Chris Bray: A Most Unwelcome Development

By AM Saturday, February 25, 2012

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Boston College filed its notice of appeal yesterday in the court case over the Belfast Project subpoenas, but the substance, tone, and seriousness of that appeal remains unclear. A detailed appellate brief, explaining their argument in full, is probably a few weeks away. But for now, we have this statement from BC spokesman Jack Dunn, made today in a brief interview with the local NPR affiliate:

“It appears that these interviews have limited probative value to the criminal investigation,” Dunn said. “We are engaged in this issue for the sake of academic research and the enterprise of oral history.”

That statement eats itself: BC is fighting to protect academic research, but explicitly signals that its only intention is to protect interviews that don't matter. Interviews with probative value to a criminal investigation? Yeah, go for it, doors to the archive are wide open. Happy to help!

http://chrisbrayblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/most-unwelcome-development.html