SENATE From the Senate Office
Under the Faculty Senate rules, formal notification to members
may be accomplished by publication in Almanac. The following is published
under that rule.
Election of Secretary-elect
No nominations were received by petition and the Senate Nominating Committee's
nominee Martin Pring, associate professor physiology/medicine, is declared
elected Secretary-elect of the Faculty Senate, effective immediately.
Proposed Revision: Employment of More Than One Family Member
(Adopted by the Senate Executive Committee October 29,
1997 and forwarded to the Provost)
University policy permits the employment of more than one member of a
family (defined as being related by blood, marriage, or adoption, or defined
as partners recognized under University benefits policy), whether or not
the persons concerned are in the same academic or administrative department.
The University's primary concern in such cases of appointment, as in all
others, is that faculty or staff members are the best candidates with respect
to the requisite qualifications for employment. The University has a parallel
concern, however, in the avoidance of a conflict of interest or the appearance
of such conflict, where an employee's professional decisions or actions
pertaining to the performance of his or her job would be colored by considerations
arising from a family relationship with another employee. The University
also recognizes that the appointment of two or more family members, especially
within the same department, could generate pressures and prejudice among
colleagues. To guard against such conflicts and abuses, the following rules
must be observed:
A. Family Members Appointed to the Faculty
1. No faculty member shall participate in any way whatsoever in the decision
to employ, promote, reappoint, or terminate the appointment of a member
of his or her family on the Standing Faculty or the Associated Faculty.
2. Any proposal to employ as a faculty member a person who is related
to a member of the faculty or administration must be brought to the attention
of the dean before an offer of appointment is made. In cases where there
is a potential conflict of interest in the professional relationships of
family members or with respect to other employees of the University arising
from the family relationship, the department chair must outline in writing
the steps being taken to avoid or manage conflicts of interest or the appearance
of such conflicts, subject to approval by the dean. Deans will report such
arrangements to the provost in the course of normal administrative oversight.
3. No faculty member shall participate in any other decision, including
determining the salary, teaching and/or administrative assignments, and
space assignments, directly and individually affecting a member of his or
her family on the Standing Faculty or Associated Faculty.
B. Family Members Appointed to Non-faculty Positions
Faculty members should take care to avoid conflicts of interest or the
appearance of such conflicts in the employment of, and in any ongoing University-related
professional relationship with, a family member in a non-faculty position.
All decisions regarding such employment should be conducted in strict conformance
with the Human Resources Policy.
C. Reporting
In the course of normal administrative oversight, department chairs or
other heads of department will report periodically to deans, and deans will
report to the provost, on steps that have been taken to avoid or manage
conflicts of interest or the appearance of such conflicts among faculty
members and/or academic administrators who are related as family. In each
case, the faculty members and/or academic administrators who are subject
to such reports shall receive copies of such reports on a timely basis.
These requirements extend to part-time faculty appointments whenever
such a person may exercise decision-making power over the employment and/or
administration of a family member employed by the University.
Return to:Almanac, University of Pennsylvania, November
18 1997, Volume 44, No. 13 |