Conflict of Interest and Commitment Policy

The purpose of the Northern Illinois University’s Conflict of Interest and Commitment Policy (hereinafter “the Policy”) is to identify and manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and/or conflicts of commitment involving outside activities. This policy is not to discourage or prohibit outside activities, but to establish standards and requirements to protect the financial well-being, reputation and legal obligations of the university while promoting stewardship, innovation, professional development, and scholarship.

Conflict of Commitment

When activities and undertakings that are not direct responsibilities of a university employee are so substantial or demanding of time as to interfere and/or diminish adequacy of performance of the employee's responsibilities to their unit, to students, and/or to the university.

Conflict of Interest

A situation in which an employee’s financial, professional, or other personal considerations may directly or indirectly affect, or have the appearance of affecting, the employee’s professional judgment in exercising any university duty or responsibility.

A conflict of interest may occur when they are in a position to directly or indirectly influence university business, research, or other university activities in ways that could lead to personal gain for themselves or an immediate family member, or give improper advantage to others to the detriment of the university. A conflict of interest may also occur when an employee seeks to be in a vendor or contracting relationship with the university, whether directly or by having a financial or ownership interest in a vendor or contractor doing business with the university.

Immediate Family Member

An employee’s spouse, minor child, or other immediate family member living in the same residence as the employee.

Investigator

Principal investigator, co-investigators, and any other person responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded by or proposed for funding by the sponsor.

Outside Activities

Any paid or volunteer activity undertaken by an employee outside the scope of one’s employment at the university regardless of the level of commitment and whether the outside activity occurs during the use of benefit time, evenings, and/or weekends. This may include consulting, participation in civic or charitable organizations, working as a technical or professional advisor or practitioner, or holding a part-time job with another employer, whether working in one’s university occupation or another. Outside activities do not include assignment of work subject to additional pay or extra compensation.

• University Faculty and Research Consulting Act, 110 ILCS 100
• Illinois Procurement Code, 30 ILCS 500/50-13, 50-20, 50-35
• Illinois Higher Education Procurement Rule, 44 Ill. Adm. Code § 4.5013; 4.5020; 4.5023; and 4.5035
• State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, 5 ILCS 430/5-45
• Board of Trustees Regulations, Section II. B. 2.

The university will maintain an accessible system for university employees to disclose outside activities and conflicts, in accordance with this policy.

The following disclosure requirements apply to employees based on their employment classification:

Full-time Faculty

Consistent with state law, no full-time member of the faculty may undertake, contract for, or accept anything of value in return for outside activities unless a request is made to the President, or designee. The request shall include an estimate of the amount of time which will be involved. On an annual basis, the faculty member shall submit a statement with the amount of actual time spent on such outside activities.

Employees who hold faculty rank or tenure within an academic unit but serve in an administrative capacity are subject to this disclosure requirement.

All Employees

All part-time and full-time faculty, supportive professional staff, civil service, and extra help employees shall disclose outside activities that pose an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest and/or conflict of commitment.

If an employee is unsure whether there is a conflict, they are encouraged to consult with their chair and/or department head, or the university’s ethics officer.

Failure of an employee to disclose a conflict of interest and/or conflict of commitment may result in an appropriate level of corrective action, depending on the nature of the conflict and surrounding facts.

If an employee discloses an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest and/or conflict of commitment, they may be required to develop a conflict management plan (CMP). The CMP may be developed with the assistance of the university ethics officer and must be submitted to the employee’s immediate supervisor. Approval may be needed from the respective dean or division/department head. A conflict management plan may include one of more of the following (the list is not exhaustive):

• Monitoring of the activity by an independent oversight committee of reviewers.
• Modification of a research or business plan to avoid or minimize conflict.
• Required utilization of available vacation or unpaid leave options to facilitate continued participation in relationships posing an actual conflict of commitment.
• Disqualification from participation in all or part of a funded research activity.
• Severance of relationships and/or responsibilities that create actual or potential conflicts.

To the extent consistent with state law, university intellectual property policies and applicable Legislative Audit Commission Guidelines for Universities, the university supports faculty entrepreneurship and the creation of start-up companies founded on a faculty inventor's new technology. Such companies represent an important and viable path to technology commercialization and to local economic development and job creation. The university does not subsidize start-up companies, but the university treasurer may, with appropriate repayment security, provide initial working funds from eligible sources on a contractual reimbursement basis provided such reimbursement obligation is written and to be repaid within a year of the advance.

In the early stages of a faculty start-up company, university employee(s) may participate, for limited periods of time, in accordance with this policy, in business management discussions and decisions affecting the development of their company. Because of the personal involvement of the faculty member in their own start-up company, it is expected that such involvement will be fully described and considered in a conflict management plan and updated whenever there are significant changes to the situation.

While university employee(s) may provide professional consulting to a start-up company (frequently with titles such as chief scientific advisor or chief technical advisor), they are not normally permitted, while employed full-time by the university, to hold active line titles/responsibility in the company (CEO, CFO, President, etc.) or be actively involved in its day-to-day management and operation.

Resources, to include facilities, that are not typically available to the general public may not be used for private or commercial gain except on university projects officially sponsored by internal or external sources. All externally sponsored projects carried out using university resources must be conducted under a grant or contract agreed to and administered by the university. Use of university resources may be allowable in some cases through a full cost reimbursement contract including overhead costs.

Staff and students should not be involved in an employee’s outside activities unless it can be demonstrated that such participation affords a substantial educational benefit for them. No employee will hire or directly supervise a student in outside activities while simultaneously serving as the student's academic instructor, advisor, supervisor, or as a member of that student's thesis or dissertation committee without the prior written approval of the Chair or the student's academic unit. Cases involving use of students must be closely monitored by the academic unit, not by the individual employee.

Care and attention must be given when there is a relationship (financial or personal) between a university employee or the immediate family member of a university employee and a business that the university wants to utilize. As soon as the employee is made aware of the potential for this relationship to exist, the employee must alert their supervisor or ethics officer to determine an appropriate course of action, which includes completing the appropriate disclosure. This disclosure is not intended to prevent the relationship from occurring, but rather to ensure that conditions are in place to promote transparency and fairness in the procurement process.

Procurement Services and Contract Management (PCSM) reviews information disclosed by vendors. Employees involved in decisions related to selecting vendors and/or involved in making certain purchasing decisions are subject to additional disclosures managed by PCSM.

PCSM and/or the ethics officer may seek guidance from the State Procurement Officer (SPO), Procurement Policy Board (PPB), and/or Office of Executive Inspector General (OEIG) when there is a relationship between a university employee or the immediate family member of a university employee and a business that the university wants to utilize.

Research financial conflict of interest exists when a significant financial interest creates a perceived or actual influence on an investigator's designing, conducting or reporting of research. The perceived or actual bias may affect, or appear to affect, not only the integrity of the research, but also, the hiring of staff, procurement of materials, sharing of results, and selection of statistical method approach and application.

Employees submitting a grant proposal or contract may have additional training, reporting, and disclosure requirements facilitated through the Office of Research Compliance, Integrity and Safety.