Faculty members will have one month to disclose their significant financial interests to the University, under the proposed implementation plan of university conflict of interest policies presented for the first time at yesterday’s Faculty Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The presentation of the FAS’ new conflict of interest procedures concluded a sparsely attended, but brisk, meeting in which faculty unanimously passed motions to adjust the calendar of faculty meetings and create a standing committee to appoint degree candidates for a new Ph.D in Education.

REPORTING FINANCIAL INTERESTS

The FAS, in addition to all of Harvard’s professional schools, was first charged with crafting a conflict of interest implementation plan in May 2010, when conflict of interest policies were revised to standardize disclosure practices across the University.

The University is also responsible for complying with regulations imposed by the U.S. Public Health Service on institutions that receive grants from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control, among others.

Alexander F. Schier, chair of the FAS Committee on Research Policy and a professor in molecular and cellular biology, presented the plan that the committee has devised for FAS.

Faculty members are no longer responsible for determining their own conflicts of interest. Instead, they must disclose “outside financial interests that relate to their institutional responsibilities” using a new online reporting tool.

The tool has already been used successfully by faculty at the School of Public Health and the Divinity School.

A financial conflict of interest arises when a faculty member’s University work is “inappropriately influenced by a secondary financial interest.”

Significant financial interests include compensation exceeding $5,000 from consulting or fiduciary relationships and equity interests. Previously, faculty only had to report interests above $10,000.

Faculty members must also disclose potential financial interests of their spouses or children. Disclosures will be evaluated by a “Designated Institutional Official” at each school.

The presentation emphasized that any data submitted will be kept in full confidence and used only for conflict of interest issues.

The plan to implement the policy is still a work in progress, and some faculty members requested clarifications and made recommendations.

Theodore C. Bestor, chair of the Anthropology department, suggested that the wording of the reporting tool should make clear that fiduciary responsibilities are related to personal scholarship.

Under current deadlines, FAS Dean Michael D. Smith and divisional deans will announce the new reporting tool on May 1, at which point faculty will have 30 days to disclose their financial interests.