Managing the pitfalls of private money

In a new piece in Science, Naomi Oreskes argues that the postwar bargain between American science and the federal government can no longer be taken for granted. As public funding falters, private money is moving to fill the gap. That brings a familiar risk: funders quietly reshaping the research agenda. Oreskes warns of the danger and offers concrete safeguards — extending faculty governance to cover external funding, and review committees answerable to the institution and the public. The goal is to take private money without ceding control over what counts as a question worth asking.