Each calendar year, University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk prepares and issues the UCF IntegrityLine annual report. During the 2019 calendar year, the UCF IntegrityLine received a total of 188 reports, 187 containing allegations of suspected misconduct or ethical concerns and one test case. Reports containing allegations of misconduct were triaged between University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk and University Audit. Based on the nature of the report, it was either investigated by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, University Audit, the Office of Institutional Equity, or referred to the appropriate compliance partner for review.
Issue Type
Reports submitted to the UCF IntegrityLine in 2019 spanned a range of 20 issue types.
Highest Number of Reports by Issue Type
Offensive or Inappropriate Communication
The highest number of reports in a single-issue type were categorized as Offensive or Inappropriate Communication with 36 reports representing 19% of all reports submitted. This issue type includes concerns related to inflammatory, derogatory, unduly critical or insulting communication and failure to treat one another with respect in accordance with the UCF Ethical Standards outlined in the UCF Employee Code of Conduct.
Employee Misconduct
With 25 reports, representing 13% of all reports submitted, the second highest reported issue type was Employee Misconduct. This is a general category to capture allegations of employee non-compliance with university policies, procedures, regulations and the Code of Conduct that do not fit within one of the other 19 issue types.
Discrimination or Harassment
The third highest number of reports made to the IntegrityLine in 2019 were allegations of Discrimination or Harassment with 22 reports, representing 12% of all reports submitted. These reports involve allegations of non-compliance with UCF 2-004 Prohibition of Discrimination, Harassment and Related Interpersonal Violence Policy, which includes but is not limited to uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct directed at an employee because of his or her sex, religion, ethnicity or beliefs.
Closed Cases
University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk closed 181 IntegrityLine cases during the 2019 calendar year. Closed cases include a combination of reports received in 2019 as well as those submitted in a previous year. Below are the outcomes for all cases closed in 2019.
Closed Cases – Investigations with Substantiated and Unsubstantiated Findings
In 2019, a total of 94 of the 181 cases were closed after an investigation was conducted by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, University Audit or the Office of Institutional Equity, with the following outcomes:
Substantiated Cases
There were 26 investigations with a substantiated finding (representing 14% of all closed cases) where investigations yielded evidence to support the complaint and a finding that misconduct occurred. The substantiated cases spanned a range of topics, with the highest in the categories of Offensive or Inappropriate Communication, Employee Misconduct, and Research Misconduct.
Substantiated Cases – Action Taken
For the 26 investigations that resulted in substantiated findings, the university took the appropriate action. Those actions included policy / process reviews, disciplinary action and termination.
Unsubstantiated Cases
The remaining 68 investigations (38% of closed cases) conducted by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, University Audit or the Office of Institutional Equity yielded insufficient or no evidence to support that misconduct occurred and were closed with an unsubstantiated outcome. Despite the unsubstantiated finding, 26 of the cases resulted in recommendations for improvements such as a review in a policy, process, or training due to identified weaknesses.
Closed Cases – Referred, Insufficient Information, Frivolous
Eighty-seven cases were not investigated by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, University Audit or the Office of Institutional Equity and were either referred out of the system or to another office, closed due to insufficient information or marked as frivolous.
Referred. A total of 71 cases (39% of all closed cases) were referred as follows:
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- Fifty-three cases were referred to the UCF Police Department, Student Conduct, or another college or department to address through the appropriate university process and closed out in the IntegrityLine system. These cases span the range of issues involving student misconduct such as alleged alcohol or drug abuse, grade disputes, and interpersonal conflicts. Once the report is referred to the appropriate office, it is closed in the IntegrityLine system with a message posted back to the complainant.
- The remaining 18 cases were referred to a college or department to conduct an internal investigation and report back their findings. These cases are appropriately reported to the IntegrityLine and are tracked by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk until closed.
- Four of the cases investigated internally by a college or department resulted in a substantiated finding with the following issue types and actions taken.
The remaining 14 referred cases were unsubstantiated. However, all 14 required improvements due to identified weaknesses with 11 policy or process reviews and three reports that required additional training.
Insufficient Information. For 15 cases (8% of all closed cases), questions were posted to the reporter requesting additional information with no response. These cases were closed due to insufficient information.
Frivolous. One test case was submitted to evaluate system functionality, which resulted in removing an unnecessary question. This case was marked as frivolous and closed.
Trends Identified
The highest number of reports submitted to the IntegrityLine in 2019 were categorized as Offensive or Inappropriate Communication with a total of 36 reports, representing 19% of all reports submitted. This issue type involves allegations of non-compliance with the UCF Ethical Standards outlined in the UCF Employee Code of Conduct. These cases often involve allegations of bullying or an employee’s continued failure to treat others with respect. In analyzing the IntegrityLine reports since 2016, we have seen a significant increase in the number of reports with this issue type. In 2016, there were 13 cases submitted to the IntegrityLine and in 2019, that number soared to 36, which was a 177% increase in a relatively short period.
In evaluating the case closures in 2019 we identified that the highest number of substantiated cases investigated by University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk, University Audit or the Office of Institutional Equity were also issue type Offensive or Inappropriate Communication. Additionally, a referred case with this issue type that went to a college or department for internal investigation was also substantiated.
In further analyzing the increase in reports and the number of closed cases substantiated with this issue type, we did not identify a pattern or trend in one college or department but have identified opportunities for improving a culture of respect across the institution. Partnering with Human Resources, the office will continue to evaluate the data in comparison to the results of the 2020 Ethical Culture and Compliance Perception Survey. To address this issue in our culture, University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk will partner with Human Resources to evaluate the development of a training and awareness campaign targeted at improving respectful interactions amongst employees.
Additionally, the office will closely monitor reports received on this issue type through the IntegrityLine and once the training program is developed, provide targeted training for those cases in real time.