Good afternoon, ACUPA, Our Reporting Responsibility<http://www.policy.iastate.edu/policy/reporting> policy at Iowa State University includes this statement, "Failure to report known or suspected violations and crimes as indicated in this policy is itself a breach of university ethical standards and can lead to discipline of employees and students, up to and including separation from the university."
A question arises in the hypothetical case of a researcher who has promised his human subject confidentiality, but then the human subject discloses that s/he has committed a violation of policy or law. If the violation was in the past and does not involve imminent or ongoing harm to someone, should the researcher be exempted from the requirement to report known or suspected violations and crimes per the Reporting Responsibility policy? If you have a policy that allows an exemption for a researcher in a case such as this, would you please share it with me? Thank you! Sheryl Sheryl Rippke, Policy Administrator Office of University Counsel Iowa State University 3550 Beardshear Hall Ames, IA 50014 515-294-1385 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Policy Library<http://policy.iastate.edu/>
