(1)
Disclosure and
approval procedures
A faculty member shall complete and
submit a consulting proposal form to his or her department chairperson (or
dean, if the faculty member is a chairperson) prior to each paid external
consulting arrangement. All paid external consulting related to one's area of
expertise requires prior approval. The proposal form (attached) shall provide
the following information: the nature of the work to be performed; the name of
the client; the period of time during which such activity is to be performed;
the duration of the arrangement; and when remuneration by the external client
exceeds twenty-five per cent of the faculty member's total university salary,
details of the remuneration must be specified.
Personal consulting agreements between
the consulting faculty member and the client must also be included with the
proposal form. Although outside consulting arrangements are personal,
inappropriate consulting agreement language accepted by a faculty member can
create conflicts with his or her obligations to the university and negatively
impact his or her ability to perform research and secure sponsored research
funding. For example, consulting agreements that attempt to require assignment
of patentable discoveries and/or other intellectual property resulting from
activities that use university research funds or facilities, or that relate to
the faculty member's scope of employment are in direct conflict with patent
policy and regulations found in rule
3364-70-04 of the Administrative
Code. Consulting agreements shall be reviewed by the office of faculty affairs
to ensure they are not in conflict with university policies and procedures.
Faculty members are encouraged to seek their own legal counsel to advise them
of their rights and obligations under a proposed consulting agreement and as
they may relate to other consulting agreements already in
existence.
Principal investigators/program
directors must also disclose to research and grants administration any and all
consulting agreements they have to ensure that the terms do not conflict with
the terms of any grants or contract agreements between the university and a
research sponsor.
Faculty members are encouraged to
discuss prospectively with their chairperson (or dean, if the faculty member is
a chairperson) the effect of potential paid external consulting activities on
their teaching, research, patient care (if applicable), and administrative
schedule before submitting a formal proposal. This way, faculty and
chairpersons (or dean, if the faculty member is a chairperson) have an
opportunity to identify actual or apparent conflicts of commitment so that they
can be minimized or resolved. Consulting proposal forms must be filed
sufficiently in advance of the planned activity to permit time for a meaningful
approval process including the development of a plan to manage any conflict of
interest or other legal issues posed by the proposed activity. Faculty members
are also required to provide prompt disclosure of material changes in
previously disclosed and approved consulting activities.
The major criteria to be used in
determining whether a particular paid external consulting activity shall be
encouraged or permitted are:
(a)
The effect of the activity on the individual and the
college, professionally and academically;
(b)
The extent to
which the activity will complement the college's programs; and
(c)
The extent to
which the activity will interfere with the effective discharge of the faculty
member's responsibilities to the college.
Department chairpersons will recommend
approval or denial of each proposal to the dean of the respective college (if
the faculty member is a chairperson, this step is eliminated). The dean of each
college, in consultation with the chairperson if applicable, will recommend
approval or denial of each proposal to the provost, health science campus.
Whenever a proposal by a faculty member is disapproved by an official of the
university, it is the obligation of that official to provide the faculty
member, upon request, with a written statement of the reason for the decision.
A faculty member may appeal a denied consulting proposal as described in
faculty grievance and appeals policy (05-057).
(2)
Prohibited
activities
(a)
Use of university resources
Faculty members are prohibited from
performing consulting activities that involve the use of
university-administered funds, facilities, equipment, supplies, or personnel
unless permission is obtained as specified in the bylaws, rules and regulations
of the university, and the university is appropriately
compensated.
(b)
Use of university students
Faculty members must be especially
sensitive to potential conflicts of interest between their teaching
responsibilities vis-a-vis students and trainees working under their
supervision and their outside consulting interests. To avoid such conflicts, a
university faculty member may not hire or directly supervise a university
student in employment activities outside the university while simultaneously
serving as either the student's advisor, supervisor or as a participant on that
student's dissertation committee without prior approval of the
dean.
(c)
Activities involving conflicts-of-interest
In the event a faculty member is
considering undertaking an outside activity that poses an actual or potential
conflict of interest, or may have the appearance thereof, as defined by the
conflict of interest policy 03-005, the faculty member must disclose all
relevant information as required by that policy.
(d)
Allocation of
intellectual property rights
An agreement between a faculty member
and a third party may not purport to allocate intellectual property rights to
the investigator's inventions, technical discoveries, or similar intellectual
property in a manner inconsistent with the patent policy and regulations policy
03-003.
(e)
Use of university name
The university name shall not be used
in relation to any consulting activities, except in describing an individual's
credentials, and except in accordance with university policy. Faculty members
engaged in consulting must not use the university name in such a manner as to
suggest institutional endorsement or support of a non-university
enterprise.
(f)
Consulting on research grants
In general, university faculty can not
serve as paid consultants on research grants, agreements or contracts awarded
to the university. When an outside agency contracts with the university to
provide research, it agrees to reimburse the university for the costs of that
work, except for any approved university cost-sharing. Appropriate
reimbursement for all faculty effort devoted to that sponsor should be included
in that contract. Accordingly, it is not permissible for a sponsor to pay
university faculty additional compensation (e.g. as a consultant) for the
performance of the same work. See grants, contract, clinical trials policy
03-001, and all other sponsored programs.
Faculty are personally responsible for
any damages or claims for damages which may arise in connection with their paid
external consulting activities. The limited immunity conferred by section
9.86 of the Revised Code does
not apply to consulting activities.
