Educational Materials Conflict of Interest: Twin Cities, Morris, Rochester

General Provisions

The principal criterion for the choice of any required materials for a course or program should be that the materials are the most appropriate for the purpose. In most cases the decision to require materials rests with the instructor who has been assigned responsibility for the course or program. The procedure for selection of course materials must avoid conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest. If the faculty member responsible for a course or program judges that the best materials available for use with the course are materials whose sale will provide personal income to the faculty member, the approval by the head of the academic unit or of the dean of the college is required.

Requirements

1. No member of the instructional staff of the University may personally profit from the assignment of materials, or assignment of the venue of purchase of materials, to students in classes or any other instructional setting at the University without proper administrative approval by the department. Approval should be given unless the decision appears to have been made for reasons other than the academic merit of the materials.
2. Implementation
   1. The decision to require the purchase by University of Minnesota students of any course materials for which the sale will provide personal income to the member of the faculty responsible for the course must be documented and formally approved.
   2. Documentation justifying the decision to require the purchase of such materials may be developed by the faculty member responsible for the course or program or by faculty peers knowledgeable about the use of the materials.
   3. The head of the administrative unit (usually the academic department) in which the materials are to be used must give written approval for their use. If the head also is the faculty member involved, the dean of the college must give the written approval. The decision to give approval ordinarily should be reached in consultation with faculty peers knowledgeable about the use of the materials. Unless otherwise stated, approval will apply to all offerings of the course for which the affected faculty member is responsible during the twelve-month period following the approval date.
   4. A record of the approval by the unit head must be filed with the dean of the college prior to ordering materials.

Exclusions

This policy is not applicable to the Duluth and Crookston campuses.

To manage conflict of interest concerns, the person teaching a course may not by himself/herself make the decision to assign course materials for which he/she could personally earn a profit. Requiring approval from a higher level provides appropriate internal controls.

There are no procedures for this policy.

There are no forms for this policy.

Subject	Contact	Phone	Fax/Email
Primary Contact(s)	Suzanne Bardouch	612-626-9159	bardouch@umn.edu
Morris Campus	Cheryl Contant	320-589-6015	contant@morris.umn.edu
Rochester Campus	Claudia Neuhauser	507-281-7791	neuha001@umn.edu

There are no definitions related to this policy.

There are no responsibilities related to this policy.

There are no appendices for this policy.

What is meant by ‘materials’?

Materials refers to anything that may have been developed by or be the intellectual property of an instructor, including but not limited to textbooks, reading packets or materials, models, computer programs, artwork, etc.

There is no related information for this policy.

Amended:

April 2009

Effective:

April 2009