Ethics for Faculty

All NJIT faculty are required by State ethics regulations to file an Outside Activity Questionnaire and review certain ethics documents at the start of their NJIT employment. Below is a list of the mandatory state ethics forms and their filing timeline:

Outside Activity Questionnaire

  • At the start of NJIT employment

  • Must be updated at least every three years

  • Updated any time there is a change in your outside activity

 

Personal and Business Relationship Disclosure Form

  • At the start of NJIT employment
  • A new form must be completed annually

 

Annual College and University Disclosure Form

  • Must be filed every year, calendar year reporting
  • Report benefits received, travel expenses, things of value, royalties
  • Submitted to the State Ethics Commission

 

Supervisor Conflicts of Interest Certification Form

  • As needed

 

Attendance at Events/Travel

  • A pre-approval report must be submitted in Chrome River prior to attending an event that (1) is not sponsored by NJIT, (2) takes place away from NJIT, and (3) the invitation was issued due to their NJIT position.  
  • When traveling in your scholarly capacity – ethics preapproval not required
  • Travel not in scholarly capacity – ethics pre-approval required
  • Travel expenses may be accepted under certain conditions (interested party sponsor’s status, speaker status, out-of-state travel, etc.)

 

Training

 

In addition to filing the mandatory ethics forms and completing training, faculty are also required to receive and review the Uniform Ethics Code, NJIT’s Supplemental Code of Ethics and Plain Language Guide which are linked below.

 

Important Topics

Travel/Attendance at Events

  • NJIT employees must obtain ethics pre-approval to attend an event that (1) is not sponsored by NJIT, (2) takes place away from NJIT, and (3) the invitation was issued due to their NJIT position.  Meetings you attend at other State agencies in the course of your official NJIT duties are not events.
  • Ethics pre-approval is required for travel unless employees are traveling in their scholarly capacity. In Chrome River, a travel preapproval report will ask, “Are you traveling in scholarly capacity?” If you answer “yes”, the preapproval report will not route to Ethics for review.
  • All employees must secure initial approval by their supervisor.  Ethics review will determine if your attendance will create a conflict or appearance of a conflict, and whether you may accept certain travel expenses from an event sponsor. 

 

Travel Expenses

Interested Party: (1) any person or entity NJIT regulates, licenses or supervises; (2) any grantee or granter to NJIT and any employee, representative or agent thereof; (3) any supplier/vendor to NJIT; (4) any advocacy group that advocates or represents the positions of its members to NJIT; (5) any organization a majority of whose members fall under 1-4.

  • If the event is not sponsored by an interested party, NJIT may pay your reasonable expenses or it may permit you to accept reasonable travel expenses from a non-interested party sponsor.  Collateral entertainment may not be accepted.
  • If the event is sponsored by an interested party, you or NJIT must pay your travel expenses and you may not accept costs from any source.  The only exception is if you are taking an active role in the event as a speaker and this may require applying to the SEC for approval.  Also, non-academic employees may be attending the event in their scholarly capacity.
  • As an exception to the gift policy, NJIT employees attending an event may, regardless of the sponsor or purpose of the event, accept “nominal refreshments” such as beverages and snacks.

 

Outside Activity

Outside employment/activity, including political activity, is permissible if the employee (1) first obtains the appropriate review and approval of the outside activity by their supervisor and then (2) fully discloses the nature of the outside employment/activity, including type of employment, hours, and description of responsibilities, for the purposes of ethics review.

Ethics approval must be obtained before commencing outside activity. The ethics review will determine if the proposed outside activity falls in line with NJIT policy and State ethics regulations.

Outside activity may not be performed using NJIT time, personnel, confidential information, supplies, or resources. 

Approval of Outside Activity

  • Outside Activity Questionnaire

Approval of outside activity is obtained by filing an Outside Activity Questionnaire. The OAQ must be completed when you commence your NJIT employment and updated at least every three years. The OAQ should be updated any time there is a change in your outside activity.

Review Process 

-There are several issues that must be examined by the ELO to determine if the outside activity can be approved. Does the outside position require representation before a State agency? Does the outside activity involve contracting with a State agency? Is there a significant overlap in the duties and responsibilities of the two positions? Does NJIT have control or jurisdiction over the outside entity? Does the outside entity receive grants from or contract with NJIT? Does the outside interest involve political activity?  

