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Questions of conflict confront professors.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Peter Gilkey, a math professor at the University of Oregon, has a small sideline: He occasionally writes short research papers on obscure aspects of mathematics.

He wants to contribute to his field - something professors at research universities are expected to do. But the papers also modestly supplement his university salary.

"If I'm lucky I get $1,000 the first year, and the whole rest of my lifetime maybe I'll get another $1,000," he said. "Am I monetarily motivated? No. Is the money useful? Yes."

The articles don't pose conflicts with Gilkey's primary work at the university. But they illustrate a touchy question the UO has been wrestling with much of this year: When and to what extent should faculty have to disclose the time they spend on work related to but separate from their university job, and any financial benefits, including pay, they receive from those who sponsor that outside work?

The question isn't just academic. Two professors in the UO's College of Education came under withering Congressional scrutiny two years ago when it was learned they each earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties and other payments from publishing companies while the professors also were helping to run a federal reading program that used materials purchased from the same publishers.

The UO's push comes amid more federal scrutiny of conflicts of interest and the growing complexity of relationships between professors who engage in research, and the businesses that turn academic innovations into products.

Universities want to make sure their faculty don't slack off on their paid teaching and research work, and also don't become enmeshed in conflicts of interest.

No law or rule bars faculty from engaging in research or other work because of a conflict, and in many cases possible conflicts involve activities that universities expect of their professors. The main role of conflict policies is to ensure that the university administration is aware of problems and addresses them.

"The issue of conflict is largely one of sunshine," said UO Provost Jim Bean. "If everybody knows what's going on and feels that they're getting their fair share of commitment, then it's fine." For the UO, that "sunshine" is purely internal, though. The UO considers...

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