Critics say that the US National Institutes of Health's updated sexual harassment policy needs to go further, according to Nature News.
NIH changed its sexual harassment policy earlier this month, a change prompted by a 2018 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that found current efforts to address sexual harassment were not adequate. According to an editorial in Science about the policy change, its aim is to "hold grantee institutions and investigators accountable" for misconduct and promote a "culture whereby sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviors are not tolerated."
Nature News reports that policy change advocates say that while this is a good first step, additional alterations are needed. For instance, policy relies on institutions to report instances of harassment, which MeTooSTEM's BethAnn McLaughlin notes "assumes good faith on the part of the institutions."
Other federal research agencies like the National Science Foundation and NASA have more stringent sexual harassment policies, Nature News adds. They, for instance, require universities to report findings of sexual harassment by a researcher they fund within 10 business days, while NIH only requires notification if the grant status changes.