Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish Columbia College intent to have a work and learning environment that is free from solicitation efforts that do not relate to Columbia College’s business or interest and to establish that all members of the College community must act with integrity and good judgment and recognize that accepting personal gifts from suppliers may cause legitimate concerns about favoritism.
Scope
This policy applies to all members of the College community, including students, faculty, staff and any individual or party who desires to engage in an activity covered by this policy.
Policy
The College is a private institution of higher education and, as such, College property is considered private property and no party may enter or remain upon College property without the consent of the College. All sales, solicitations, promotions and similar activities are prohibited on College property, which includes all College-owned, rented or otherwise occupied (e.g., military) buildings, facilities and grounds. Requests for exceptions to this policy should be directed to the Plant and Facilities Operations Department.
Gifts and Gratuities
From time-to-time vendors and others may offer employees gifts or gratuities as thanks for business given them, or as inducements to gain future business. While many of these, such as an occasional lunch, are fairly insignificant and would not impact the decision as to which vendor to use, sometimes the gifts or gratuities may be more substantial in value and thus be considered inappropriate.
In order to avoid the perception of wrong-doing, any employee of the College who is offered a gift or gratuity by a vendor or potential vendor, client or other party, other than an occasional lunch, dinner or ticket to a sporting or other event, is expected to report such an offer to the President via the appropriate AC member, and obtain approval prior to acceptance. Examples of inappropriate gifts would be offering a free airline ticket to a secretary because he or she uses a certain travel agency, or providing "prizes" to employees for utilizing a vendor such as a delivery or outside copy service. In many instances the gift may be something, such as free travel or rental car days that can and should be used by the College.
Please note that the purpose of this policy is not to eliminate the occasional business lunch or dinner, but to ensure that improprieties or the perception of improprieties do not exist.