U of M opens ethics policy for public comment

The University of Minnesota has posted the latest version of its conflict of interest policy online and opened it up to public comments.

The policy is being rewritten because of concerns that outside income could influence decisions by U of M researchers and professors, especially those in the medical school.

U of M counsel Mark Rotenberg said the policy is being written with a broad range of employees in mind.

"We've had to modify the policy and adapt the policy so it applies in a rational way to all the different kinds of people at the university," Rotenberg said.

The policy forces most U of M employees to report outside income over $10,000. Rules for employees at the medical school are stricter, requiring them to report all outside income.

The portion of the policy pertaining to medical school employees has yet to be published online, but Rotenberg said that could happen within a few weeks, with the full policy in place after that.

"This has taken several years of work and I would hope we would have the administrative policies in place by the end of the year," he said.