On June 18, 2001, the U.S. District Court in Boston recorded a consent decree between the EPA and a major northeastern research university for the regulation of health, safety, and environmental impacts of its scientific laboratories. The decree locates the design, standard setting, and implementation of those regulations within the institution itself, thereby creating a form of private management in the public interest. Ongoing research is examining the implementation of this consent decree. This project examines the extent to which patterns of governance, trust, and surveillance developed in this single institution appear in other research settings. The project adopts a two-part strategy. The PI will initially conduct a survey of EHS directors at 120 U.S. universities; from this survey, she will then conduct in-depth interviews and case studies at 18 selected institutions. The questions in both stages of the research are twofold: How are research universities managing their burgeoning environmental, health, and safety hazards? To what extent do the means by which this management occurs fall along disciplinary boundaries? The answers to these questions will inform both the study of regulation and regulatory institutions as well as questions about the intersection of science and the state.
