[9643] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: New NSF Agreement - Who will decide ?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Wolff)
Sat Jan 15 09:23:35 1994
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:19:00 -0600 (EST)
From: Stephen Wolff <steve@nsf.gov>
To: Gordon Cook <cook@path.net>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <CJMMqs.C1F@pandora.sf.ca.us>
> Pardon me? In a phone conversation with a National Science Board
> staffer a week or so ago I asked when the last time was that the science
> board had refused to accept or endorse a recommendation put before it.
>
> The response: not once in the year he had been with the science board.
> Now these very august and very busy individuals have 40 to 70 memoranda
> to approve or other wise react to for each of their meetings. Given
> the complexity of the solicitation and the issues involved, is there
> someone here who could make a cogent argument that the science board is
> going to second guess you Steve???
>
> And just to be sure I have a FOIA REQUEST in asking to be sent the full
> particulars of the last three occasions on which the national science
> board has refused to go along with recommendations of NSF program
> managers. If what the staffer told me is correct they will have to go
> back more than a year.
Gordon -
I have no doubt the NSB office will supply you the information you asked
for, as they are required to do under the FOIA.
You might, though, talk to someone who works for a large organization.
I expect they will tell you that the toughness of a Board of Trustees is
measured less by how often they say "no" than by how hard one has to work
to ensure that they will say "yes."
-s
