A new report from the Michigan State University newspaper sheds light on how little oversight there is of conflicts of interest when it comes to research funding.
The State News found the board of trustees always approves agreements with conflicts of interest, such as a professor getting federal money and using university resources for his private business.
Furthermore, even trustees opposed to the deals vote for them out of fear of being attacked by the faculty senate. Other trustees have voted for the agreements despite not understanding what is in them.
“In the last 10 years, the board has signed off on every single conflict of interest agreement presented to it,” the State News reported.
The student newspaper reported further:
Across over 300 agreements, the board has approved at least $24 million in contracts between the university and private entities tied to employees, according to a State News analysis. Every time, the deals were approved by a unanimous vote with no discussion.
However, there are times when the university gets a deal due to a relationship with a professor. For example, the student newspaper notes that a professor who has a company selling a “special type of English horn” gave the school a significant discount which beat the only other competitor for the business.
Still, other arrangements raise ethical questions.
The student newspaper reported:
Some deals, however, don’t boast similar benefits, like when the board approved an employee’s request that his wife’s editing company be paid $2,260 to edit a handbook he was working on; or, when a film professor got MSU to pay his son over $6,000 to draw storyboards for “key scenes” in a movie he was working on; or, when an MSU farm manager once spent almost $20,000 in university funds to buy bales of straw from his brother. None of those contracts mentioned a discount for the university, or explained the necessity of contracting a family member.
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: The Michigan State University sign; University of College/Shutterstock
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