Opinion: The NIH should follow the National Science Foundation’s lead on stopping gender violence in science
As part of the National Science Foundation’s effort to prevent gender violence in science, its director, France A. Córdova, recently announced new terms and conditions for reporting gender violence to the organization. It is the kind of clear and bold approach that the National Institutes of Health should be taking. Instead, the NIH is sticking with its weak “guidance” on anti-sexual harassment, shirking its responsibility and placing the burden for action on survivors, though it did launch a new website on the topic.
The new NSF policy requires institutions to notify the foundation when a principal investigator or co-principal investigator is facing administrative action, administrative leave, a finding or determination of responsibility, or is under active investigation related to sexual harassment, other forms of harassment, or sexual assault. In striving for clarity, the NSF also defined those italicized terms (listed below).
The new policy, which goes into effect Oct.
