This Tuesday, community groups concerned about the future of Trent University are holding on open forum on the proposed DNA cluster project. While rumours of the DNA cluster project have been circulating amongst the administration since 2002, to date, there have been no formal decisions made about the university community’s commitment to such a project.

President Patterson, the main proponent of the DNA cluster project at Trent, is propelling the university into a partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation, the Ontario Provincial Police and other private sector partners to create a DNA and forensics research center.

Beyond providing a space for Trent’s new forensics program and DNA research, the project incorporates the creation of a 70-acre industrial park in an effort to bring new industry to Peterborough. However, job creation is not the driving force behind the cluster project. In Patterson’s own words, the purpose of the project is to develop Trent’s commercial potential.

According to President Patterson, the “vision” for the cluster is “driven by DNA research - led by Trent University - and its commercialization potential.” At a Board of Governor’s meeting in April 2003, Patterson stated that Trent’s participation in the DNA cluster should “help the University to meet future commercialization targets.”

The project would be, by far, Trent’s largest public-private partnership to date. Given the enormity of the project and its potential effects on Trent’s academic and natural landscapes, one would think that the university community would be hearing more than rumours.

But due process is lacking. Tuesday’s forum will be the first public meeting on the issue since an original info session was held at Galaxy Cinemas by the administration a number of years ago.

The speed at which the project is moving forward is doubly disconcerting given both the lack of meaningful consultation, and the lack of formal approval from Trent University’s Senate and Board of Governors.

While the Board of Governors and Senate have not given the official go-ahead for the project, at the last BoG meeting on October 1, the site for the DNA Cluster was chosen for the North-East side of the Science Complex, on Trent’s east bank. Moreover, an architect for the project has been chosen, an application for a building permit is underway, and a completion date has already been set for December 2005.

If Senate or the Board moved not to support the development of the project, it is not unforeseeable that the president would simply respond by thanking them for their advice. When it was pointed out at the last Board of Governors meeting on October 1 that the Nature Areas committee had not, in fact, been adequately consulted on which site was preferable for the DNA Cluster, as the committee had not reached quorum, Patterson pointed out that the committee did not make decisions, but fulfilled only an advisory role.

It is unclear what benefits this new enterprise will bring to the university besides potential financial gain (it is unlikely that this will happen, given that almost all of Trent’s other commercial ventures under the direction of President Patterson have put the university’s books in the red). What is clear is that this project’s success would represent the fruition of Patterson’s corporate agenda for Trent University.

Beyond due process and the commercialization of university research, the panel will provide an opportunity to find out more information, and to discuss what impact a 70-acre industrial park will have on Trent’s Nature Areas; how this project will benefit Trent students, staff and professors; and if any ethical concerns will be a factor in determining which businesses are involved in the project.

The open forum is being hosted by the Trent Association for Public Universities (TAPU), the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA), and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG).

The forum will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 in Lady Eaton College Lecture Hall, Room 203. Panelists at the open forum include Bonnie Patterson, Brad White, Director of the Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre, and Don Mackay, Professor Emeritus and Director of the Canadian Environmental Modelling Centre.

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