Tensions ran high at yesterday afternoon’s Faculty Senate meeting as members butted heads over a proposed resolution that would bar tobacco companies from funding University-sponsored research projects.

Introduced by Electrical Engineering Prof. Bernd Girod, chair of the Committee on Research, the resolution elicited strong reactions on both sides of the debate. Some administrators and faculty members called the motion a moral obligation while others condemned it as setting a dangerous precedent.

The resolution — which proposes that “Stanford University will not enter into sponsored research agreements with companies that make or market tobacco products” — passed by a 7-5 margin in the Committee on Research. It was sponsored by History Prof. Robert Proctor and co-signed by Medical School Prof. Robert Jackler and Law Prof. Hank Greely ‘74.

Supporters of the resolution said the University has an obligation to disassociate itself from the tobacco industry, which they said manipulates University research for its own ends.

“[Tobacco companies] never fund projects that would implicate themselves,” Girod said. “They select projects that help them develop theories about alternative explanations for tobacco-related diseases, such as air pollution or genetic predisposition.” Greely also voiced strong support for the proposal and castigated tobacco companies as disingenuous.

“Using the guise of academic research, [the tobacco industry] has perverted academic research to its own ends for 50 years,” he said. “The tobacco industry is using Stanford to whitewash [itself]. They are using us for their nefarious ends, and we should stop it.”

“If any human endeavor deserves the term ‘evil,’” he added, “I think the tobacco industry probably deserves it.”

The resolution’s opponents, however, said that prohibiting tobacco industry-funded research could lead to a slippery slope for the banning of more research.

“It’s dangerous to target a specific industry,” said Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Jeffrey Koseff MS ‘78. “Who’s to judge what comes next? This time it’s tobacco. Next it could be alcohol; it could be oil.”

Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ‘82 agreed, arguing that preventing tobacco companies from funding University-sponsored research could create a troubling precedent.

“If we were to go this way, I think we would get similar efforts to ban funding from oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, the Department of Defense,” he said. “Changing research policy is not a good way to make a statement.”

President John Hennessy denounced the resolution, calling it “political.”

“This is a political message, and I am very concerned that we are changing our academic policy to send a political message,” he said. “And I worry about whether or not that is a wise change in our policy.”

Medical School Dean Philip Pizzo disagreed with Hennessy, saying he supported the resolution on ethical grounds.

“There is a difference between the tobacco industry and any other industry that exists today,” he said. “I don’t agree that this is political or politics per se.”

The Senate did not vote on the resolution yesterday and has yet to decide when it will discuss the matter further. The Steering Committee will make that decision at their meeting on Tuesday.