In an editorial Nature states that “Although Hargis has the authority to make such decisions, this action seems arbitrary and ad hoc.” and concludes that “Imposing such a decision on the fly sets a bad precedent. Animal-research policies need to be guided by a moral compass — a consensus on what people find acceptable and unacceptable. Precisely because this issue is so morally and emotionally fraught, decisions by administrators should involve careful consultation with researchers as well as with all other members of university communities.”

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7274/full/462699b.html

Science points out that “Those sentiments (expressed in an OSU statement-PB) seem at odds with the university’s recent investment in a new biosafety level 3 laboratory on the Stillwater campus, where Kurosawa’s research would have been conducted. When the lab opened in 2006, officials declared it would help position the university to bring in more federal money for research on biodefense and infectious disease.”

I do hope that this unflattering attention might persuade OSU officials that they have made a terrible mistake, though judging from recent statements by Hargis (who said that not speaking first to campus scientists was a “rookie mistake”) and McKeever (stating that the decision only affects this specific project) they already know that they have made a right old mess of things.