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AROUND THE QUADS

Columbia Cuts Ties With Biosphere 2

Columbia is severing ties with Biosphere 2, the $200 million ecology experiment that Edward P. Bass, a Texas billionaire and oil heir, built in the Arizona desert. A lawsuit brought by Bass’ company against the University, which has managed Biosphere 2 since January 1996, has been settled.

Fifty-six undergraduates are studying at Biosphere 2, including about 20 from the College and Barnard; about 1,400 students have studied there overall. Classes and tours will continue, and research will wind down, until December 22, when operations will revert to Bass’ company.

Biosphere 2 is a 3.1 acre, eight-story steel and glass terrarium not far from Tucson, Ariz. In 1991, eight men and women and 4,000 plant and animal species were sealed into it as part of an experiment to simulate the earth’s ecology. But the experiment was a failure — the people left after two years, by which time crops had failed, noxious gases had built up, water had turned acidic and the site was overrun by ants and morning glories.

The University saw potential in Biosphere 2, with modifications, for a unique scientific research facility. But its chief champion at the University, former Executive Vice Provost Michael Crow, left to become president of Arizona State not long after Lee C. Bollinger was named University president, and Columbia began reexamining its priorities. Robert Kasdin, senior executive v.p., said in a statement that useful research and education had been conducted at Biosphere but that the University now wants to use its resources elsewhere.

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