Conflict of Interest Policy 006 can be found in the Administrative Governing Policies section.
The Goal of the Associated Students, Inc. ("ASI") is to promote the establishment of, and provide the means for, effective avenues of student input into the governance of the campus: provide an official voice through which student opinion may be expressed; provide an opportunity where student may gain experience and training in responsible political participation and community leadership. The ASI also assists in the protection of the rights and interests of individual students and stimulates the educational, social, physical, and cultural well being of the University Community.
This shared responsibility brings with it possibilities for conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment (referred to jointly as "conflicts"). Conflicts may arise from the different but related positions that individual Board members may hold on the University campus and in other organizations or entities.
An ASI Board member may find himself or herself in a position where the Board member may be called on to vote on matters that affect an organization or entity that he or she represents in another capacity. This concern reaches not only voting on such matters, but taking part in discussions, or being present during deliberations or other actions that may benefit the other organization entity or that may harm ASI
In addition, an ASI Board member may find that he or she has access to information held by ASI that could be used to negatively affect the future operations, goals or status of ASI, or to benefit another organization or entity. Conversely, an ASI Board member may find that he or she has access to information held by another organization that could be used to negatively affect the future operations, goals, or status of ASI.
To address the concerns surrounding possible conflicts, and to prevent conflicts from hindering the participation of Board members in the governance process, ASI has looked to the California Education Code and the California Corporations Code for guidance. The result is a policy that seeks to deface conflicts, so that Board members can access their activities within ASI and with other organizations and entities.
It is not the intent of this policy to regulate or eliminate all conflicts, but rather to enable Board members to recognize situations that may be subject to question and ensure that such situations are properly disclosed and, if necessary, reviewed and resolved. Thus, an integral part of the policy is a disclosure mechanism whereby Board members regularly review their roles on other boards and their activities, with their responsibilities to ASI clearly in mind.