Sociologist Is Jailed

By Peter Monaghan

In a case that tests whether scholars can promise confidentiality to research subjects, a sociologist has been jailed on a charge of contempt of court.

At a hearing this month, Rik Scarce, a doctoral student in sociology at Washington State University, was handcuffed and taken to jail. He had refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating break-ins by animal-liberation activists at university laboratories (The Chronicle, April 7).

Taking a stand that