On research at Bluefield State

This article from Inside Higher Ed begins:

"The government arm that oversees most federally funded research involving human subjects — encompassing methodologies from surveys and oral histories to psychology experiments and medical trials — last month informed Bluefield State College that it must suspend its relevant projects after an investigation revealed a series of alleged compliance failures.

The small historically black commuter college in southeastern West Virginia, which offers associate and bachelor’s degrees, ran into trouble when the Office for Human Research Protections sent a letter in August 2006 alleging that the campus institutional review board had approved three faculty research projects in 2004 without considering key pieces of information — such as the purpose of the studies, details on participants’ informed consent and ways to protect their privacy — and questioning whether a legitimate campus board even existed at the time."