'Our Storehouse of Knowledge About Social Movements ... Is Going to Be Left Bare'

5 Minutes With a Sociologist, Jailed for Refusing to Divulge Subjects, About the Controversy at Boston College 1

Wendy Scarce

Rik Scarce

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By Peter Monaghan

In 1993, Rik Scarce, while a doctoral student at Washington State University, spent five months in jail on a federal contempt-of-court charge rather than reveal details of his research interviews with "earth liberation" activists. The judge in the case released Mr. Scarce, now an associate professor of sociology at Skidmore College, upon determining that no length of imprisonment would prise information from him.

The Chronicle asked Mr. Scarce for his views of the controversy