Mesa State’s Proposed Body Farm is an Intriguing Idea

by
Doug Hawk
Editor
Colorado Higher Ed News

Mesa State College in Grand Junction is considering the creation of a body farm for forensic research tied to its criminal justice program. Essentially, on a body farm, corpses that have been donated to science are placed in a variety of locations to decompose in the elements. Researchers and students would be able to study how the decomposition progresses in a fairly arid high-altitude environment.

No doubt the idea has its critics. Corpses left out in the elements to decay…?

Ick!

Well, there will be naysayers and hysterics panicking for any number of reasons. Some simply for the sake of having something, anything, to be panicky and hysterical about. Let’s face it, there is never a new and good idea put forth without a small contingent of goofballs finding reasons to hate it. One poster on the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Website said that if economic development has lead to the body farm, then “we’re done.”

However, such asinine assumptions aside and once you get over the “ick!” factor, the idea of a body farm makes perfect sense.

Michael Bozeman (left), the Mesa State criminal justice professor who proposed the idea, explained that a body farm associated with the college would be only the fifth in the country and the first in a high-altitude setting. It would attract researchers from all over the nation and perhaps the world to study and learn.

The body farm concept is about science, about learning. And that is, after all, what colleges and universities are about.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel pointed out in an editorial that in a city of their size, keeping the location of the body farm a secret would be unlikely and suggested that Mesa State’s major concern will be making certain that the body farm is secure. I seriously doubt the school will not have all manner of security measures in place long before the first body is imported.   

“I am excited about the potential for forensic advancements for researchers, law enforcement, and students alike from all areas of Colorado and the United States,” Bozeman told me in an email. “From its very inception, this research facility was envisioned to benefit a diverse range of academic disciplines, including criminal justice, forensic anthropology, forensic nursing, chemistry, entomology, osteology, and even forensic art. I believe that it will provide students with the unique opportunity to study alongside active law enforcement and forensic specialists.”

Over the last few decades, forensic sciences have made major leaps. The FBI pioneered entomology as an aspect of criminal investigation because insects infest a dead body, laying eggs and performing other activities, in rather precise timelines that can tell an investigator a great deal.

Similarly, body farms provide researchers from many disciplines with vast amounts of information. With the ability to control the placement of bodies and specific factors related to the placement, they can perform an endless number of experiments that will enrich and enhance their understanding and thereby advance forensic sciences.

That said, I will go on the record as not wanting to take a tour of the body farm. I just can’t get around the ick! factor. However, just because I and others like me are big squeamish chickens, doesn’t mean those bent on pursuing forensic sciences shouldn’t have the opportunity to do so.

The proposed body farm at Mesa State is an excellent and intriguing idea. It will enhance the college’s criminal justice program and offer its students a world class opportunity to investigate and study while adding another jewel to Colorado’s educational crown.