Consistent with Bates College mission’s commitment to “cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action,” the faculty of Bates College commit to our students and to society to be engaged in intellectual inquiry, research and education. Therefore, openness in intellectual inquiry and research and the free exchange of information through education are essential to the Bates College mission.

This requires that as a general policy Bates College will not undertake, on the campus, research whose results may not be published without prior permission — for example, without permission of governmental or industrial research sponsors – without prior approval by the Dean of the Faculty. Openness also requires that, once they are at Bates College, foreign faculty, students, and staff not be singled out for restriction in their access to the College’s educational and research activities.

All research projects carried out in whole or in part on the campus of Bates College shall consist in fundamental research which expands the boundaries of human knowledge for the benefit of all humankind, regardless of nationality, race, gender, class or sexual orientation. Therefore, all such research must be conducted in a manner fully consistent with the principles of freedom of inquiry and open exchange of knowledge.

It is the policy of the College, therefore, that grants or contracts shall not be accepted for any research project that requires imposition of restrictions on the research process, results, publication or access without the prior approval of the Dean of the Faculty, who shall seek the advice of the Committee on Faculty Scholarship and will inform the committee of all approvals. Further, no project requiring that a faculty member have a security clearance or requiring a security review upon its completion may be embarked upon without the prior approval of the Dean of the Faculty.  Such exceptions are to be made only in those very rare instances when the area of work is crucially important to Bates College’s educational mission and the exception is demonstrably necessary for the public good.

Student theses are an integral part of the research program of the College and fall within the statement of policy concerning classified or otherwise restricted research on campus as stated above. No thesis requiring that a student have a clearance or requiring a security review upon its completion may be embarked upon without the prior approval of the Dean of the Faculty.