2003-09-15: University of California – Berkeley Graduate Assembly issues a statement criticizing the high subscription prices of academic journals and calling on academics to support change in scholarly communications.

http://ga.berkeley.edu/academics/LIBR_policy.html

“Statewide budget cuts and skyrocketing journal subscription costs together are driving deeper and deeper cuts in the number of academic journals that Berkeley can offer its scholarly community. This double bind directly threatens faculty and students' ability to conduct world-class research.”

2004-08-24: The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is formed; the American Medical Student Association is a founding member.

http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/docs/ATA_PR_0824%20final.pdf

2004-10-18: The American Medical Student Association sends a letter endorsing a public access policy for the National Institutes of Health.

http://www.amsa.org/openaccess/NIH_comment.pdf

“This shifting emphasis heralds an era of medical practice that builds synergy with biomedical research – that will be informed by new discoveries and defined by clinical decisions made on the best possible evidence. In order to mine this research and create the translations of this research that will guide medical practice, we have an urgent need for unimpeded access to the results of all biomedical research.”

2004-10-27: The American Medical Student Association announces a partnership with the Public Library of Science. AMSA would provide the North American representative to an international advisory board overseeing the Student Forum section of PLoS Medicine.

http://www.amsa.org/news/release2.cfx?id=191

2005: Project Open Source | Open Access at the University of Toronto begins funding research awards for students conducting research on aspects of open access.
http://open.utoronto.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=156

2005-03-16: At its annual convention, the American Medical Student Association adopts a statement endorsing taxpayer access to publicly funded research and open access publishing.
http://www.amsa.org/news/release2.cfx?id=223http://www.amsa.org/about/ppp/research.cfm

2006-03-22: The University of Iowa's Graduate Student Senate unanimously passes a resolution on scholarly publishing, supporting open access research. The resolution also recognizes that students can play a positive role in changing scholarly communications, recognizes that authors can retain copyright in their published articles, and encourages tenure, promotion, incentives, and support systems to promote alternative publishing models.

https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2913.html

 

2006-05-11: The Post, the student newspaper at Ohio University, publishes an editorial supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/Articles/Opinion/2006/05/11/13640/

“When research is financed with tax dollars, it is every citizen’s right to access the information.”

 

2006-05-25: The Indiana Daily Student, the student newspaper at Indiana University, publishes an editorial supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=36046

“Scholarly journals provide a peer-edited forum in which academics can present their findings. But they are also a product of an era in which magazine or journal publication was the only way to disseminate such information to interested parties. Gimmicks aside, the Internet has changed this -- and research publications need to adapt.”

 

2006-06-06: Gavin Baker, an undergraduate in political science at the University of Florida, publishes an op-ed supporting open access in The Independent Florida Alligator, the school’s student newspaper.

 

2006-06-06: The University of Florida’s Student Senate unanimously passes a resolution supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://www.sg.ufl.edu/MeetingPDF%5C155.htm

 

2006-06-13: Bryan McKay, an undergraduate in media arts and film production at Emerson College, publishes an article in Blogcritics Magazine on the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/06/13/202605.php

“…this research should be available to the public. It is funded through our tax dollars and often contains important and relevant findings.”

 

2006-08-21: Universities Allied for Essential Medicines joins the Alliance for Taxpayer Access.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060830205434/http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/

 

2006-09-14: The Phoenix, the student newspaper at Swarthmore College, publishes an article about the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2006-09-14/news/16274

 

2006-09-26: Hugh Rabagliati, a graduate student in psychology at New York University, publishes an article calling for an open access database containing data on developmental disorders and cognitive and linguistic abilities, in Nature Neuroscience (with advisor Gary Marcus).

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v9/n10/abs/nn1766.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10167-pool-knowledge-to-find-the-origins-of-language.html

 

2006-11-13: FreeCulture.org joins the Alliance for Taxpayer Access.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061205013200/http://taxpayeraccess.org/

http://freeculture.org/blog/2006/11/14/fco-joins-public-access-alliance/

“As students, we work with academic research all the time. After all, who isn’t required to write a research paper at some time or another? Whether it’s a term paper or a doctoral dissertation, scholarship always builds on the past. That requires access to the work of those who’ve come before us.”

 

2006-11-15: Sami Lange, a graduate student in library and information science at San Jose State University, publishes an op-ed supporting taxpayer access to research in The Spartan Daily, the school’s student newspaper.

http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2006/11/15/Opinion/TaxFunded.Research.Should.Be.Made.Available.To.Those.In.Need-2460833.shtml

“Our fast-paced, need-it-now society demands immediate access to information… This issue is of grave importance, not only in supplying citizens with information that could help them, but also in propelling and advancing science and research.”

 

2007-01-09: Rasmus Bjørk, a graduate student in astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen, deposits a pre-print of his article “Exploring the Galaxy using space probes” in arXiv. The article, which attempts to resolve the Fermi paradox, had been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Astrobiology. Prior to publication, journalists became aware of the article through the arXiv, and the research was covered in The Guardian, BBC, New Scientist, and news sites such as Slashdot.org.

http://www.kb.dk/en/kub/fag/nat/emner/oa_nyt.html?subject=

http://www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0701238v2

 

2007-02-05: Asheesh Laroia, a graduate student in computer science at Johns Hopkins University, is a panelist at a pre-conference of the Professional and Scholarly Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers. Invited to discuss how students use academic information online, Laroia tells publishers to embrace open access research.

http://freeculture.org/blog/2007/02/09/from-the-trenches/

“At its core, [open access] represents the ideal that much of the world’s scientific work should be available free of charge for all to read. In a medium like the Web where copies cost nothing, electronic journal subscriptions cost libraries ten times as much as print subscriptions. Students like me familiar with the Web find this amazing.”

 

2007-02-09: The Mac Weekly, the student newspaper at Macalester College, publishes an article on the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://media.www.themacweekly.com/media/storage/paper1230/news/2007/02/09/News/NationWide.Movement.Seeks.To.Open.Access.To.Medical.Research-2929910-page2.shtml

 

2007-02-15: FreeCulture.org organizes a National Day of Action for Open Access. FreeCulture.org chapters organize activities on their campuses.

http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/Release07-0201.html

 

2007-03-18: Oberlin College’s Student Senate unanimously passes a resolution supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://www.oberlin.edu/stuorg/senate/2006-2007/Spring/documents/Senate-Res-FRPAA_03-18-2007.pdf

 

2007-03-26: Trinity University’s Association of Student Representatives unanimously passes a resolution supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act.

http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/students/trinityresolution.pdf

“For America’s taxpayers to obtain an optimal return on their investment in science, publicly funded research must be shared as broadly as possible… We believe the US Government can and must act to ensure that all potential users have free and timely access on the Internet to peer-reviewed federal research findings.”

 

2007-04-27: Greg Price, an undergraduate student in mathematics, and Elizabeth Stark, a law student at Harvard University, publish an op-ed supporting open access in The Harvard Crimson, the school’s student newspaper.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518548

“It’s up to us to say it: Knowledge is for everyone.”

 

2007-06-21: SPARC announces a video contest to showcase student views on open access.

http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/07-0621.html

http://www.sparkyawards.org/

2008-January: SPARC releases The Right to Research Web site and brochure.