Administrative Advisory Council II Meeting
February 13, 2020
Attendees:
Lisa Breede Mary Ellen Royer
Peter Brenton Pam Schickling Buckley
Roni Dudley-Cowans Mary Ellen Sinkus
Hasmik Kouchakdjian Olympia Valentine
Renee Cecile LeBlanc Susan Wolfson
Ana Ludwig Macall Zimmerman
Brian O’Conaill Robin Elices
Andreea O’Connell Doreen Morris
Richard Petruzelli
Presentation:
Janet Johnson, Export Control Officer
Office of the Vice President for Research
Overview:
- Export control regulations apply to information and things and when given to a non-US person it’s considered to be an export to that person’s country, even if it takes place in the US or on a university campus. Examples include:
- teaching courses abroad or online;
- speaking at international conferences;
- engaging in international collaborations;
- shipping software or information internationally;
- paying someone in another country for items and services;
- transferring technical data or technology to non-US persons
- Fundamental research is excluded from export control – MIT intends for all research on campus to qualify as fundamental.
- The US has imposed full sanctions against five countries and under export control laws all information, equipment, materials, software, etc. are prohibited from being sent to these countries.
- An export license granted by an authorized export agency allows a regulated activity to proceed legally.
- A restricted parties list is maintained by the university and includes Individuals and entities with whom the university and employees are not permitted to export to or engage in controlled transactions.
- When teaching abroad faculty should check the nationality of students to ensure they’re not from restricted countries.
- Information that is presented at a conference open to the public is considered in the public domain and not subject to export control regulations.
- The Export Control Office website provides detailed information on export control regulations — https://research.mit.edu/integrity-and-compliance/export-control
Discussion re: Export Control Regulations
- Several AACII members were very surprised that export control requirements were not more widely disseminated and staff and faculty better educated on these issues.
- CITI module training, available to the MIT community, explains the requirements of export control and how to comply with the law.
- Suggestion was made to use the new faculty onboarding process to introduce export control requirements.
- MIT community is encouraged to use eShipGlobal for international shipments.
- It was clarified that sponsoring conferences with barred countries is a violation of export control.
- Unofficial collaborations are becoming problematic. The people and institutions you plan to collaborate with should be checked to see if they are on the restricted parties list.
- Documentation of efforts to comply with export control regulations is advised and will help to mitigate potential issues with the government.
AACII De-brief of Administrators Breakfast held on 2/6/2020
- Generally AACII members thought the structure of the forum worked well. This was echoed by the attendees as reflected in the post-breakfast survey, the results of which are currently being compiled by Mary Ellen Sinkus and Olympia Valentine.
- Some members expressed the need for more tools to help staff deal with challenging faculty when a department head is not supportive.
- A framework is being developed for a toolbox as mentioned at the breakfast.
- Management and supervisory training for faculty and department heads is critical to solving campus climate issues. This should be part of the onboarding process.
- Online surveys can be helpful for identifying climate concerns and should be used on an ongoing basis.
- It is important to diagnose and understand campus climate problems before developing solutions.