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Updates to the policy on Nepotism

Office of the Vice President for Ethics and Compliance

To:                  Executive Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors and Heads of Schools, Divisions, Departments and Offices

From:             Alysa Christmas Rollock, Vice President for Ethics and Compliance

Date:               March 4, 2019

Re:                  Updates to the policy on Nepotism (III.B.3)

 

Purdue has a long-standing policy that prohibits nepotism in the workplace. Updates to this policy that expand the prohibition to the educational setting will be effective on May 1, 2019. 

Language from the updated policy is as follows:

Purdue University prohibits all persons from being employed or continuing employment in any position that places them under the Administrative Supervision of another employee with whom they have a Personal Relationship. All faculty and staff are further prohibited from exercising Evaluative Supervision for a Purdue University student with whom they have a Personal Relationship.

Many colleges, schools, and departments of the University have maintained policies to address nepotism in their classrooms and laboratories and on their athletic teams for some time. Policies of this nature recognize the importance of maintaining an environment where learning and discovery take place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. By expanding the University’s system-wide policy to address nepotism in the educational setting, I anticipate greater consistency throughout the system.

The policy also outlines requirements for requesting exceptions. All requests must still be submitted to me in writing for review and approval. Depending on the circumstances, the requestor will need to obtain certain other approvals before submitting the request to my office. The appendix at the end of the policy outlines those steps.

When the policy draft was shared for feedback prior to being approved, it became apparent that our University community may not be fully aware of the policy’s scope and application. I ask that you take this opportunity to review the system-wide policy on Nepotism (III.B.3) and the associated FAQs and that you share this announcement with your units.

Please direct any questions to my office at 765-494-5830 or to vpec@purdue.edu.