The University expects that an officer’s outside activities and interests will not interfere with his or her teaching, scholarly research, or other obligations to the University. A conflict of commitment arises if there are competing demands upon the time and energy of an officer as a result of his or her outside activities and interests that would interfere with the officer’s ability to meet his or her responsibilities to the University.
Conflict of commitment is handled primarily at the level of the school or department, which has the relevant knowledge to consider whether faculty members’ outside activities may create competing demands with their University responsibilities. The Office of Research Compliance and Training is a resource where specific conflict of commitment issues come up in the context of research.