SPPG: Sexual Harassment, Other Forms of Harassment, and Sexual Assault – Compliance with Federal Granting Agency Requirements

Published in March 2019, this topic addresses federal policies related to the obligations of the research community on investigation of sexual or other harassment complaints and advises how the University of Missouri will comply with federal nondiscrimination law as directed by the federal granting agencies, National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).  

In collaboration with the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX, OSPA developed this policy to assist Principal Investigators and Departmental Research Administrators, as well as the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration, with their obligations for compliance.  Guidance includes Institutional Requirements for NSF (e.g. recipients of funding must maintain workplaces free of discrimination and harassment, and will report to NSF if a violation occurs when the award terms indicate applicability; and for conference awards to provide participants a copy of the institutions code of conduct policy in advance, and to also make it available at the conference itself) and for NIH (e.g. provide assurance upon submission of grant proposals and at award to comply with a number of public policies which include EEO, Civil Rights Protections, Age Discrimination Act, among others; and for all training grants to include appropriate Letter of Support to address the institutions commitment to required areas of compliance).   The topic includes samples for NSF funded conference code-of-conduct policy hand-out, as well as sample language for the required NIH Letter of Support.    

The Office of Sponsored Programs Administration provides a public resource covering this and other topics of significant interest to research administrators – in the Sponsored Programs Procedure Guide (SPPG). This is provided to support our administrators who need a thorough understanding of University policies and procedures and how they interact, enforce, and integrate with government regulations and sponsor requirements. Included in the SPPG are a range of topics, policies, or procedures for submitting proposals, requesting advance spending accounts, recovering F&A, participant support costs, the Fly America Act, and more.  The material included in each topic provides a solid foundation in support of the administration of sponsored projects at the University of Missouri.