A conflict of commitment can be said to exist when a member of the University community has a relationship that requires a commitment of time or effort to non-University activities, such that an individual, either implicitly or directly, cannot meet the usual obligations to the University. In addition, the distribution of a faculty member’s effort among, for example, research, teaching, committee responsibilities, and outside consulting may raise issues of conflict of commitment.

Problems of conflict of commitment do not normally arise, unless the University or the government is misled in its understanding of the amount of intellectual effort actually being devoted to the activity in question. Any faculty member planning to do research for the government under a stipulating agreement that a specified fraction of his or her effort will be devoted to the research should check with the Office of Research Support or the Office of Research Administration regarding procedures to ensure demonstrable compliance with the indicated requirements.