[clapping] Kevin Robinson: Hello. I'm Kevin Robinson and I'm privileged to serve as the Vice President for Institutional Compliance & Security here at Auburn University. First off, welcome to Auburn. You're coming to Auburn at a very exciting time in our history. When you
look at our enrollment, we're experiencing record enrollment right now and even record applications
for enrollment. When you look at research, we have experienced tremendous growth in that area and
are now a top 100 Research Institution. You look at Outreach and some of the things going on there.
They're impacting the lives of thousands of people across the state of Alabama. So, this is a very
exciting time for you to come be a part of Auburn University. When you think about higher education
it's a very noble industry that you're coming to work as a part of. Because we're really in the
business, when you think about it, of changing lives. You think about the students that we educate that
will impact generations. For opportunities that they wouldn't have had without education. When you
think about research, who knows whether something at Auburn University may be discovered that could
potentially change the lives not only for our country, but betterment for the entire world. So
that's exciting. And you look at the things going on in our Outreach areas. People without hope have
hope. It's a really exciting industry to work in and so we're also welcoming you to an exciting
time in our history. It's also an industry that has a tremendous amount of risk. The folks in the
insurance industry tell me that of all the industries that they insure, higher ed has more unique and diverse
risk than anybody we ensure. And you just look at the screen you'll see headlines like these happen
every week across higher education in our country. Everything from things like plagiarisms, to
fraud, to hazings, to anything you can think of, it seems that occurs within our industry. One
that I will point out to you- see the gentleman pictured on that screen he was a chemistry
professor at UCLA and he did the same thing that chemistry professors do at every institution
basically in America. He had graduate students. He had a lab. He conducted research and he had classes.
Well, one evening at his lab in Los Angeles a fire breaks out and a young lady's clothing catches on
fire and she's burned significantly. She dies from injuries in that fire several days later. Now, did
this professor mean for that to happen? Certainly not. Did he think it could happen? Probably
never even thought about it. But, yet it did. And he actually was charged with a felony and
he faced several years of potentially going to prison for, basically they're saying, "...you didn't do
your job. Your job was to protect the people who came into your lab." Now, ultimately, he settled that
case by paying $10,000 and agreeing to 800 hours of community service. Now, is that an extreme case?
It is. But it tells you something about the world that we're in. Look, look at the headline from the
University of Utah. A young lady said, "I'm being threatened by a former romantic partner. I'm afraid."
And went to multiple people on campus and nobody really did anything to help her. She's ultimately
murdered, and now the parents sue the University of Utah. Is that extreme? Yes, that's extreme, but you're
seeing that kind of thing happen in our industry over and over again. The stakeholders, people like
alumni donors, the public, the people coming here, parents of students- Their expectation level for
us doing the right thing has never been higher. And so you need to understand the industry
that you're coming into. And I have the opportunity to speak about risk and higher ed
for the past several years across the country. And a few years ago I was in Orlando, Florida
and I was about to speak. And before I did my talk, the Vice President of Marketing for Publix
grocery stores was talking about Publix corporate history and culture and things like that-
really interesting talk. As someone that shops at Publix, I found it fascinating. And you
know Publix- if you've ever been to Publix and been shopping and looking for something, you
understand that experience is a little different. If an employee sees you, they don't ignore you.
