A university should not be entitled to patent the inventions of its faculty members. Universities, as guarantors of intellectual freedom, should encourage the free flow of ideas and the general dissemination of knowledge. Yet a university that retains the right to patent the inventions of its faculty members has a motive to suppress information about a potentially valuable discovery until the patent for it has been secured. Clearly, suppressing information concerning such discoveries is incompatible with the university’s obligation to promote the free flow of ideas.

Which one of the following is an assumption that the argument makes?
(A) Universities are the only institutions that have an obligation to guarantee intellectual freedom.
(B) Most inventions by university faculty members would be profitable if patented.
(C) Publication of reports on research is the only practical way to disseminate information concerning new discoveries.
(D) Universities that have a motive to suppress information concerning discoveries by their faculty members will occasionally act on that motive.
(E) If the inventions of a university faculty member are not patented by that university, then they will be patented by the faculty member instead.
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D should be it.

I agree with the others. D is the answer. Use negation to prove it. Again assumptions are unstated premises that must be true for the conclusion to be true. If you negate a assumption of the argument the conclusion will no longer follow. The negation of D is;

Universities that have a motive to suppress information concerning discoveries by their faculty members will not act on that motive.

If universities are not acting on the motive, the university is in no way acting against its duty to allow the free flow of information and the conclusion, that university should not be entitled to patent the inventions, would not follow from the premises of the argument. This defeats the argument and, thus, D is an assumption of the argument.

Thanks,

Jared