Guidelines for Applying Conflict of Interest Policy

Download the "official" version of the Conflict of Interest Guidelines located on the General Counsel's website.

Adopted by BOT: 12-14-90

Effective Date of this Revision: 9-29-2005

The purpose of the Conflict of Interest Policy is to foster high ethical standards of performance by ensuring that actual or apparent conflict of interest situations are avoided. The guidelines address specific areas of potential conflict of interest.

A conflict of interest may occur when a University faculty/staff member meets any one of the following criteria:

The Faculty/Staff member is:

An officer, director, trustee, sole proprietor, partner, employee, sales representative or agent of, OR
A consultant, independent contractor or advisory board member to an external organization or corporation either seeking to do or doing business with the University, funding a sponsored project, or providing goods or services under a sponsored project in which the faculty/staff member is participating in any capacity; OR

The faculty/staff member is the actual or beneficial owner of more than five percent (5%) of the voting stock or controlling interest of such organization or corporation, or the market value of her/his stock exceeds $10,000; OR
The faculty/staff member has dealings with such organization or corporation from which he/she derives income (e.g., royalties, stipends, salary) of more than $10,000 per year, exclusive of dividends and interest; OR
The assets of the faculty/staff member's Family/Household, alone or in combination with the assets of the faculty/staff member, meet any of the criteria stated in paragraphs A, B and C above. Family/Household is defined to include a) Family/Household (spouse, parents and children) and b) persons living at the same residence as the faculty/staff member, except their tenants or employees.

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