Legal Issues

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) supports and assists academic administrators in the performance of their duties in several ways. Typically, chairs will work with their dean’s office and the appropriate vice provost and staff, who then work with OGC. OGC is available for direct consultation and support on a range of topics. The starting place for most analysis and conversations is the applicable Baylor policy. Over the past several years, Baylor has produced and collated policies to provide first-level guidance on most issues faculty and staff encounter. These policies are available on the University's Compliance and Risk Services website. 

Some of the most common policies a faculty administrator may encounter follow:

Faculty Hiring

• OGC supports the vice provost for faculty affairs on faculty searches, hires, and separations. 
• BU-PP 110 on Recruitment and Employment of Faculty is the first document to review. 
• The Office of the Provost also creates teaching materials used annually during the Search Chair Training. This includes a document that outlines key legal considerations in hiring. 
• When hiring international colleagues who need visas to work at Baylor, please contact HR (Lee Kuhl) to initiate and coordinate the visa sponsorship process. They will assist in determining the type of visa and the office that will process the visa (Center for Global Engagement or OGC). 
  • An overview of the H-1B temporary visa and permanent residence (green card) sponsorship information for Baylor University is available online. 

Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR)

• Baylor Intellectual Property Policy and Export, Import Control Compliance. 
• In addition to OVPR, OGC assists with Technology Commercialization procedures and common agreements used, including MTAs, NDAs, and DUAs.

Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (VPFA)

• Standards of Personal Conduct (includes information on participation in politics), Sexual and Interpersonal Misconduct Policy and the Civil Rights policy (includes mandatory reporting information), Whistleblower Policy (addresses the anti-retaliation policy), Policy on Romantic and/or Sexual Conduct with Students and Supervisees, Sexual Conduct Policy, Affiliate Faculty Policy, Adjunct Faculty, and the policies on various faculty matters such as tenure and workload.

Human Resources (HR)

• Various employment matters include information found in the Contingent Worker Policy (proposed use of contractors), Alternate Work Location (for working away from BU campus), Overtime Pay (for hourly staff), Student Employment Policy, and policy on Nepotism. 

Internal Audit

• Annually and when appropriate, faculty and support report in accordance with the Outside Activities and Interests Policy. 

Business Officers

• OGC also assists departments on issues such as travel, contracts, purchases, purchasing cards, and Disposal of Surplus University Property, use of Campus Facilities and Solicitation on Campus. 
• The Contract Signature Authority and Board Approvals Policy must be followed so that an administrator does not operate outside of their authority and take on personal liability. 

Feel free to contact OGC at any time if you wish to discuss these or other topics.