The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is establishing two new campus units to strengthen and streamline compliance and workplace investigative services on campus.
Campus Compliance Services
The new Campus Compliance Services unit will provide support, coordination and assistance to other campus units involved with university-wide efforts to comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations as well as university policies. The unit will also encourage the highest ethical standards of conduct for those who represent the university and act on its behalf. Compliance in higher education is complex, and creating an office that focuses on this area will help the campus develop a cohesive compliance and ethics program and strengthen existing compliance practices.
A new chief campus compliance officer will lead the unit and report jointly to the chancellor and the UT System’s chief audit and compliance officer. A national search is underway, and Campus Compliance Services will officially launch when the new chief campus compliance officer is hired.
Primary responsibility for most compliance issues will remain with individual campus units, with support from Campus Compliance Services. Some compliance functions will report directly to Campus Compliance Services, including the campus policy office and compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Office of Investigation and Resolution
The new Office of Investigation and Resolution will investigate and resolve reports of university policy violations when it launches Aug. 1.
The office will bring together investigative expertise in overlapping policy areas to ensure that concerns are investigated in a prompt, thorough and impartial manner and in support of the university’s expectations for workplace behavior.
The unit will also facilitate compliance with applicable state and federal laws and university policies. Among other areas, OIR will investigate issues of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination within the university’s workplace and educational programs and activities.
Michelle Buck, who has been serving as deputy Title IX coordinator for the UT System, will serve as interim director of OIR and will report to the new chief campus compliance officer.
Creating a single unit to focus on investigating a wider range of workplace issues allows other units to focus on other important work within the scope of their specific missions. For example, the Office of Equity and Diversity will be better positioned to support the search process for new employees in faculty, executive administrative and exempt staff positions by providing increased training opportunities to departments and search committees. OED will continue to engage in proactive work to help ensure compliance with the civil rights and equal employment opportunity requirements of federal and state laws.
The Office of Title IX will continue to function as the university’s lead unit for ensuring compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The UT System’s internal audit team will continue to investigate allegations involving fraud, waste, or abuse of university assets or resources.