The note was written by Paul Green, a scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and reflects his impression of University nondisclosure agreements. This section explains where University constraints exist and why, so as to provide a basis for quickly reaching an agreement with an industrial or other sponsor. An example agreement can be downloaded at the bottom of this page and may serve as a starting point for discussion. Most of the discussion points that potential sponsors raise are common to all university nondisclosure agreements, not unique University of Michigan. By design, universities are open organizations that encourage the free flow of information.
Public assess is unrestricted for most buildings, though laboratories are usually locked.
There are no campus entrance guards and a visitor's pass is not required. Students, who come from all over the world, leave every few years. For those and other reasons, secret military research and classified industrial research, both requiring the same security constraints, are rarely conducted on college campuses, and then only when an unusually strong argument can be made for significant national interest. Quite frankly, if an organization wants to keep something totally secret, they should not be working with a university. The actions of the University of Michigan must comply with state and federal laws, and the policies of the Regents of the University.