RETURN TO ETHICS AT RUTGERS HOME

Memo to Faculty Regarding Ethics Education and Information Program and Reporting Requirements

Rutgers, the premier public research university in New Jersey, is a steward of the public trust. As university and public employees we must take care to exhibit the highest ethical standards of conduct in carrying out our duties and to avoid rigorously any conduct that might produce even the appearance of the misuse of our Rutgers positions to further our own personal interests.

The New Jersey Conflicts of Interest Law, which is generally applicable to all Rutgers employees, was amended and strengthened in 2006. The amended statute emphasizes the need to educate public employees in ethical standards. Accordingly, Rutgers is implementing an education program on ethics which I am writing to inform you about and to urge in the strongest possible terms your cooperation and participation in this effort.

As part of this program of education and information, we will provide each Rutgers employee with the Rutgers Code of Ethics, and with a Rutgers Plain Language Guide to Fundamental Ethics and Conflicts Rules Established by State Law, Federal Law and University Policy. Employees without access to a computer will be provided with a hard copy of these documents by their supervisors. After reading the documents, each employee must sign the Receipt and Acknowledgement of Rutgers Code of Ethics and Rutgers Plain Language Guide form and submit it to the Office of Academic Affairs as soon as possible.

Some aspects of the ethics initiative have a specific impact on faculty and on those staff who engage in scholarly activity. As brief background, following the legislative amendments to the law in the fall of 2006, which was meant to apply broadly to all State employees, the New Jersey State Ethics Commission (the “Commission”) interpreted the law in ways that did not take into account some of the special roles of faculty and of public higher education. For example, the Commission’s interpretation of the law would have precluded honoraria, reimbursement for expenses for conference participation, and retention of the monetary portion of academic prizes for scholarly activities, or even certain forms of scholarly publication. In response, members of the public higher education community, including representatives from Rutgers, worked cooperatively and intensively with the Commission to consider a number of key higher education proposals to the regulations. The Commission largely adopted the proposals, although the Commission also imposed certain reporting requirements in exchange. As a result, in cooperation with the Commission and in keeping with the practice of other public institutions of higher education in the state, Rutgers is implementing the following requirements.

Annual Reporting of Honoraria, etc. Money earned from non-Rutgers sources for scholarly activities (honoraria and other forms of payment or reimbursement for work done in a scholarly capacity) must be reported annually to the university, which is required in turn to submit the completed reports to the Commission. Because the Commission issued its amended regulations on November 19, 2007, the first of the annual disclosures regarding scholarly activities will cover the period November 19, 2007 to December 31, 2007, and are to be completed and submitted to your chair or supervisor by April 30, 2008. Rutgers will forward copies of the forms to the Commission by May 3, 2008. The Rutgers Annual Disclosure Form for Payments and Expense Reimbursement from Non-University Sources for Acting in a “Scholarly Capacity” may be found on the website. Faculty need to fill out this form only if they have engaged in activities undertaken in their scholarly capacity and have received compensation from non-Rutgers sources for those activities. Please refer to the form for guidance as to whether you need to file a report for the period in question. Generally, only faculty and administrative staff with academic responsibilities will need to fill out this form. If you do need to disclose, please fill out the form promptly and submit it to your chair or immediate supervisor as detailed on the form.

Textbooks. If faculty assign books they have authored to their own classes, they must donate royalties specifically earned from that assignment to their departments or a non-profit entity. This does not interfere with academic freedom in that faculty members are free to assign any text they wish in class in accord with the accepted practices of their department or school, but it may require calculation and accounting of the royalties for the sale of books to that particular class.

Annual Report of Outside Activities. One of the central components of the State’s ethics program is an annual report of outside activities. Rutgers has created an outside activities report form adapted from the standard State form with modifications appropriate for an AAU public research institution. The conflict of interest statute contains a general provision which states that “no State officer or employee … should undertake any employment or service, whether compensated or not, which might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity or independence of judgment,” N.J.S.A. 52:13D-23(e) (6). This is entirely consistent with current Rutgers policies on conflict of interest and commitment, with federal regulations concerning conflict of interest and objectivity in research and is a standard policy of many other AAU public institutions. Courts have upheld the validity of similar statutory provisions requiring such disclosures in other states. Therefore, each full-time Rutgers employee shall complete a Rutgers University Outside Activity Report Form which identifies outside employers, the nature of the outside activities undertaken, and the time involved. Rutgers employees with outside activities should complete the form and submit it annually to the appropriate individual as indicated on the form by September 30, starting with September 2008. On this form each employee should report all non-university paid outside activities for the year ending June 30 (i.e. July 1 to June 30). The form asks for information regarding activities engaged in during the last year ending June 30 and also for information regarding anticipated outside employment during the current year.

Pre-Approval of Outside Activities. Rutgers, in keeping with the majority practice at public AAU institutions, will require pre-approval only for a limited number of outside activities; these will include outside activitiesthat involve students or outside activities with research sponsors or licensees of university-owned technology.

Ethics Policies, Forms and Related Materials.

We have tried to make the materials as clear and inclusive as possible. Nevertheless, for each of these provisions, there will be instances in which their applicability to particular circumstances will be uncertain. In these cases, you may send your inquiry to ethics@oldqueens.rutgers.edu for advice. Please note that our general policy will be: when in doubt, disclose.

The University has developed a new ethics website, which contains links to relevant informational material, including the Rutgers Code of Ethics, the Plain Language Guide to Fundamental Ethics and Conflicts Rules Established by State Law, Federal Law and University Policy, and the forms most employees will need to complete on an annual basis, as described above. Additionally, the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University Human Resources, and the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel are available to discuss the new ethics requirements upon request.

The University’s ethics education program reflects the importance that Rutgers places on effective communication of ethics standards and on alerting the university community to the circumstances in which issues might be encountered. 

Please take the time to return the Receipt and Acknowledgement of the Rutgers Code of Ethics and Rutgers Plain Language Guide Form to the Office of Academic Affairs as soon as possible.

This is a major initiative and a serious endeavor which is a priority area for Rutgers. I look forward to working with all of you in the implementation of this ethics education program.

cc: Richard L. McCormick