). GEN (Ret.) McChrystal teaches here, and military officers are frequent guests of the school.

There is a large and increasing veterans' presence on campus, some of which are current active duty or reserves. Up to this point, I hadn't felt any anti-military vibes. In fact, it seemed quite the opposite. Last year Yale started a "Heros Day" celebration, which this year included a military flyover, the ROTC unit carrying out the flag pre-game, and the VIP treatment for military, police, and firefighters. It seemed like we were on the right track to repairing the damage that occurred between Yale and the military in the 60s and 70s.

Then something like this happens, and the haters come out of the woodwork here. There are a lot of articles, Facebook posts, etc. in which the anti-military rhetoric is simply vitriolic. If RUMINT is to be believed, this first broke because a popular magazine did an interview with a "theatrical pickpocket" who said he had been hired to help train Green Berets at Yale. And oh by the way, they were going to be doing interrogation training. Once that message got out-- that very sinister-sounding and utterly untrue message-- it was all downhill. Everything associated with the center, from bringing in the local immigrant community, to having military members on campus, to the center itself, was under attack.

IMO, both SOCOM and Yale did a terrible job managing the message. I think this might actually have had a shot if SOCOM and the university would have been "first with the truth" on this. But they weren't, and people with an ax to grind and absolutely no idea what they were talking about jumped all over it.

I'm attaching a protest flyer that I found on campus. In case the print isn't clear, it reads in part, "NO TO THE MILITARIZATION OF THE YALE CAMPUS," "...train US SPECIAL FORCES in interrogation techniques, using the local immigrant population as test subjects," and "Unless we SPEAK OUT all of us in the Yale community will be complicit with an interrogation program that...has been responsible for TORTURE and DEATH."

That's what we're dealing with here right now.

SF18C
02-26-2013, 18:14
I say just go "Starship Troopers" style in that service guarantees citizenship.

Who wants to become a citizen anymore??? You don't have to be a citizen to vote, get welfare or education at in state rates!!!! Hell, all the benefits with out taking a test!


GEN (Ret.) McChrystal teaches here



Not sure that helps your point! :D

Marauder06
02-26-2013, 18:45
Not sure that helps your point! :D

lol Fair enough.