This Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is issued pursuant to West Virginia University
Board of Governors Governance Rule 1.1. The proposed changes are to the following
current Board of Governors Rule:
The proposed changes are to amend the current BOG Rule to clarify certain provisions
and update the Rule to reflect changes that have occurred since its adoption. A
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was initially issued for this Rule at the Board’s
June 24, 2022 meeting. The amendments were posted for a public comment period from
June 27, 2022 through July 28, 2022. Given that several changes have been made
as a result of the comments received and in response to the Faculty Senate Executive
Committee’s resolution indicating that they would prefer that the Board take more
time to discuss and consider the amendments to this Rule, the Board is issuing
this Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and publishing the Rule amendments for
an additional 30-day public comment period.
Substantively, the proposed changes will result in additions and amendments as set
forth in the chart below and in the attached redline. Please note that the initial
changes are shown in
BLUE
text and the changes in response to the public comments are shown in
RED
text.
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BOG Rule
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Recommended Action
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Comments
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BOG Governance Rule 1.4 – Ethics, Conflicts of Interest, and Outside
Consulting Arrangements
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Amend and Approve
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- The Board adopted this Rule on February 8, 2019, to provide an overview
of key aspects of the West Virginia Ethics Act most relevant to higher
education employees and to address and provide rules related to institutional
conflicts of interest and outside consulting arrangements.
- This Rule has been amended to clarify some ambiguities in the current
Rule including clarification regarding outside Consulting Arrangements
and adding a definition of Institutional Duties.
- The proposed amendments seek to amend the definition of “Consulting
Arrangement” to provide additional clarity and broaden the scope
with the addition of the phrase “provision of services” and removal
of the requirement that the work be done as an “independent contractor.”
- Section 7.2.3 is being added to provide that employees may not count,
as part of their Institutional Duties, the engagement in activities
that result in the employee being adverse to the University or the
State of West Virginia in any Formal Legal Proceeding. Those engagements
are considered outside Consulting Arrangements, and like all outside
Consulting Arrangements, must be approved through that process.
- Following the initial comment period, several changes were made
to Section 7.2.3 including clarification regarding what constitutes
being adverse to the University or State of West Virginia in
a Formal Legal Proceeding and a paragraph clarifying that a University
Employee’s work in, engagement with, support of, or advancement
of the University’s Clinical Law Program is considered part of
their Institutional Duties and is not subject to Section 7.2.3.
- Following the initial comment period, Section 7.2.4 “Approval of Engagements
Adverse to the University or State” was added and clarifies that
the University may not prohibit employees from engaging in outside
Consulting Arrangements on the basis of the specific viewpoint or
position being advocated or advanced. Further, the section adds a
requirement that decisions or requests for additional information
must be communicated to employees within 5 business days of the employee’s
submission of the consulting arrangement approval form.
- Section 7.2.6.1 is being added to clarify that an employee may count
some volunteering as Institutional Duties if it is pre-approved by
their unit leader and
pro bono in nature. A definition of
pro bono has also been added.
- Following the initial comment period, a sentence was added to this
provision clarifying that volunteering that is considered an
appropriate part of an Employee’s Institutional Duties may be
done during the Employee’s normal University working hours and
with University resources.
- Section 7.2.7 is being amended to require that employees who are unsure
as to whether part-time employment or volunteering constitutes a
Conflict address the question with their supervisor. Previously,
this section only encouraged employees to reach out to their supervisor
if they were unsure whether the endeavor constituted a Conflict.
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A copy of the current Rule can be found at
bog.wvu.edu/policies and a copy of the proposed Amended Rule and this Second
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found at
policies.wvu.edu.
There will be a 30-day public comment period from September 12, 2022 until October
12, 2022 for the submission of written comments. Comments should be submitted
using the online submission form, which can be found by clicking on the link
to the Rule located at:
policies.wvu.edu. If there are any questions about the submission process,
they can be directed to Valerie Lopez, Special Assistant to the Board of Governors,
at
Valerie.Lopez@mail.wvu.edu or Valerie Lopez, Office of the President, West
Virginia University, PO Box 6201, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6201.
Once the comment period has ended, all public comments received or a summary
thereof will be posted on the University’s policy website. The Rule may be
changed, subject to comments received.