BIOETHICS

The Bioethics Imperative XXVII
Faculty Effort Certifications in a Sea of Change: Unsettled Issues in Current Compliance Practices
(continued from the November/December 2006 issue of the ASPB News)

“Mokita”: The truth we all know and agree not to talk about. Papua New Guinea

Conclusion
“What is being done to resolve the challenges presented by current compliance practices? All institutions of higher learning in this country are hamstrung and are seeking relief from the consequences of the current state of affairs regarding FEC [faculty effort certification] interpretation, which strike at the core of who we are as scholars. Some [University of Washington] administrators are members of the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR, an association of research universities), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the Association of American Universities (AAU) Committee on Effort Reporting, which are all actively seeking remedies to these problems with the government, though this is expected to be a long-term process with no quick-fix in sight.”(1)

Society is a better place because of the research conceived, conducted, and disseminated in higher education institutions. The federal government and the taxpayer are critical partners in our ability to advance knowledge, and thus they have a right to require documentation of our accountability. Can we—administrators, government agencies, and universities and faculty—find an easier, less convoluted way to document and account for faculty effort?

I write “The Bioethics Imperative” (TBI) in an attempt to raise difficult questions, to seek answers that are sometimes elusive, and ultimately to open discussion in order to foster clarity and relief from the unnamed tensions that face academia. One ASPB member told me that after reading TBI XXIII he was scared. Wait until he reads TBI XXIV and XXV! “I’m not scared, Yoda,” says a young ASPB member. You will be. May the force be with us.

P.S. Did you know that, technically, if you buy a pencil on one grant you cannot use it to work on another grant?

Next time: Hybrids: when a case involves more than one type of allegation.

Dina Mandoli
mandoli@u.washington.edu

I thank Brent Stewart (chair of the Faculty Council on Research, University of Washington) for permission to quote from the FCR report on FECs and two administrators at UW who provided detailed input and depth to the issues and who wish to remain anonymous.

Reference
1. University of Washington, FCR Report to the Faculty Senate Regarding Faculty Effort Certification, January 19, 2006.