Section 1000: Campus Policy

Effective:
Revised: September 2025
Last Review: September 2025
Next Review: September 2027
Responsible Party: Human Resources

Policy

This policy is adopted pursuant to Board of Regents’ Policy 770, Conflict of Interest, and applies to the full-time administration, faculty, and staff at MSU-Northern. In addition to this policy, the conduct of these public employees is governed by Montana law, Government Structure and Administration - Standards of Conduct – Code of Ethics, Title 2, Chapter 2, Part 1, MCA.

100 Introduction

The administration, faculty, and staff of Montana State University-Northern (hereinafter, “the Campus”) are committed to fulfilling the Campus’ mission with integrity and in full compliance with state and federal ethics and conflict of interest laws and regulations and with Montana Board of Regents Policy. Pursuit of the mission often involves sustained interaction and activities of Campus employees with business, government, and community groups, as well as not-for-profit groups, professional societies, other academic institutions, and other individuals and organizations. These interactions and activities create the potential for conflicts of interest to arise. A conflict of interest may exist whenever an employee’s work, responsibilities, actions, or decisions may be influenced by considerations of personal or financial gain as a result of a personal relationship or through activities, contracts, or engagements undertaken by the employee with non-Campus entities. Such conflicts, real or perceived, can undermine public and professional confidence in the system, diminish its ability to accomplish its mission, and violate state or federal law.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily mean that the activity at issue violates law or must be avoided or discontinued; often, conflicts of interest can be dealt with effectively through disclosure and other steps to resolve or manage the conflict. Thus, an integral part of this policy is the disclosure and management system detailed in Sections 300-400 below.

This Policy is intended to enable employees to recognize potential conflicting interests and, thus, to protect themselves and the Campus from such conflicting interests through disclosure, evaluation, and, if required, management or elimination of conflicts of interest.

200 DEFINITIONS

210 Conflict of Interest. A conflict of interest occurs when:

A Campus employee has a personal interest that is inconsistent or incompatible with the employee’s obligation to the Campus to exercise the employee’s best judgment in pursuit of the interest of campus and its students;

A non-Campus activity unreasonably encroaches on the time an employee should devote to the affairs of the Campus; or

An employee’s non-Campus activities unreasonably impinge on or compromise the loyalty or commitment to the employee’s Campus duties and responsibilities.

In determining whether a conflict of interest exists, an important consideration is whether an independent observer might reasonably question whether the employee’s professional actions or decisions are influenced by considerations of personal gain, financial or otherwise.

220 Significant Financial Interest. Anything of monetary value, including but not limited to, salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees or honoraria); additional campus-based compensation, grant-funded or otherwise, for an employee with direct purview over the assignment of the compensation-related additional duties; ownership interests (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interest); and intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights and royalties from such rights). Significant Financial Interest includes the interests of the employee’s immediate family (i.e., spouse and dependent children). The term does not include:

An equity interest that when aggregated for the employee and the employee’s immediate family, meets both of the following tests: has a value of $10,000 or less as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value, and represents a five percent or less ownership interest in any single entity.

Annual salary, royalties, or other payments that when aggregated for the employee and the employee’s immediate family amount to $10,000 or less over 12 months.

Salary, royalties, or other remuneration received from or through the Campus.

Income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements sponsored by public or nonprofit entities.

Income from service on advisory committees or review panels for public or nonprofit entities.

A financial interest arising solely by reason of investment in a business by a mutual, pension or other institutional investment fund over which the employee does not exercise control.

230 Significant Non-Monetary Personal Interest. Any non-monetary benefit to be gained or lost by the employee, their children, or other immediate relatives as the result of the employee’s supervision, judgment, or influence when carrying out a professional action or decision. This may include, but is not limited to, entry into an institutional program with a competitive admission process the conferral of academic credit, or preferential treatment.   

Instructional faculty are advised against teaching (or co-teaching) their children, other immediate relatives, or partners in a credit-bearing class to avoid potential conflicts of interest that could adversely impact both the student and the faculty member’s interactions with other students in the class. In rare cases, where such enrollment cannot be avoided, a pre-established recusal plan must be developed to effectively maintain the integrity of the grading process. Whenever possible, this plan must ensure that grades or assessments are not rendered by the related faculty member and establish a fair process comparable to that of other students in the class. The recusal plan will be executed by the related faculty member, the department chair (or equivalent), and the student, in consultation with the Director of Human Resources, with a copy provided to the Dean of the appropriate College.

