Cornell has entered into an agreement with EthicsPoint Inc. to provide a hotline service, available online and by phone, that will give faculty, staff and students a way to anonymously report irregularities, possible policy violations, or financial reporting concerns within the Cornell community. The EthicsPoint reporting tool provides a way to communicate to Cornell without needing to identify yourself.
Several internal Cornell Web pages will have links that will take the individual to this reporting system, one that is secure and anonymous. Faculty, staff or students will be able to report an incident or post a concern that will then be forwarded to a responsible university official for an appropriate response or action.
Cornell also has a dedicated number for the telephone-based hotline: (866) 293-3077. The Web-based reporting tool can be accessed directly from anywhere in the world, any time of day or night, at http://www.ethicspoint.com. The hotline is expected to be up and running by today, Jan. 20.
The new hotline will allow anonymous (or not, if desired) information to be submitted on issues such as financial reporting, internal control, financial irregularities and environmental compliance, said Cornell University Auditor Mike Dickinson. The hotline will also be available for other specific areas -- athletics will use it for reporting NCAA compliance issues, environmental health and safety and environmental compliance will use it for reporting environmental concerns, and the Weill Cornell Medical College will be using it for reporting billing compliance matters. While it is geared for faculty, staff and students at Cornell, it will also be accessible for those outside the university.
This type of hotline system meets the ethical business standards specified by the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Although that legislation was intended for the post-Enron era corporate world, Craig Adams, assistant audit director for information technologies, said Cornell's Audit Committee recommended the university adopt a hotline as a "best practice."
There are many things the hotline is not, Dickinson cautioned. It is not an emergency response service or a human resources complaint line, nor should it be used to report imminent environmental dangers. For human resource matters, employees should speak with their supervisor or human resources representative, he said. If a staff member has concerns about a chemical or how it's being stored, that staffer should be able to talk to a supervisor or Environmental Health and Safety staff.
"We are providing this reporting mechanism as a means, but it's not an only means to report concerns," he stressed. The hotline "should feel like a way to report only when other ways fail or could put the reporter at risk."
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