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As Jennifer Washburn noted in her recent book "University, Inc.: Corporate Corruption of Higher Education," state governments increasingly view public universities more as engines of economic development tied to corporate interests than as independent institutions responsible to society as a whole.

CORPORATE DONATIONS ARE AN ACCEPTED PART of the non-state support that keeps universities in business. Industry funding can contribute importantly to public health research, and research faculty are in constant competition for funding. But the question remains: How much influence should industries that put profits before public health have on the university?

The School of Public Health's mission, like the UNC system's, is to serve the public. However, even as manipulation of science against the public interest receives more attention (think tobacco, global warming, drug risks, environmental health), our universities risk defining corporate interests as the public interest. If universities are skewed more toward the agenda of for-profit companies, they will be increasingly unable to promote public welfare when it conflicts with industry's bottom line.

Vigorous public discussion of these issues is critical for maintaining our universities as a public resource. It is indeed our responsibility to have that discussion.

Steve Wing is associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC School of Public Health and vice president of the N.C. State Conference of the American Association of University Professors. Cat Warren is associate professor in the Department of English at N.C. State University and president of the N.C.-AAUP.

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