2020 Annual Report

Enhance operational transparency and accountability by making University policies publicly accessible and up-to-date.

• Coordinate timely review of university policy documents.
• Convene policy working groups.
• Manage university policies and policy platform.

Fiscal Year Achievements

• Convened and led a cross-unit team to vet, select, and launch a new policy platform.
• Updated and migrated 1,300 Policies, Procedures, and Standards to the new policy platform.
• Developed policy training videos and provided individualized support to campus stakeholders.
• Held monthly meetings of the pan-University Policy Review Committee.
• Recruited and trained more than 15 unpaid undergraduate intern analysts.
• Wrote and distributed monthly newsletter highlighting ethics issues and policy updates.

Empower University stakeholders to generate actionable and effective policies through policy research and consultation.

• Benchmark with peer institutions.
• Maintain a customer service-oriented mindset.
• Coordinate with University stakeholders.
• Field on-going and ad hoc research inquiries.

Fiscal Year Achievements

• Collaborated with campus units on policy development and updates.
• Created briefs and reports for University leaders on no contact orders, Me@UNC, sensitive information/PII, codes of conduct, diversity and equity in policy, and AlertCarolina.
• Participated in cross-disciplinary groups with policy implications including Staff Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, Operational Excellence Steering Committee, Digital Accessibility Liaisons, Employee Forum, APT Policy Redevelopment, University Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, and the Campus Safety Commission.

Provide resources that help create an ethical culture enabling everyone to thrive and feel a sense of belonging.

• Respond to reports received through Carolina Ethics Line to ensure that every situation and concern is properly addressed.
• Continue to grow Integrity Advisors and Speak Up Carolina to promote an inclusive and ethical campus culture.

Fiscal Year Achievements

• Responded to 82 cases in Carolina Ethics Line.
  • Coordinated and investigated complex, high risk and high visibility Carolina Ethics Line cases.
  • With Internal Audit, rewrote Carolina Ethics Line Procedures.
• Recognized Global Ethics Month with a national speaker, panel presentations, social media campaign, and an Ethics Bowl competition with the Parr Center.
• Provided personal and organizational ethics consultations.
• Co-location and coordination with IIRM partners to identify and ameliorate risks.
• Coordinated Carolina ethics statement initiative by surveying peers and campus.

Remain proactive in identifying threats to the University’s integrity and ensuring that policies evolve to address emerging issues.

• Identify, track, research, and analyze risks or threats in higher education.
• Conduct environmental scans of current events, researching potential implications for University operations and climate.

Fiscal Year Achievements

• Conducted monthly meetings with internal and external Integrity Advisors.
• Partnered with national organizations including ACUPA, university policy associations, benchmark institutions and NAVEX
• Communicated and translated risks with IIRM colleagues, Internal Audit and University leadership.

The Office of Ethics and Policy has set the following goals for the 2022 fiscal year:

• Improve the professionalism and responsiveness of Carolina Ethics Line investigations.
• Institutionalize an equity review component into the existing University policy review process.
• Increase University-wide fidelity to the official University Policy Process.
• Define meaningful metrics to track progress on University policy document reviews, revisions and compliance with the University policy process.
• Form a relationship with the UNC System Policy Office to ensure that the Office of Ethics and Policy is the primary conduit for policy updates between the System Office and campus.
• Collaborate with Internal Audit and IIRM on the establishment of a university-wide enterprise risk management (ERM) framework.
• Refine statements of ethics, seek targeted and broad input, and utilize October (ethics and compliance month) to advance the Carolina ethics statement initiative.