Outside Activity Concerns

Representation Before A State Agency: No NJIT employee or corporation in which he has an interest may appear on behalf of a third party before the State in connection with any cause or proceeding.  Limited exceptions include matters (1) pending before any state court, (2) related to a workers compensation claim, (3) in connection with filing of corporate documents in Office of Secretary of State, (4) before the Division on Civil Rights, or (5) before the Public Employment Relations Commission.  Representation can include corresponding with, making telephone calls to, or submitting applications to a State agency on behalf of a third party.
Contracting With A State Agency: State employees are prohibited from entering into a contract valued at $25 or more with any State agency, much less their own State agency.  There are very limited exceptions such as contracts for the development of scientific innovations or for rental agreements with a State agency that rents space or provides services to assist small businesses (pursuant to the same terms and conditions offered to the general public). 

 

Scholarly Capacity

N.J.A.C. 19:61-6.2 defines scholarly capacity as “any pedagogical, academic, artistic, educational or scholarly activity performed by a State official for the institution of higher education that employs or has appointed such State official.” This includes attendance and participation in or making presentations at events, such as conferences.  

As an exception to the State’s prohibition against accepting gifts, NJIT faculty may accept honorarium, academic prizes and other things of value related to the presentation of your academic, educational or scholarly activity.

  • Travel: Reasonable travel expenses may be accepted from a conference sponsor or third party for travel to an event designed to share your scholarly capacity. Ethics pre-approval is not required if attending an event in your scholarly capacity.
  • Publishing: Ethics approval not needed to publish in your scholarly capacity.  Any payments received for publications must be disclosed on the Annual College and University Disclosure Form
  • Textbooks: You may assign textbooks you have written to your classes so long as any royalties are donated.  All such donations must be disclosed on the Annual College and University Disclosure form. 
     

Annual College and University Disclosure Form

Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 19:61-6.10(a), any State employee serving in a scholarly capacity must annually disclose to their department head any travel or entertainment expenses, honoraria, academic prizes or other things of value related to activities performed in a scholarly capacity received in the prior year. 

  • List all Travel Expenses, Honoraria, Academic Prizes and Other Things of Value received, the amounts, the source and whether the source is an interested party.
  • Interested Party: (1) any person or entity NJIT regulates, licenses or supervises; (2) any grantee or granter to NJIT and any employee, representative or agent thereof; (3) any supplier/vendor to NJIT; (4) any advocacy group that advocates or represents the positions of its members to NJIT; (5) any organization a majority of whose members fall under 1-4.
  • Payments for Educational Texts: If you received any royalties or payments from educational materials you authored and assigned to your courses, you must donate the royalties to NJIT. 

Commercial Enterprise/Contracts with the University

As an exception to the prohibition against State employees contracting with State agencies, N.J.S.A. 52:13D-19.1 allows a State employee or a firm in which he has an ownership stake to enter into an agreement with a State agency where the contract is for the “development of scientific or technological discoveries or innovations in which the State agency has a property right, if the State agency has a procedure in its code of ethics for authorizing these contracts”. 

  • NJIT’s Supplemental Code of Ethics created a procedure for faculty to request approval of the development of a commercial enterprise.  The disclosure and approval process guides NJIT employees and their involvement with commercial enterprises for the purpose of commercializing intellectual property developed by the faculty member and owned by the university. 
  • Prior to entering into a contractual affiliation, approvals must be obtained in writing from the Department Head or Chair, followed by the Dean.  The Request for Approval for Development of A Commercial Enterprise application form (found on NJIT’s Commercial Enterprise Development and Licensing Administration (EDLA) webpage) must be submitted to the Ethics Office for ethics review before consideration by the EDLA committee.

 

Faculty Involvement With Commercial Enterprise Contracts with the University

Some considerations for ethics review:

  • Faculty member’s role in commercial enterprise
  • Use of NJIT office and/or laboratory
  • Other NJIT employees involved with the commercial enterprise
  • Use of NJIT’s name or marks in any publicity or advertising without written approval
  • Student involvement

 

Textbooks

  • You may assign to your courses textbooks you have written so long as any royalties received are donated.  All such donations must be disclosed on the Annual College and University Disclosure form.  Any textbooks you authored may be used in other NJIT courses so long as you were not “directly and substantially” involved in the selection of the textbooks. These royalties may be retained. 
  • NJIT employees are often solicited by dealers interested in purchasing their textbooks.  Selling textbooks (including desk or instructor copies) is an ethics violation and any such inquiries should be reported to the Ethics Office.
  • Governor Murphy recently signed a bill requiring the State’s higher education institutions to develop an open textbook plan to address textbook affordability.  Faculty must make reasonable efforts to keep assigned materials affordable and accessible.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.