SB 6542 will force universities to a voluntary IP program, and is being opposed by administrators who believe it is a virtue to place institutional self-interest ahead of individual liberty…. Translated into Star Trek (TOS), it’s something like this:
[The Bridge of Enterprise, red alert sirens, all eyes on forward view screen, showing the ship is in orbit around a green planet]
Spock: Jim, I must insist that we comply with the Federation’s mandate on non-interference.
McCoy: Spock, people are dying down there! We can’t just orbit around up here as if we don’t care!
Kirk: That’s enough! Uhura, get me engineering!
Scotty: Engineering here.
Kirk: Scotty, I need a non-interference generator. Can you do it?
Scotty: Weh na, I didna ha ta study such a thin’ in any textbook, but I tae your drift, Capt’n.
Kirk: Excellent.
Spock: I see your strategy, Captain. Very insightful indeed.
McCoy: I don’t see anything at all! Are we going to just stand here talking?
Kirk: Easy, Bones! [assertively, settling in his command chair] We have a mandate on non-interference, and that’s just what we intend to do!
[at Romulan slave labor headquarters on planet surface]
Dorgan: [in Romulan, with subtitles] /What? What just appeared? /
Henchling: /Sir, sir, a massive cloud of non-interference. It will free the slaves!/
Dorgan: /No! It cannot be! It must be destroyed!/
Golar: [looking away, quietly] /Or we all perish. . . . /