They actually will come to you and say, "Uh sir, is there anything I can help you find?" And if you
said, "Well, I'm looking for the bread aisle." They don't just say "aisle 5", they take you to aisle 5 and they
don't even leave you alone there. They say, "Sir, is there anything else I can help you with?" And that
is different than most retail experiences today. And it's also why that organization, Publix, has
been first or second in customer service for many many years. And it goes back to George Jenkins, the
guy who began Publix grocery stores. George Jenkins wanted to have an organization that had great
customer service. And when he hired people, he told them "Publix is going to be a little better
place, or not as good because of you." And I heard this Vice President say that, and I thought that
is a profound statement. I actually got something out and wrote it down because I thought it was so
profound. Because you know that's true for every organization you're in; you're a part of. You either
make it a better organization or not as good and it's also true on the things we're talking about
today. When you think about all these risks we face and things that can go wrong, we're going
to be a little better at managing risk and doing ethical things because you're here at Auburn
or you going to make us not as good. And let me tell you when you see those headlines, something
happens. It's generally, there's an investigation. Generally, attorneys are involved, and generally a
university winds up paying money- either through lawsuits, fines, fees, things like that. When we do
those things, money's being spent on things not our mission. Our mission, remember, is that noble
thing that's over here about changing lives. And so we want to be good, and make sure we keep our
money on the mission and you can help us with that at Auburn University. And let me tell you
our industry has not always been great at that. I'll take you back many years to Texas
A&M, one of our peer Southeastern Conference universities, and a great university. They had
this annual tradition where, over several weeks, students would build a giant log structure. And
before they would play the University of Texas, they would have a big pep rally and bonfire. The
night before, where they set the structure that the students have constructed on fire. One of the
really, in the fabric of their culture and things they do there, great event. People would come back
for the Friday night event. Well, something happened on November 18th, 1999. The structure collapsed
and when it collapsed 12 students just like those walking our campus today were killed and 27
were injured. Ten years litigation goes on in that case. Millions of dollars spent, not on the mission,
but on the failure of risk management. And they put together a group and said how could something that
is such a positive great thing for our institution go so terribly wrong? And if you read that report,
there's a phrase in there it says, "Organizational failure contributed to the bonfire accident."
And if you read what they're talking about, what you'll see is a lot of people knew that there
was a problem with how this was being built, but they didn't say anything. They didn't question
anything and it resulted in tragedy. And one of the things you'll find in higher ed, if you're
aware of an issue, our expectation at Auburn is that you will let us know. We'll talk about some
ways you can do that. Now, there are a few things that are unique to Auburn and the state of Alabama
that you need to be aware of. In Alabama we have the state of Alabama Ethics Law that by working
here you are subject to the ethics law. You may also be subject to an annual economic reporting
requirement that I'll talk about in a minute. But the Alabama Ethics Law is very confusing- just
I'm being honest with you. And you can go to the website there and read it. The general thing is,
avoid using your position for personal gain. So what does that mean? Well, the answer is: it depends. If I'm a faculty member and I want to consult, isn't that using my position for personal gain?
Well, not if you follow our approved Consulting policy, but if you operate outside our Consulting
policy and don't go through the normal channels, then yes, you are at jeopardy of violating the
ethics law. Lots of ways that you can run into trouble there. The thing I would advise you, if
you're not sure if this would be in compliance with the Alabama Ethics Law, contact our office-
the Office of Institutional Compliance and Privacy, and let them help you because we have a good
relationship with the Alabama Ethics Commission. And we can get you the answer to help protect you.
One of the other things you need to be aware of is our Sexual Harassment policy. Basically, you
are required to report sexual misconduct that you become aware of. So if a student comes to
you and and says, "I was sexually assaulted last night." You are required under law to let us
know. You have to be careful there because a student may come to you and say, "Hey, I'm going to tell you
something, but I need you to keep it confidential." You can't promise confidentiality on this topic
unless you're a psychologist practicing in that way for Auburn or a minister practicing in that
way. And the odds of you being that are very very low. So that's something you need to be aware
of and there's a link in the materials we're providing that will tell you more about that.
We also have an annual Conflict of Interest and Commitment disclosure process where you have to
disclose certain conflicts whether it's outside employment, relatives who work here, a lot of
different things that you're better off letting us know because we can help you manage that conflict
where you don't run afoul of state law federal law or university policies. And again we want to
work with you and help protect you and help you be successful here at Auburn. Some things to be
aware of, we have a Bid law in Alabama. Anything above $75,000 has to go out for competitive bid.
