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It seems germane to the conversation that OHSU, as a public entity, has a long history of keeping Oregonians in the dark about what their scientists are doing with taxpayer dollars. I work for In Defense of Animals and we have been forced to sue OHSU twice to get documents about their primate research at their Oregon National Primate Research Center in Hillsboro, where they house more than 4,000 monkeys used for invasive experiments.

One such suit ultimately caused an eight-year delay in getting the health and behavior records for the monkeys, and in the end the judge made it clear those documents should have been made public at our initial request.

Now OHSU has successfully lobbied Salem lawmakers and weakened public record law (HB 3094 http://www.aclu-or.org/content/free-speech-0) to apply singularly to their institution, making it more difficult for watchdog organizations to get information and find out what is happening with public money.

I would be curious to know if this new Government Transparency Counsel will do anything to make OHSU more accountable to the public.

 

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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