Tag Archives: conflict of interest

US18/19-12: Conflict of Interest, Conflict of Commitment, and Outside Activities policy revisions

Date of Notice: November 28, 2018
Current Status: March 13, 2019
Motion Type: Policy Proposal
Sponsor: Elizabeth Skowron (Education and Senate VP)


Motion

Section I

1.1 WHEREAS a joint administrative and senate task force was charged by the University President and University Senate President with reviewing and revising the former “Conflicts of Interest, Potential” policy; and

1.2 WHEREAS University employees are encouraged to engage in outside activities that advance the mission of the University with the expectation that those activities be proactively disclosed if they would or could present a conflict of interest so they can be managed in a manner that protects integrity, ensures legal compliance, and promotes good stewardship of public resources; and

1.3 WHEREAS the University is prohibited from authorizing outside compensation that “does not comport with the mission of the public university or substantially interferes with an officer’s or employee’s duties to the university.” (ORS 352.232(2)); and

1.4 WHEREAS the current policy was first adopted in 1991, provides unclear guidance about permitted and unpermitted outside activities, currently overlaps unnecessarily with other policies specific to sponsored research, and is not clear which employee groups it covers, though state ethics law applies to all employees; and

1.5 WHEREAS the current policy addresses both conflict of interest and conflict of commitment; and

1.6 WHEREAS the joint Administration-Senate committee charged with this work sought to set forth principles that permit university employees to engage in activities outside the university while preserving their primary professional responsibilities to the university, and not interfere with academic and personal freedoms involved in choosing to engage in those outside activities;

Section II

2.1 THEREFORE BE IT MOVED the University Senate approves the revisions to the existing policy “Conflict of Interest, Potential,” with this revised policy proposal entitled, “Conflict of Interest, Conflict of Commitment, and Outside Activities” as outlined in the Related Documents.

 


Related Documents

Amended on the floor: Final Draft (approved 03/13/2019)

 

Feedback wanted: Conflicts of Interest

Dear Campus Community:

We are seeking input on draft revisions to the “Conflict of Interest, Potential” policy and associated draft procedures. At this stage, these are very much discussion drafts and we would greatly appreciate input from the community so that we can further revise them.

The goals of this effort are to make the policy easier to understand, make it easier for employees to obtain approval for outside work, and ensure that the policy aligns with state law.

Please provide comments via this link by Friday, April 27:

https://oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bsJEMUqBoPN3zsV

During the month of April, we have been attending a variety of standing meetings to obtain initial feedback on the drafts. After revising the documents based on this first round of feedback, we anticipate convening a diverse group of employees to provide further feedback and then submitting the revised policy through the standard policy process.

For your reference, you can find the current policy here: https://policies.uoregon.edu/policy/by/1/09-research/conflicts-interest-potential

Thank you for any time you are able to put into this during the busy spring quarter. I look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely,

Cassandra Moseley
Sr. Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation


Draft COI Policy

Draft COI Procedures