Conference: Censorship and Institutional Review Boards

On Thursday, April 6, and Friday, April 7, 2006, the Northwestern University School of Law will host a conference on "Censorship and Institutional Review Boards." Papers will be published in the Northwestern University Law Review.

On this site, the conference organizers, James Lindgren (Northwestern) and Philip Hamburger (Columbia), will post articles and documents concerning Institutional Review Boards.

If you want to attend, please contact Joann Thompson at 312-503-7029.

Conference Schedule

Censorship and Institutional Review Boards
Schedule of Conference

Thursday, April 6, 2006

6:00 pm: Drinks and Dinner
Maggiano's, Rubesco Room
(corner of Clark & Grand; 111 W. Grand Ave. & 516 N. Clark St. )
with a talk by Melvin Guyer (Michigan)
For Panelists and Invited Guests Only

Friday, April 7, 2006

Faculty Commons, Rubloff 240
Northwestern University School of Law
375 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611

8:00 am: Continental Breakfast

8:45-9:55 am: Panel I: IRBs in Medicine: What Costs? What Benefits?
Fred Coe (Chicago)
Jerry Menikoff (Kansas)
Jonathan Moss (Chicago)
Roy Weiss (Chicago)
Moderator: James Lindgren (Northwestern)

10:15-11:35 am: Panel II: IRBs in Social Science: What Costs? What Benefits?
Marguerite (Peg) Barratt (National Science Foundation)
Carolyn Bledsoe (Northwestern) (paper co-authored with Bruce Sherin)
Jack Katz (UCLA)
John Mueller (Calgary)
Richard Shweder (Chicago)
Moderator: Shari Diamond (Northwestern; American Bar Foundation)

11:35 am: Lunch
(Sandwiches will be provided.)

12:45-2:35 pm: Panel III: Is the Common Rule Constitutional?
Dale Carpenter (Minnesota)
Philip Hamburger (Columbia)
Renee Lerner (George Washington)
William Marshall (North Carolina)
James Weinstein (Arizona State)
Robert Charrow (Greenberg, Taurig; D.C.)
Richard Epstein (Chicago) (Commentator)
Moderator: Andrew Koppelman (Northwestern)

3:00-4:55 pm: Panel IV: Academic Freedom & Administrative Law
Elmer Abbo (Chicago)
Joel Frader (Northwestern)
Kate Gottfried (Tufts)
David Hyman (Illinois)
John Lantos (Chicago)
James Lindgren (Northwestern)
Todd Zywicki (George Mason)
Moderator: Philip Hamburger (Columbia)

4:55-5:00 pm Concluding Remarks (followed by informal discussions, and perhaps drinks, dinner, and entertainment)

Articles and Materials on IRBS:

Articles, Journalism and Commentary:

Philip Hamburger, The New Censorship: Institutional Review Boards, Supreme Court Review, October 2004 Term (2005).

Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, Illinois White Paper, Improving the System for Protecting Human Subjects: Counteracting IRB Mission Creep.

Conference: Human Subject Protection Regulations and Research Outside the Biomedical Sphere, Papers & Comments by C.K. Gunsalus, Greg Miller, Linda Shopes, Matthew Finkin, Richard Campbell, Patricia Marshall, Cary Nelson, Norm Denzin.

National Science Foundation, Questions and Answers on the Common Rule.

Code of Federal Regulations, TITLE 45: PUBLIC WELFARE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, PART 46: PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS. (An alternative source for regulations is here.)

NIH, The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research.

American Association of University Professors, Protecting Human Beings: Institutional Review Boards and Social Science Research.

U.S. F.D.A. [regulation of drug testing], Guidance for Institutional Review Boards, Clinical Investigators, and Sponsors.

Carol Tavris, The high cost of skepticism: here's what happened to two scientists who believed that tenure and the First Amendment would protect their rights to free inquiry, Skeptical Inquirer, July-August, 2002.

Sharon Begley, Review Boards Pose Threat To Social Scientists' Work, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2002.

Charles L. Bosk & Raymond G. De Vries, Bureaucracies of Mass Deception: Institutional Review Boards and the Ethics of Ethnographic Research, Annals of the AAPSS, Vol. 595, No. 1, 249-263 (2004). Article (subscriber link through your university library). Outline (open link).

Kevin D. Haggerty, Accommodating Ethical Review: Response to Bosk and De Vries, AAPSS, Oct. 29, 2004.

Rumsfeld v. Fair, 547 U.S. ___ (2006) .

US v. American Library Assn., 539 U.S. 194 (2003).

Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (1991).

Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 555 (1984).