RETURN TO ETHICS AT RUTGERS HOME

Memo to Deans, Directors, and Faculty Regarding the
Ethics Program

This memorandum serves to reiterate our need to be compliant with State of New Jersey ethics regulations and also addresses steps that need to be followed regarding the completion of required forms.

If you have not yet submitted the Receipt and Acknowledgement of Rutgers Code of Ethics and Rutgers Plain Language Guide to Fundamental Ethics and Conflicts Rules Established by State Law, Federal Law and University Policy, please do so now.

As part of the Rutgers ethics education program, each Rutgers regular salaried full-time faculty and staff member was provided with the Rutgers Code of Ethics and the Rutgers Plain Language Guide to Fundamental Ethics and Conflicts Rules Established by State Law, Federal Law and University Policy. After reading the documents, each faculty member should have signed the Receipt and Acknowledgement of Rutgers Code of Ethics and Rutgers Plain Language Guide to Fundamental Ethics and Conflicts Rules Established by State Law, Federal Law and University Policy form and submitted it to my office. You need to fill out this form only once during your employment at Rutgers.

If you have not yet submitted the Outside Employment Form for Faculty and Academic Administrators – Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009, please do so now.

Rutgers faculty and academic administrators should have completed the Outside Employment Form for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 (July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009) and submitted it to the appropriate individual as indicated on the form by the September 30, 2008 deadline.

Common errors on the Outside Employment form to correct or avoid

Incorrect Outside Employment form
Faculty should use the form designated specifically for faculty and academic administrators; staff should use the form designated for staff. Faculty who have submitted a staff form will be asked to complete and submit the correct form.

Incomplete forms
All information requested on the form should be provided. Additionally, it is important that the forms be properly signed by the faculty member and the chair or dean. Note that faculty may elect to send their forms to either their chair or dean.

The Rutgers Annual Disclosure Form for Payments and Expense Reimbursement from Non-University Sources for Acting in a "Scholarly Capacity" for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 should be submitted by February 20, 2009.

Only employees who have engaged in activities in a scholarly capacity that were compensated by non-Rutgers sources need to fill out the Rutgers Annual Disclosure Form for Payments and Expense Reimbursements from Non-University Sources for Acting in a “Scholarly Capacity”. The New Jersey State Ethics Commission requires that these reports of payments from non-Rutgers sources for scholarly activities be filed for the time period January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008. The Commission requires that it receive these forms by February 28, 2009. (The Commission, at the request of several institutions of higher education, extended the deadline from January 31 to February 28.) Accordingly, please be sure to submit these forms to your chair or dean by February 20, 2009 for forwarding to the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs so that the university may meet the extended February 28, 2009 deadline for delivering these forms to the State Ethics Commission.

It is important that faculty understand that it is within their reasonable discretion whether to classify work as "outside work" or "scholarly activity." For additional clarification in making this determination, please see the Ethics Frequently Asked Questions webpage.

Thank you for your cooperation.