Likewise, faculty and staff advisors should not be assigned as a primary advisor for their children, other immediate relatives, or partners to avoid potential conflicts of interest that could impact student progression toward degree and the integrity of course sequencing within an academic program.

300 DISCLOSURE

The key mechanism for implementation of this Policy is disclosure. Disclosure allows the Campus and the employee to evaluate personal interests to determine if they present potential conflicts of interest and to take appropriate action based on the evaluation. All full-time Campus administrators, professional staff, and faculty must complete and submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement form annually. All employees, including those exempted from the annual disclosure requirement, are required to comply with this Conflict of Interest Policy and to make disclosures of any potential conflicts of interest whenever they occur (using the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement form included as Appendix A: PDF file, Word document).

310 Circumstances Requiring Disclosure. All employees must disclose the following whenever they occur:

310.1 The acquisition by the employee, or a member of his/her immediate family, of a Significant Financial Interest, including employment, in an entity engaged in commercial activities directly related to the employee’s Campus responsibilities.

310.2 Serving as an executive officer or as a member of the board of directors of an entity engaged in commercial activities directly related to the employee’s Campus responsibilities.

310.3 An immediate family member serving as an executive officer or as a member on the board of directors of an entity engaged in commercial activities directly related to the employee’s Campus responsibilities.

310.4 The planned direct participation in a Campus decision or teaching/co-teaching a credit-bearing course which would involve a direct benefit or detriment to:

A current or former immediate family member;
A person in whom, or with whom, the employee has a financial interest; or
A person with whom the employee has a history of personal legal disputes outside of any campus-related disputes or arbitration; or
A person with whom the employee has a consensual romantic relationship.

310.5  Any financial interest of the employee, or an immediate family member, in an entity involved in a Campus purchase or sale whenever the employee is in a position to recommend or approve the purchase or sale. Such interests must be disclosed to the Director of Business Services at MSU-Northern.

Note: This disclosure requirement does not include textbook adoptions when the employee is clearly identified as an author, contributor, or editor of the textbook under consideration. However, faculty members should not receive a profit as a result of recommending a specific vendor for the purchase of texts or course materials by their students, whether on-line or from other sources.

310.6 Participation as an employee, officer, board member, or owner in an entity which has (or wishes to have) rights to intellectual property for which the employee was an inventor or creator in their work for MSU-Northern, as provided in Board of Regents Policy 407.

310.7 The acquisition of any personal or financial interest, including employment, which creates a potential conflict of interest.

310.8 Access to FERPA/ HIPAA/ Right to Privacy-protected data of the employee’s child, other immediate relative, or partner required as part of the employee’s regular duties.

Note: All faculty and staff must adhere to FERPA, HIPAA, and Right to Privacy regulations regardless of the existence of any personal or professional relationship with any student or university employee.

311 Annual Disclosure. Annually, all employees (unless exempted as provided in Section 312 below) must complete and submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement (Disclosure Form) as follows:

311.1 Disclosure Forms shall be completed and filed by October 1 of each year.

311.2 The employee’s signature on the Disclosure Form certifies that the employee has read and understands this Policy and that either (1) the employee does not have any interests which require disclosure, or (2) that the employee has appropriately disclosed any interests which create a potential conflict of interest.

312 The following groups of employees are exempt from the annual disclosure obligation (although they remain obligated to make disclosures under Section 310 above):

312.1 Employees working less than one-half time in non-teaching capacities; and classified employees.

313 Disclosure Submission. All Disclosure Forms shall be submitted to the Director for Human Resources, with copies to the Cabinet member overseeing the employee’s supervisory line.

314 Conflicts Management Plan Submission. With the exception of teaching/co-teaching recusal plans, any of the above disclosures may be accompanied, at the employee’s option, by a proposed conflict management plan. MSU-Northern’s Office of Human Resources is available to answer questions or provide help with this plan in consultation with MSU’s Office of Legal Counsel.

