There's no deal between the campus and Monsanto, despite critics' claims -- and a pie in the face -- to the contrary. At last week's brownbag update, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef assured those questioning a possible alliance between the company and the campus that no such deal had been struck and that, if a relationship were pursued, it would recognize the university's obligations as a public institution. Questioners' concerns were prompted by the announcement earlier that day that UC Berkeley was entering into a five-year, $25 million research agreement with the Swiss biotechnology company Novartis. In exchange for providing funding and proprietary knowledge, Novartis will have representation on a campus committee that will award research funding to selected proposals and it will receive first rights to negotiate for licensing of roughly 30 percent to 40 percent of the discoveries made. Past discussions with Monsanto explored a relationship quite unlike the Berkeley-Novartis alliance, Vanderhoef said. Monsanto has been eyed as a possible tenant for a modest research park planned for either the southern or the western edge of campus. If a deal is ever made, Vanderhoef said, it would be done with very careful regard for the university's obligations. "We need to remember what our principles are and be careful about the relationship," Vanderhoef told the brownbag audience. "We're a public university and whatever we produce must be broadly available to the general public." The chancellor's reassurances didn't prevent him from catching a banana creme pie in the face at the conclusion of the hourlong brownbag discussion. The pie-thrower, a young man dressed as a woman, fled the room, eluding pursuers. A group calling itself the Biotic Baking Brigade later claimed responsibility for "pie-ing" the chancellor, as well as tossing pumpkin pies earlier that day at UC Berkeley's dean of the College of Natural Resources and the chief executive officer of Novartis as they announced their pact. Vice Chancellor for Research Kevin Smith said this week that exploratory discussions with Monsanto came to a halt late last summer after the company and American Home Products announced a merger. The merger has since fallen through, but Monsanto now has announced personnel layoffs that would likely preclude its plans to commit resources for an early expansion on the West Coast, Smith said. Helping to establish a Monsanto research facility in the area is an attractive proposition, Smith said, not only as a spur to the regional economy but as a way to win financial support for graduate students, internship opportunities for undergraduates and employment for graduates. "I hope in the long term that we will have an alliance," Smith said, "but with the caveat that the interactions support the campus's mission." The chancellor's next brownbag update is scheduled for noon, Dec. 17, in AGR Hall of the Alumni and Visitors Center. "I may come wearing a welder's mask," Vanderhoef says.