Big Oil U?

Two of the world's largest oil companies are planting their flag in two of America's top universities in order to wash some dirty laundry. The terms of the two separate deals, between Stanford and Exxon, and University of California Berkeley and BP, threaten to turn the San Francisco Bay Area into "Big Oil U"

Stanford's capitulation to Exxon was so complete that the company has exclusive rights for five years to the alternative fuel technology developed under the $100 million deal. Exxon, in turn, has used Stanford's name as a green wash to wipe away its crimes against the environment -- advertising in every medium sullying Stanford's brand.

Watch the TV ad focusing on the Stanford/Exxon "partnership" designed for the 2006 Masters golfing tournament and running on Meet the Press.

This promotional film features footage shot on Stanford's campus and statements from Stanford Professor Lyn Orr, who heads the Exxon institutte, as well as two other Stanford professors.

This is one of their "op eds" that they run as ads in the NY Times, WSJ and other papers.

Now comes BP to Berkeley with $500 million in hand. The proposed deal has no limit on BP's ability to market the University of California's name, and it offers some exclusive licenses of the new technology to BP, rather than making those patents available to everyone. BP says it's open to Berkeley's requests on how the university's name is used after complaints about greenwashing under the deal. Now it's up to the UC Regents to demand that all the results of the new institute's research stay in the public domain and that BP be required to seek permission from the Regents themselves for every advertisement mentioning the University of California.