On the heels of some significant progress, we are reminded that the danger is still out there.
Just a few weeks ago, activists were arrested for their roles in incidents against UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz researchers.
Just a few days ago (March 7th), a vehicle owned by a UCLA professor and neuroscientist was firebombed outside his residence. There were no injuries reported, but the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) calmed responsibility for the attack on their website March 7th.
The LA Times is reporting that a Joint Terrorism Task Force will be investigating the incident, made up of the FBI, LAPD, LAFD, UCPD and the ATF.
UCLA is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest an conviction of anyone involved, that brings the combined total to $445,000 (including funds put up by others in the joint task force).
That is a great measure by the university, and certainly helps to bring information in - but I'm also relieved to hear of other measures the school is putting in place as well.
The Daily Bruin is reporting that the increased protective measures include the UCPD organizing patrols in the neighborhoods of targeted researchers, security officers placed at some of the researchers' homes and enhanced security systems. Just to be clear, that article was published on the 2nd and this most recent firebombing occurred on the 7th.
A lot of educational institutions are slow to take these kinds of steps because it's difficult to standardize as-needed protection. Universities can make a lot of enemies for many different reasons, especially if they promote ground breaking research or support controversial ideas.
In a perfect world, the dangers faced by researchers, professors and other fixtures of higher education would be mitigated across the board by comprehensive security policies and protective measures. But unfortunately, the higher education environment is usually ultra sensitive to any security measure, and is easily frustrated with what they see as roadblocks to the free exchange of thought and ideas.
It's the terrible nature of our profession, to sometimes only see progress and support for what we recommend in the wake of tragedy. It took shootings like the Virgina Tech and Columbine for many people to take the active shooter threat seriously, and although the dangers faced by researchers is a much more specific case all-together, a lot of the same obstacles to progress apply. I applaud the UCLA administration for taking these steps.
