Annual conflict of interest reporting process begins April 30 for SU faculty and staff

Wednesday, April 25, 2012, By News Staff

In the interest of transparency and accountability in Syracuse University’s business transactions, employment practices and relationships with external parties, SU is continuing its annual process whereby disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (COI) can be reported.

Beginning Monday, April 30, all full-time and regular part-time faculty and staff (excluding student employees, temporary employees, those whose conditions of employment are currently bound by an existing bargaining agreement, and part-time or contingent faculty who are not members of a bargaining unit) will receive, via email, directions from SU’s Office of Audit and Management Advisory Services (AMAS) for completing the online COI survey. The survey can be accessed through MySlice beginning April 30, and participation in the COI survey is required annually.

Most employees will have no conflicts of interest requiring disclosure. In these cases, the disclosure process will simply involve answering ‘no’ to each of the seven questions in the online survey form. A ‘yes’ answer will require some further explanatory information, which will be reviewed confidentially. In the event a COI disclosure is determined to be significant enough to warrant intervention or alternative arrangements, a management plan to mitigate the conflict will be devised.

These disclosures are instrumental in identifying situations and/or relationships that present actual conflicts of interest, or the appearance of a conflict, so that alternative arrangements may be made to ensure objectivity and fairness for all parties involved, and to prevent an inappropriate benefit or gain on the part of the affected employee(s) or family member(s). Such COI disclosure is consistent with the policies of many of SU’s peer institutions across the United States and is considered an industry best practice.

This reporting improvement is not related to the disclosures required by faculty and staff who work on sponsored programs. Those disclosures will continue to be administered by the vice president for research.

For more information, or questions about this policy and survey, contact AMAS at COIAMAS@syr.edu.