5. Conflict of Interest
D.5.01 Use of Official Authority Prohibited:
LSCS employees have the rights of freedom of association and political participation guaranteed by the State and Federal Constitutions. No employee shall use his or her official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election or nomination of a candidate or to achieve any other political purpose. No employee may coerce, attempt to coerce, command, restrict, and attempt to restrict, or prevent the payment, loan or contribution of anything of value to a person or political organization for a political purpose.
D.5.02 No Public Funds for Political Purposes:
No LSCS employee shall expend or authorize the expenditure of any public funds or resources for the purpose of influencing the outcome of any election, or the passage or defeat of any legislative measure. This prohibition does not prevent any official or employee from furnishing to any elected or appointed official factual information describing the operations or the issues affecting the System or its students.
D.5.03 Candidacy for Public Office:
LSCS employees may run for election and serve as members of the governing bodies of school districts, cities, towns or other local governing districts. No campaign activities may be conducted during official business hours unless the employee has requested and received permission to use leave time for such purposes. Any employee who is elected to such a position may not receive any salary for serving as a member of the governing body.
D.5.04 Non-Elective State or Federal Office:
LSCS employees may hold non-elective offices with boards, commissions, and other state, federal, or nonprofit entities providing that the holding of such office: 1) is of benefit to LSCS; 2) is not in conflict with the employee's position; and 3) the position is not compensated except with the payment of direct expenses associated with the participation in the meetings.
D.5.05 Use of System Equipment:
No employee shall entrust System property to anyone, including other LSCS employees, to be used for other than System purposes. Employees shall not use institutional equipment or property for their own benefit or pleasure unless:
a. Arrangements have been made in advance with the cost center manager for payment of the value of the use of the property; or
b. The property consists of library books, recreational facilities, or other items that are available for the use of System residents.
Employees may, from time to time, use System telephones, e-mail and internet for personal purposes during working hours. The incidental use of the telephone, e-mail, and internet for such is permissible if the use does not interfere with the employee's performance of his or her responsibilities and does not incur any cost to the System. If additional costs are incurred by such use, the employee is responsible to promptly identify the additional cost and promptly reimburse the System.
D.5.06 Receipt of Gifts:
Employees who exercise discretion in connection with contracts. purchases, payments, claims and other pecuniary transactions of the System may not solicit, accept, or agree to accept any benefit from any person the employee knows is interested in or likely to become interested in any contract, purchase, payment claim or transaction involving the employee's discretion.
This prohibition does not apply to items having a value of less than $50, not including cash or negotiable instruments.
An employee who receives an unsolicited gift or benefit that he or she may not accept under this policy may donate the gift or benefit to LSCS, or to the LSCS Foundation.
D.5.07 Travel Bonuses:
Employees who earn credit with airlines, hotels, car rental companies, or similar travel related entities because of official travel are not required to account for such credit or use such credit for official travel only.
D.5.08 Disclosure of Interest in Property to be Acquired:
The Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Associate Vice Chancellors must disclose any legal or equitable interest in real property that is to be acquired by LSCS with public funds. Such disclosure shall be made by filing with the county clerk of the county or counties in which the property is located, an affidavit containing the following information within ten (10) calendar days prior to the date on which the property is to be acquired. A copy of the filed affidavit must be provided to the System's General Counsel within the same time period.
c. Name and title;
d. A full description of the property;
e. Nature, type and amount of interest in the property;
f. The date when the officer acquired the interest;
g. A verification swearing to the correctness of the information in the affidavit; and
h. An acknowledgement of the type required for recording a deed in the records of the county.