If you're looking at purchases between $15,000 and $74,999, those have to have three quotes that
you document to our procurement folks. So, if you go outside the Bid law and violate the Bid law,
you're taking on the liability yourself. Same thing on contract authority. You don't have contract
authority unless you're the President or have been specifically delegated by the President
for some specific type of contract. If you sign a contract for Auburn University, you are obligating
yourself not Auburn University. So you need to be aware of that. Obviously, you read about data
breaches and data security issues all the time. If you are worried or think you might have an issue
where your data has been breached or something's wrong, reach out and report that to
[email protected]. That's because we have reporting requirements under a lot of different laws where
we have to notify certain people. And the faster we start working on that, the more we can protect
things for all of us here. Another thing that's a little bit different at Auburn University is how
policing works. We do not have a campus police department that are Auburn University employees.
We contract that with the City of Auburn Police Department. So that's a little bit different. We've
been doing that 20 years and we have a great partnership with them there. So if you're aware of
a crime, don't call our campus security group. Call 911. The city handles the criminal investigations.
Now, if you're worried about a threat or are there things we need to do to have a more secure office
or workspace or building then you call Campus Security. And we're happy to work with
you, but that's a little bit different than you see at most universities, so I wanted you to be aware
of that. I mentioned being aware of something and not letting people know is a very dangerous thing.
First off, we would recommend you report it to your supervisor, whomever you report to if you
feel comfortable. But let's face it, there are times people don't feel like they can go through the
chain of command. If you don't feel like you can, we have an anonymous reporting system here called
EthicsPoint. You can report your concerns in a wide range of issues and if you're not sure,
there's a category called "Other". Just report it there. And those will come to us and they're
totally anonymous, managed by an external company. But we follow up on anything that comes in. Due
diligence goes into that. Some of those are handled by Compliance or Audit groups. Some of those
are handled by Title IX, some by Student Affairs. Just depends on the nature of the issue, but I
guarantee you they're all addressed seriously. A lot of other resources that you would need to know.
If you have questions about specific compliance areas we have a link for you there where you can
go find out the right people to talk to. Policies are important because every university has unique
policies and procedures and so there's the link there. General Council's office manages that but
in any case we want to welcome you to Auburn and we want you to be successful and hopefully these
few tips will help you be successful. You know I mentioned that story about Publix, well I get
home from that talk and a few months later I see a clip and I thought it would be a great way to
kind of wrap up the real message that I have for you today. [News reporter 1] ...With a smile and sometimes it's just the smallest gesture that can mean so much. [News reporter 2] So I think a lot of us shop different grocery stores, but I
know a lot of us shop at Publix, right? Well it's an image that one shopper captured at a Publix in
Florida that is going viral. Keith Keel snapped this photo at the Publix in Ormond and sent it
to us. The photo he took shows an act of kindness by a young man named Gage, a Publix Employee who,
in this picture, is tying the shoe of an elderly shopper. Keel says he watched as the older man
could not reach down to tie his shoe so Gage dropped to the ground and not only tied one shoe
but did the other one as well with a smile. Keel snapped a photo of it because he says it was
so unusual to witness something like this so he shared that photo with us and now it has taken
off around the country. [News reporter 1]: And there's a couple things here. The first thing is for the Publix's
employee to even notice that. [News reporter 2]: Right. [News reporter 1]: That is such a a a stroke of humanity. [News reporter 1]: You know it's a simple thing but, really just to notice it. I also think it's a tender gesture. You normally see mamas
tying their baby shoes or maybe a hospital worker. So, I just love it. Fantastic. Yeah, good for Gage.
[Kevin Robinson]: That young man Gage, nowhere in his job was tying customer shoes, yet he saw that gentleman, that his
Publix experience would be a little better if he helped the gentleman and he did that. And so that's
kind of what we're asking you to do from Audit and Compliance related things and ethical things here
for Auburn. Take action. Do the right thing because if we all take on that attitude of Gage, as great
as I think Auburn is, we'll be even better. So again, welcome to Auburn. If we can help you, you've
got my contact information and lastly, War Eagle! [Music]