Barbara, I staff the IRB and don't have a vote, but I think I would
recommend that (a) we approve the protocol conditional upon the chair's
approval (phone call followed up by signature would work for me), (b) tell
the faculty member that we're approving the protocol so that her students
can keep working but that we take forged signatures very seriously indeed,
and (c) summarize the case, expressing our concerns in very strong
language, citing the misconduct policy, in a memo to the faculty with cc at
least to chair and dean and maybe provost (depending on your internal
structures, politics, culture, etc.).  The idea is to slap the faculty
member around a little but not to disadvantage her students.

Regards, Bill

At 11:31 AM 11/12/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Compliance/IRB staffers out there, how would you deal with this situation?
>
>We require department chairs to sign off on human subject applications.
>A faculty member is in a rush to have an human subject protocol approved
>(under expedited criteria) for a very innocuous procedure--virtually no
>risk at all except it is a phyical measurement that does not fit within
>exemption criteria.  (Note that the project involves students who will
>be collecting the data as part of a class assignment.)  She indicates
>she'll just sign for her chair, we indicate that she can't do that, and,
>lo and behold, the signature page comes in a couple of days later with
>the chair's signature forged.
>
>Would you take this to her chair?  Her dean?  The provost?  Would you
>prohibit her from implementing the protocol (which will impact the
>students in her class)?  Would you bar her from doing human subject
>research for a period of time?  Is this "misconduct" that should be
>referred for handling through ORI regs?  (note that we've made our
>misconduct policy applicable to all research and scholarship, not just
>that funded externally or by the Feds.)  Personally, I find the faculty
>member's action offensive and unethical (if not downright illegal)--if
>she will do this on an application, might she do the same someday on a
>consent form??  But, in the big scheme of things, is this worth going to
>the mat on?  After all, it's only falsification of an internal
>signature, not scientific data....
>
>Thanks.
>
>--
>==================================================================
>Barbara H. Gray, Director
>Office of Research & Grants Administration
>College of Charleston
>66 George Street
>Charleston, SC  29424
>Campus Location:  407-G Bell Bldg.
>Office: 843.953.5673  Desk: 843.953.5885  Fax:  843.953.6577
>e-mail:  xxxxxx@cofc.edu   URL: http://www.orga.cofc.edu/
>==================================================================
>
>
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Bill Campbell
Director, Grants & Research
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
410 S. 3rd St.
River Falls, WI  54022
telephone 715/425-3195; FAX 715/425-0649
xxxxxx@uwrf.edu

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