Collegiate Times

Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — "Committee assists Tech with April 16 research," (CT, March 11) had a mistake. Jack Finney is the associate dean of science at Tech. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.

"We decided that we could allow all studies to go forward, but we would have them recruit from different random samples," Finney said. "If you think of the volume of e-mail that all of us get, during a time when we are under stress, being asked day after day to participate in studies might be more of a nuisance than we wish it to be."

The Committee for Assessment and Research After the Tragedy requires no funding, and its members participate as university service. McNamee also noted its structure is flexible enough that it operates only as a response to need. If there are no survey proposals to review, there is no urgency for the committee to meet.

The commission also has no official expiration date. Because of the fact that they only meet when called upon, the group can and will remain together as long as there are requests for advice and review.

While McNamee and Finney both showed confidence in the success of the committee thus far, Finney stated that the negative aspects have been minimal, and typical of a project such as this. The only two issues that are attributed unenthusiastically are the time it takes to pass through a second committee, and the effect that occurs if the committee denies a survey request.

"We've tried to keep our turnaround time very short, so we haven't been a source of delay," Finney said. "I think that we have operated as a problem-solving committee, so that if we saw duplication, we work with the investigator on how to get a random independent study. We haven't tried to be an impediment to research; we've tried to work with people to be able to conduct their studies."

There are no conflicts of interest among the committee, as only one member is participating in his own unique research study.

To date, the committee has managed to have a positive effect on more than just the students at Tech. Since the Feb. 14 shooting at Northern Illinois University, Finney has been in contact with the university's dean of the college of arts and sciences.

"My contact has been more about the kinds of activities that we did here in the college of science after our tragedy, to give him an idea of what he might do in the first couple weeks," Finney said. "I fully expect that I'll be in touch with someone once they start to receive research proposals. They are just getting to the point of thinking about what they need to do next."

Continue Reading:  « Previous12