400 DISCLOSURE REVIEW AND DISPOSITION

410 Initial Review. The Director of Human Resources shall review each form containing a disclosure and determine, in consultation with the responsible Cabinet-level supervisor or the Office of Legal Counsel, whether a conflict of interest exists. If the reviewer is not independent for any reason, then the Office of Legal Counsel shall be responsible for the review.

420 Waiver of Conflict. If a conflict is determined to exist, the Director of Human Resources, in consultation with the responsible Cabinet-level supervisor and/or Office of Legal Counsel, may waive the conflict and the need for a conflict management plan if they make the following written determinations:

420.1 That the conflict of interest is so remote that there is no significant probability for bias or undue influence on the employee’s Campus duties and responsibilities; or

420.2 Any resolution of the conflict other than by disclosure and waiver would be ineffective or inequitable and the conflict is not prohibited by statute or regulation.

430 Conflict Management. If a conflict of interest exists and is not waivable, the Director of Human Resources, in consultation with the employee, the responsible Cabinet-level supervisor, and any others deemed helpful in assessing the situation, will develop a written conflict management or recusal plan to manage, reduce, or eliminate the potential for conflict of interest.

430.1 The conflict management plan may employ strategies including, but not limited to, the following:

Public disclosure of the Significant Financial Interest;
Monitoring of the relevant employment duties by independent reviewers;
Modification of duties of the employee;
Disqualification from participation in the conflicting employment activity, such as search committee, procurement, student advising, or employee supervision;
Divestiture of the conflicting interest; or
Severance of relationship that creates the conflict of interest.

430.2 Whenever a decision is made to manage rather than eliminate the conflict of interest, the Director of Human Resources, with advice from the Office of Legal Counsel shall make a written statement explaining why management is in the best interest of the Campus. Such statement may be included in the conflict management or recusal plan.

430.3 Relevant questions to consider in designing an appropriate conflict management plan include, but are not limited to:

What is the magnitude of the financial interest?
What is the level of incentive created by the interest?
How direct is the link between the interest and the duties of the employee?
Could the conflict adversely affect students?
Could the conflict unreasonably interfere with the employee’s commitment to Campus responsibilities?
Can a reasonably knowledgeable person be identified to monitor the conflict satisfactorily?

500 APPEAL PROCEDURE

510 Appeal to the Chancellor. If an employee believes the conditions or restrictions in the conflict management or recusal plan are inappropriate, the employee may appeal the decision to the Chancellor of MSU-Northern. The Chancellor’s decision on the appeal shall be the final decision for the Campus.

520 Conflict Review Committee. If the Chancellor wishes to have the benefit of advice from a Conflict Review Committee, the Chancellor shall appoint a three-member committee. The members shall include employees or community members who have not been involved in the decision being appealed and who have relevant experience or training to assess the conflict.

530 Montana University System Appeal. An employee who disagrees with the final decision of the Chancellor may appeal further as provided in the Board of Regents Appeal Policy, 203.5.2.

600 COMPLIANCE REPORTING AND RECORD RETENTION

The Director of Human Resources at MSU-Northern shall be responsible for maintenance of all disclosure and conflict management records for the period of time required by state and federal laws and regulations. Records will be maintained in a manner to protect sensitive and confidential information consistent with state and federal law.

700 COMPLIANCE

710 MSU-Northern expects all employees to comply fully and promptly with all requirements of this Policy. Breaches of this Policy include, but are not limited to: intentionally filing and incomplete, erroneous, or misleading disclosure form; failure to provide additional information as required; failure to provide a disclosure form required by this Policy; failure to remedy conflicts of interest; or failure to abide by a conflict management or recusal plan.

720 A violation of this policy may be the basis for discipline of an employee. Such discipline will be imposed consistent with the discipline policies and procedures applicable to the particular employee (collective bargaining agreement, Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual).

730 Potential sanctions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Letter of warning;
Removal or suspension of privileges related to the violation;
Suspension without pay;
Termination.

800 TRAINING

All full-time administration, faculty, and professional staff will receive Conflict of Interest Training each year during fall orientation. Training will include information about the policy as well as the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement. Copies of the policy and statement will be provided to all appropriate staff.

900 SPONSORED RESEARCH

For information on conflicts of interest related to Sponsored Research, see: Conflict of Interest - OneMSU Policy | Montana State University.