Freedom of Information

The lab had the first Safety Meeting since the semester was over. The meeting had many purposes, but mainly for one issue - Kim-san felt uncomfortable sharing his experiment information.

I think about 3 weeks ago I was on my way home. I had an empty box in my hand, was going to take it home for packing. I bumped into Kim-san on the way in the parking lot. (I was checking up on the cats before I left) He stopped me and talked to me for about 40 minutes. He was upset that day because some M2 students asked him about the new method the Professor had imposed on the group. The Professor had asked the students to stop using pure hydrogen gas because she was not physically in the lab. So the students were forced to change to a different gas mixture in the middle of their research.

Kim-san was the first one to try it, but the other students haven't had the time yet. He felt since he spent all the time doing this alone, himself is entitled to this result, not the other students. So he didn't want to share. He said, this is the Korean tradition that not even his boss in Korea could ask him for his experimental data. It was his property to keep.

Back to yesterday, during the Safety Meeting we talked about the email Kim-san sent to everybody that in the coming October, he will no longer spend time to help any other students, since he wants to focus on his research and graduate. He asked all the students who want to learn things from him to ask him before October while we are still not busy. But what really triggered the email was that on Friday. Suddenly Matsubara came to Kim-san and told him weird information (Pt solution shouldn't be kept at room temperature). Kim-san was buffled why Matsubara told him this information out of the blue. I believe Matsubara was trying patheticly to give Kim-san some incentives because what he really wanted was later on that day, he wanted to ask about Kim-san's experiment details. Kim-san got very upset. After all the hell Matsubara has put him and this lab through, Kim-san didn't feel like helping him at all. So he sent an email to everybody stating what he will do about this situation. Matsubara was up to his old trick again, trying to behave "wise." Matsubara sent another email to every student that he was willing to help anybody if they want to know about the glovebox which he had purchased and nobody used. Was this a sign of good faith? No. He just wanted to make Kim-san look like an asshole. This was just an email so he can come back at us and say, "Look, I was willing to help you, but you were all assholes."

Funny enough, Matsubara attended the meeting. This was the first time he has attended anything related to Wakiken. In the past he just skipped everything, including the lab seminars (which I think he shouldn't have gotten credits) and lab functions. He began to argue with Urano-san and Kim-san about the sharing of information. He insisted that this is the Japanese way and Waki-sensei had put down orders for all students to share whatever they get. The quarrel went back and forth. Kim-san was quite detached and argued without hesitation. Kim-san had everybody to back him up so he no longer had to play the polite foreigner card anymore. Urano-san like always was very upset and got more and more emotionally attached. Me. I was never polite to begin with. After the argument started to repeat themselves so many times, I said, "anything else?" and Urano-san agreed to end the meeting.

It was very selfish for Matsubara to do this. He only cares about himself. I don't believe that he can honestly think that the students will be willing to help him with anything after all these dramas. He should be thankful if students greet him at all. We already no longer considered him a part of this lab. He is just a run-away project of Waki-sensei that sometimes sit in this lab.

Waki-sensei's intention is to let him graduate without incident next year. But he is the one provoking all the incidents. It's clear to me that she cannot do anything to protect us students. We have to protect ourselves.

On the other hand, I believe that knowledge is free. If someone asked me about my experiment, I would be happy to share about my results and methods. But if they were to steal those and pose it as their own, I will sue their asses to the ground and make their lives a living hell.

Yazu-san said something so ironic but funny, "The Safety Meeting was not safe at all..."