Text of gift agreement between the Dow Chemical Company and the Regents of the University of Michigan, December 2011

The Ecology Center sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the University of Michigan in March 2012 for a gift agreement between the university and Dow Chemical that establishes a Dow Fellows program at the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan. Environmental and academic groups have raised questions about the conditions of that gift and other similar gifts made by Dow to other institutions.

We also requested a copy of the gift agreement from Gelman Sciences that established the Risk Science Center at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.

Prior to our request, this gift agreement was not made available to the public. The Ecology Center believes these gift agreements, and all similar agreements between companies and the University, should be public and transparent to guard against any undue influence or the perception of undue influence.

Click here to see the text of the agreement (pdf).