Conflict of Interest and Commitment

Policy 605.6

Introduction

The Code of The University of North Carolina affirms that the basic mission of the faculty is "the transmission and advancement of knowledge and understanding." Faculty employment at Appalachian State University entails the three responsibilities of teaching, scholarship and other professional service to the institution and to society. Realization of those objectives is facilitated and encouraged by certain distinctive characteristics of employment within an academic community which differs markedly from the conventional workday and workweek employment models in most business and industrial settings.

Time-specific assignments such as classroom contact hours, constitute only a limited part of the workload. Typically, actual teaching hours account for no more than one quarter of a professor's time. Activity directly affecting the education of students also includes class preparation and student evaluation, scheduled and unscheduled office hours for individual student counseling, and meetings of committees within departments, colleges and schools of the institution which are responsible for curriculum development, syllabus preparation, and program evaluation. In addition, the collective faculty has extensive authority and responsibility for the governance of the institution. Such work usually is accomplished through membership on various committees, at the department, college, school and institutional levels, which address personnel, financial and other administrative issues. Finally, every member of the faculty is expected to pursue research/creative activity in her or his area of specialization. Such scholarly activity may be specifically relevant to instruction, it may add generally to the body of information and understanding in a particular field, or it may have direct practical applications, as in business, industry, government, primary and secondary education, public health and national defense.

Faculty/EPA administrative personnel also pursue their specialized professional interests in other contexts, collateral to their immediate University employment. They hold memberships in and attend meetings of professional associations and learned societies; they serve on review or advisory panels; they present lectures, papers, concerts and exhibits; they participate in seminars and conferences; they review and edit scholarly publications; and they participate in accreditation reviews.

Many faculty/EPA administrative personnel also have opportunities to use their specialized competencies in secondary professional employment, as paid consultants to public and private agencies, and thereby contribute to the transfer and application of knowledge.

The role of a scholar, encompassing both institutional employment responsibilities and broader applications of specialized professional interests, is complex. The University employment environment is designed to accommodate such complexity. For many purposes, the faculty member is allowed, and indeed encouraged, to function more independently than employees in other settings. Aside from assigned teaching and advising responsibilities and committee memberships, a faculty member establishes her or his own agenda and schedule in selecting and pursuing scholarly emphases. A substantial part of the value received by society in exchange for its investment in a scholar's career is attributable to that freedom of inquiry, whether the inquiry consists of basic scientific research, applied or performing art, analysis and criticism of literature, or explication of economic principles. Members of the faculty are expected to be imaginative, inquisitive, creative, fair and objective.

The freedom accorded faculty/EPA administrative personnel carries with it a substantial responsibility. Those who display notable talent and are conscientious and productive in their pursuit of knowledge and learning are invited to establish long-term affiliations with the institution, through the award of tenure. There is the possibility, however, that members of the faculty/EPA administrative personnel may take advantage of the freedom attending employment and neglect their responsibilities to the institution. Such neglect may become an issue when decisions are being made about reappointment or tenure, or it may require attention at other times during the employment relationship. The problem may consist of what may be considered either a conflict of commitment or a conflict of interest .

As relationships between University faculty/EPA administrative personnel and private industry, federal and state governments, and nonprofit agencies have grown in number and scope, there has been a corresponding increase in concern about conflicts of commitment and interest. While faculty/EPA administrative personnel are encouraged to engage in appropriate relationships with public and private agencies outside the University, there is a need for commonly understood principles and corresponding procedures that will identify and address conflicts which would detract from or interfere with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel's dedication of primary professional loyalty, time and energy to University teaching, scholarship and service. Although faculty/EPA administrative personnel are the primary subject of concern, all other University employees similarly must avoid such conflicts.

The following policy statements should serve as a guide for faculty/EPA administrative personnel in structuring their relationships with commercial business, the nonprofit sector, and federal and state governments. They are designed to enable faculty/EPA administrative personnel to recognize more clearly situations that may be subject to question and to ensure that such situations are properly reviewed and, if necessary, supervised and monitored. They provide faculty/EPA administrative personnel with guidance for the continued development and future structuring of productive relationships with outside organizations. Finally, by virtue of the explicit nature of and provision for full disclosure, the Policy provides assurance to faculty/EPA administrative personnel, the University, and the public that such relationships have been examined and will be conducted in a manner consistent with University and public values.

