| Approved by the: |
University Senate - September 20, 2001
Administration - December 4, 2001
Board of Regents - no action required |
Principles Governing Private Sponsorship of Research
External support for faculty research and scholarship has become
increasingly important in recent years, and will likely remain important for the
foreseeable future. Faculty, departments and colleges should be encouraged to
seek private support, as well as public support, for their research endeavors.
Private support for research and scholarship at the University of Minnesota
should be guided by these principles:
- Acceptance of private support should be the prerogative of, and according to
the policies and procedures of, the University, not of the individual units or
faculty;
- The University must exercise care when accepting funding from private
sources that it is not unduly burdened to provide support for the infrastructure
that the privately supported research will require;
- The University must exercise care in negotiating contracts with private
entities to assure that academic freedom is preserved, particularly with respect
to the faculty’s right to interpret the findings and to publish new
discoveries in an appropriate timeframe, with appropriate consideration of the
sponsor's proprietary information, and with the faculty’s right to choose
the area of scholarship s/he wishes to pursue;
- The University must exercise care that the receipt of private funds does not
adversely affect distribution of University resources or alter University
priorities in areas that are not able to generate private support.
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