WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University released an internal review report Tuesday as well as its Institutional Review Board's determination that Camp DASH was to be terminated.
Camp DASH was a federally funded research study that was to examine the effect of sodium intake on adolescents' blood pressure and cholesterol. The study was suspended July 21 following allegations of sexual assault, voyeurism and distributing child pornography.
At least one administrator was concerned about how closing Camp DASH would affect the relationship with the National Institutes of Health, according to the internal report.
Michael Forman, head of the nutrition science department at Purdue, sent an email to university administrators that outlined the financial ramifications of closing down the camp early.
"There is a significant matter related (to) the Purdue name because of so many partnerships with industry on this project ... The embarrassment and potential anger by research partners is considerable and has implications for future collaborations," he wrote in an email July 3.
The study, which was a seven-week program and broken into two sections, was given the go-ahead by university administrators to continue the study with additional training and resources, but then was suspended two weeks into the second session.
The 51-page internal review report by Purdue's Vice President for Ethics and Compliance Alysa Rollock went into detail of the problems that occurred at the camp study.
On Tuesday, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity Jay Akridge said the outcome at Camp DASH wasn't a typical experience for a camp at Purdue.