Conflicts of Interest Policy - 1. Procedures Applicable to Trustees, Officers, Deans or Executive Directors, Key Persons, Members of the Board of Governors and Advisory Boards or Committees

a. Upon review of the circumstances surrounding the conflict or potential conflict of interest involving a Trustee, Officer, Dean or Designated head of a School or program, Key Person, Member of the Board of Governors or similar advisory committees, the General Counsel shall make a recommendation to the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the President of the University as to whether the Chair and the President should (i) determine the transaction or situation to be inconsequential and approve it; (ii) determine the transaction or situation to be consequential and avoid it; or (iii) refer the transaction or situation to a sub-committee consisting of Executive Committee members appointed by the Chair. Upon review of the General Counsel’s recommendation, the Chair and the President shall make such determination or referral.

b. Certain circumstances will result in a presumption that the conflict of interest situation or potential conflict of interest situation is inconsequential and should accordingly be approved without the need for review by a sub-committee. For example, such a presumption may be deemed to exist where the University has engaged in a competitive process for the selection of a contract provider. Generally, where there has been a competitive process and where the selected provider is associated with an individual covered by this Policy and where this selected provider has submitted the lowest bid or satisfied other appropriate competitive pricing criteria or standards, the situation may be approved without the need for sub-committee review. Upon such approval by the Chair and President, the conflict of interest situation shall be considered resolved.

c. If the conflict of interest situation has not been resolved in accordance with paragraph 1(b) above, and the Chair and the President determine to refer the conflict of interest situation to a sub-committee, the sub-committee need not be convened to review the situation until the potentially conflicted party (associated with a covered individual under the Policy) has been selected in such competitive process. After consideration of any conflict, the sub-committee may approve the conflict of interest situation only upon a clear showing that: (1) other reasonable alternatives were considered and (2) approval of the conflict of interest situation is “in the best interests of and provides a substantial benefit to the university.” Any conflict of interest situation which is approved by the sub-committee shall be disclosed to the Executive Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting.

Return to Conflicts of Interest Policy.