Definitions

Significant Financial Interest

Significant Financial Interest means anything of monetary value, including but not limited to, salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees or honoraria); equity interests (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interests); and intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights and royalties from such rights). The term does not include:

• Salary, royalties, or other remuneration from the university;
• Income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements sponsored by public or nonprofit entities;
• Income from service on advisory committees or review panels for public or nonprofit entities;
• An equity interest that, when aggregated for the Investigator and the Investigator's spouse and dependent children, meets both of the following tests: Does not exceed $10,000 in value, as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value, and does not represent more than a five percent ownership interest in any single entity; or
• Salary, royalties or other payments that, when aggregated for the Investigator and the Investigator's spouse and dependent children over the next twelve months, are not expected to exceed $10,00*

Policy and Procedure Statements

Conflicts of Commitment

Conflict of commitment relates to an individual's distribution of effort between obligations to one's University employment and one's participation in other activities outside of University employment. The latter may include a wide variety of generally encouraged extensions of professional expertise. Such activities promote professional development and enrich the individual's contributions to the institution, to the profession, and to society. However, a conflict of commitment occurs when the pursuit of such outside activities involves an inordinate investment of time that interferes with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel obligations to students, to colleagues, and to the mission of the University.

Although full-time faculty employment is not amenable to precise, time-clock analysis and monitoring, administrators are able to and regularly do evaluate the work of employees within their jurisdiction. The formal occasions for determining whether an individual is devoting sufficient time and energy to University employment include regular reviews of performance in connection with annual salary decisions and scheduled reviews incident to promotion, reappointment or tenure decisions. In addition, complaints from students, colleagues or administrators about possible failures to meet assigned responsibilities may arise and require investigation. The issue, in each case, is whether the faculty/EPA administrative personnel are meeting the requirements of the job. If presented with evidence that they are not meeting full-time responsibilities to the University, the Code prescribes that "neglect of duty" is a ground for disciplinary action, including the possibility of discharge. In one particularly relevant context, the Board of Governors has established special policies and procedures for monitoring possible conflicts of commitment. In addition, the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees has its own "Policy On Outside Activities By Faculty Members." A University employee who wishes to engage in an external professional activity for pay must make a full disclosure, in advance, of the planned outside involvement and must provide satisfactory assurances that such activity will not interfere with University employment obligations (2) . In another example of special legislation, the Board has established rules for monitoring and regulating the involvement of University employees in political candidacy and office holding that could interfere with full-time commitment to University duties.

The following examples of conflicts of commitment are merely illustrative and do not purport to include all possible situations. The cited examples involve prolonged commitments to a variety of activities and organizations.

• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel, as a result of their professional expertise, may give an inordinate investment of time to a professional organization, thus interfering with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel's obligations to students, to colleagues, and to the mission of the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel may serve as volunteers in civic or other types of community organizations that require an inordinate investment of time that interferes with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel's obligation to students, to colleagues, and to the mission of the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel may work for or own a business that requires an inordinate investment of time that interferes with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel's obligation to students, to colleagues, and to the mission of the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel may serve in independent consulting activities that require an inordinate investment of time, thus interfering with the faculty/EPA administrative personnel's obligation to students, to colleagues, and to the mission of the University.

In each of the above examples, the faculty/EPA administrative personnel may or may not receive compensation.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest relate to situations in which financial or other personal considerations may compromise, may involve the potential for compromising, or may have the appearance of compromising a faculty/EPA administrative personnel's objectivity in meeting University duties or responsibilities, including teaching and scholarship. The bias that such conflicts may impart can affect many University duties, including decisions about personnel, the purchase of equipment and other supplies, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the sharing of research results, the choice of research protocols, and the use of statistical methods. Faculty/EPA administrative personnel may have conflicts of interest when they, or any member of their immediate family, have a personal interest in an activity that may affect decision making with respect to University teaching, research or administration.

Conflicts of interest can be difficult to define, detect and resolve. Appalachian State University has established some basic parameters to enable its faculty/EPA administrative personnel to recognize more readily and clearly those situations that are improper or may be questionable, and to institute basic procedures for avoiding or rectifying any problems.

