113.05 – Standards of Conduct

Academic staff are governed by the following standards of conduct from UWS 8.03: 

  1. Personal gain from University position  
    1. No member of the academic staff shall, in a manner contrary to the interests of the University of Wisconsin System, use or attempt to use his/her public position or state property, including property leased by the state, to gain or attempt to gain anything of substantial value for the private benefit of the academic staff member, his/her immediate family, or any organization with which the academic staff member is associated.  
    2. No member of the academic staff shall solicit or accept from any person or organization anything of value pursuant to an expressed or implied understanding that his/her conduct of University business would be influenced thereby.  
    3. No member of the academic staff shall intentionally use or disclose confidential University information in any way that could result in the receipt of anything of value for him/herself, or his/her immediate family, or for any other person or organization with which the academic staff member is associated.  
  2. Contracting and Leasing – No member of the academic staff, member of his/her immediate family, or any organization with which an academic staff member is associated shall enter into any contract or lease involving payments of $3,000 or more within a 12 month period, derived in whole or in part from University funds, if the academic staff member is in a position to approve or influence, in his or her official capacity, the University’s decision to enter into the contract or lease. If the academic staff member is not in a position to approve or influence the University’s decision, the academic staff member may enter into a contract or lease described above if the academic staff member first makes written disclosure of the nature of the extent of any relationship to the dean, director, or other appropriate administrator and he/she approves. The dean, director or other appropriate administrator shall approve an academic staff member’s interest in a lease or contract unless he/she determines that the academic staff member’s personal interest in the agreement conflicts substantially and materially with the academic staff member’s discharge of his/her University responsibilities.  
  3. Nepotism  
    1. No member of the academic staff shall participate, formally or informally, in the decision to hire, retain, grant tenure to, promote, or determine the salary of a member of his/her immediate family.  
    2. No member of the academic staff shall give preferential or favored treatment in the supervision or management of another academic staff member who is a member of his/her immediate family.  
  4. Student Research Protection – A member of the academic staff shall inform students engaged in research under his/her supervision of any financial interest which the academic staff member has in the research activity, including, but not limited to, financial arrangements involved in the direct support of the activity, agreements made by the academic staff member to obtain data for the research, or agreements concerning copyright or patent rights arising from the research.  
  5. Waiver – Upon written request and by action within a reasonable time of receipt thereof, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System may waive any provision of this section whenever its literal application would be adverse to the best interests of the University of Wisconsin System or would work an unreasonable hardship on a member of the academic staff.