The corporatization of academia i think is one of the biggest threats to our democracy. i didn't see a diary about this, so apologies if it was already reported.
a Berkeley professor has been denied tenure because of his research into GMO corn in Mexico.
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?archiveDate=12-10-04&storyID=20257
an article on how his research was smeared:
http://www.counterpunch.org/tonak06262004.html
The fact that most research is now being financed by pharmaceuticals and biotech has to be really worrying. here's the real threat to academic freedom Lynne Cheney, not the poor conservatives who are being forced to read Edward Said's Orientalism. if this can happen to a prof at Berkeley of all places, i truly fear for the future....