Information to Know |
| Research Compliance |
| RC Home |
| Committee Charge |
| Compliance Principles |
| Committee Roster |
Committee Charge
1. CharterThe following is the Charter approved by the President:
The Research Compliance Committee is responsible for making recommendations concerning the design and implementation of, and for monitoring the effectiveness of, MSU’s research compliance programs. The Committee will perform this work with the elements of effective compliance programs*as its guide. Those elements are generally identified as the following:
-
1. Standards and policies and procedures to be followed by employees with research-related responsibilities.
2. Effective, high-level oversight to assure overall compliance with the standards and procedures.
3. Systems designed to assure that employees with compliance responsibility have the character and background to foster effective compliance.
4. Effective communication of compliance roles and responsibilities to all employees with responsibilities for research-related activities through training and other dissemination of information in understandable language.
5. Effective systems of compliance monitoring, reporting (including hotlines or equivalent), and auditing.
6. Consistent enforcement of the standards and procedures with appropriate consequences for violations, including discipline and remediation.
The Committee shall be composed of at least five voting members appointed by the President, including: the Vice President of Research, Creativity and Technology Transfer, who will act as Chair; one dean of a college with significant research responsibilities; one faculty member with a background conducive to supporting a compliance program; at least one faculty member with substantial research experience; and other members chosen at the discretion of the President.
In carrying out its charge, the Committee will draw upon the resources of the Offices of Legal Counsel, Internal Audit, and Human Resources/Affirmative Action which Offices shall each supply an ex officio member.
* The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, COSO (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission), the Guidelines of the National Institutes of Health Office of the Inspector General, and COGR (Council on Government Relations) provide guidance on effective compliance programs.
2. Committee Operation
- a. The Committee shall be composed of members appointed by the President as established in the charter.
b. The Chair shall be the Vice President of Research and shall be a voting, ex-officio position. Other voting member shall serve at the pleasure of the President or until their resignation from the Committee.
c. Non-voting members may be appointed by the Committee. The Committee may excuse some or all non-voting members from meetings at its discretion. Non-voting members appointed by the Committee shall serve at its pleasure. The Committee may establish subcommittees, the members of which need not be exclusively members of the Committee.
d. A quorum shall be a majority of voting members. Action of the Committee shall be taken by the vote of a majority of voting members present in any meeting at which a quorum is present. Members may participate by telephonic means.
e. The Committee shall meet at least once a quarter, unless the Chair determines that there is insufficient business, and, in that case, the quarterly meeting may be cancelled. The Chair may call more frequent meetings if business requires.
f. The Committee Chair shall report at least annually to the President on the operations, actions, findings, and recommendations of the Committee.
3. Authority of the Committee
- a. The Committee and its designees shall have authority to monitor and inquire into all areas of compliance responsibility related to research.
b. The Committee shall have authority to make recommendations to the Vice President for Research, and in matters for which the Vice President of Research does not have full authority, to the President, concerning research compliance matters.
c. The Committee, without appropriate approvals, shall not have authority to require any research compliance program to take any action, except as provided in a. above.
4. Compliance Oversight
- a. The Committee shall periodically make assessments of the state of the MSU compliance programs related to research and make any recommendations for improvement in accordance with the Charter and 3. above.
b. The Committee shall develop a compliance communications plan, with the assistance of relevant MSU officials, including the Vice President of Communications and the Vice President for Research.
c. The Committee shall establish a compliance website for the purpose of providing the campus research community with useful compliance policy and information.
d. The Committee shall establish a regular monitoring process for MSU’s research compliance programs.
Revised January 16, 2009
