Dive Brief:
- The presidents of Stanford University and Dartmouth College are jointly sending a letter of apology to nearly 100,000 registered voters in Montana because of an ill-advised and possibly illegal political science experiment.
- Three political science professors from the two schools sent a mailer to the state's residents to see whether the information it provided would alter how they voted in a nonpartisan state Supreme Court justice election.
- The joint letter, which will cost about $50,000 to mail, says that voters should ignore the mailer and that “no research study should risk disrupting an election," the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
Dive Insight:
It’s difficult to see how the professors could have possibly justified this experiment. The mailer featured the official Montana seal — a big no-no for political materials — and rated the candidates on an ideological spectrum. State officials are expected to bring charges against the professors for breaking as many as four laws. Stanford and Dartmouth are also investigating, as Stanford never approved the experiment through an institutional review board and Dartmouth is questioning whether it gave the experiment a proper review. It’s not clear whether the schools will also be apologizing to voters in California and New Hampshire, where similar mailers were sent out.