Dear Colleagues,
The university is reviewing a new policy memo issued Monday by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH memo describes a new condition for any organization that receives new awards, continuing awards, renewed awards or supplemental awards from NIH. The new condition will require the University of Michigan, in exchange for accepting any of these types of NIH funding, to certify that it does not “operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.” The new condition also requires grant recipients to certify that they do not engage in “a discriminatory prohibited boycott,” which is defined as “refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business.”
The University of Michigan believes that it is already in compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws and does not engage in any prohibited boycott activity. OVPR is charged with organizing the responses to this request. We are working with the Office of General Counsel and other university leaders on the best way to convey this information. At this moment, there are no new actions for NIH PIs to take in response to this memo.
Thank you, as always, for your commitment to our critical research mission.
Sincerely,
Skip
Arthur Lupia
Vice President for Research and Innovation (interim)
Gerald R. Ford Distinguished University Professor