Faculty/EPA administrative personnel professional activities and financial interests must be arranged to avoid circumstances that do or may prevent or limit objectivity in the performance of University responsibilities or that otherwise do or may affect adversely any University interests.

The following examples of conflicts of interest are merely illustrative and do not purport to include all possible situations.

Activities allowable, with no reporting required.

The cited examples do involve activities external to University employment, and thus may present the appearance of a technical conflict, but they in fact do not have the potential for affecting the objectivity of the faculty member's performance of University responsibilities; at most, some such situations could prompt questions about conflicts of commitment.

• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel receiving royalties from the publication of books or for the licensure of patented inventions subject to the Appalachian State University and UNC Patent and Copyright Policies.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel having equity interest in a corporation, the exclusive function of which is to accommodate the employee's external consulting activities.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel engaging in service to professional associations and learned societies; service on review or advisory panels; presentation of lectures, papers, concerts, or exhibits; participation in seminars and conferences; preparation, review, or editing scholarly publications; and membership on accreditation bodies. These activities may be pursued without compensation or with minimal compensation in the form of honoraria or expense reimbursement. While these activities may not present a conflict of interest, they may present a conflict of commitment if an inordinate amount of time is involved (see section on Conflicts of Commitment).

Activities requiring disclosure for administrative review.

The cited examples suggest a possibility of conflicting loyalties that can impair objectivity, but disclosure and resulting analysis of relationships may render the activity permissible, perhaps with certain types of limitation or monitoring.

• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel requiring students to purchase the textbook or related instructional materials of the employee or members of her or his immediate family, which produces compensation for the employee or family member.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel receiving compensation or gratuities (other than occasional meals, gifts or desk copies of textbooks, and the like) from any individual or entity doing business with the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel serving on the board of directors or scientific advisory board of an enterprise that provides financial support for University research, and the employee or a member of her or his immediate family may receive such financial support.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel serving in an executive position in a for-profit or not-for-profit business which conducts research or other activities in an area related to the University duties of the employee.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel having significant equity in a for-profit business which conducts research or other activities in an area related to the employee's University duties.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel having financial interest in a business that competes with services provided by the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel who have a relationship with vendors making purchasing decisions that might impair objective fulfillment of her or his duties.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel, who have a significant academic association with a student, employing the student in a company in which the employee has a significant ownership, supervisory, or consulting interest.

Activities or relationships that are generally not allowable.

The cited examples involve situations that are not generally permissible, because they involve potential conflicts of interest or they present obvious opportunities or inducements to favor personal interests over institutional interests. Before proceeding with such an endeavor, the faculty/EPA administrative personnel would have to sustain the burden of demonstrating that in fact her or his objectivity would not be affected or University interests otherwise would not be damaged.

• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel participating in University research involving a technology owned by or contractually obligated to (by license or exercise of an option to license, or otherwise) a business in which the individual or a member of her or his immediate family has a consulting relationship, has an ownership interest, or holds an executive position.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel participating in University research which is funded by a grant or contract from a business in which the individual or a member of her or his immediate family has an ownership interest.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel accepting support for University research under conditions that require research results to be held confidential, unpublished, or inordinately delayed in publication (other than as allowed by University Patent and Copyright Policies or by Policy of the Board of Governors dated February 12, 1988, Administrative Memorandum No. 260).
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel making referrals of University business to an external enterprise in which the individual or a member of her or his immediate family has a significant financial interest.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel associating her or his own name with the University in such a way as to profit financially by trading on the reputation or goodwill of the University.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel making unauthorized use of privileged information acquired in connection with one's University responsibilities.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel making use of University facilities or equipment for personal gain.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel accepting additional compensation for advice or service (to individuals, organizations, and other agencies) that is a part of the employee's assigned duties.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel accepting textbooks and other gifts that improperly influence the conduct of research or the University's business, administrative, or academic decisions.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel accepting textbooks and other gifts for the purpose of reselling or exchanging them for personal financial gain.
• Faculty/EPA administrative personnel initiating or participating in (directly or indirectly) decisions involving family members, blood relatives or close personal friends.