1. The Board of Regents expects its members to value service above self. The Board expects high standards of ethical conduct and requires all members to conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects honor upon the Montana University System.

  2. Regents must avoid any conflict of interest with respect to their fiduciary responsibilities. There must be no self-dealing or any conduct of private business or personal services between any Regent and the Montana University System unless procedurally controlled to assure openness, competitive opportunity, and equal access to inside information. When a conflict is disclosed, the Regents must abstain from voting or promoting the discussion between Board members.

  3.  The Board of Regents is independent and impartial in the sense that:

    1. Regents' positions and decisions are based on the Board's mission, setting aside any partisan factors.
    2. Regents do not pressure each other on upcoming votes, but Regents may share their concerns or positions with each other.
    3. Regents do not barter with each other in order to secure support for positions on issues.
    4. Regents embrace public interests and avoid acting from personal ideological interests.
    5. Regents do not favor one particular university campus or geographic area.
    6. Regents take personal responsibility for making decisions in the long-term best interests of students and the people of Montana.
    7. Regents take personal responsibility for holding a long-term and statewide view on their decision making, even at the expense of personal or narrow constituent interests.
    8. Regents take their personal responsibility for coming to Board meetings prepared for Board actions very seriously.
    9. Regents stand behind Board decisions and without undermining any Board decision, may express their personal disagreement with a decision in a professional manner.
    10. Regents view the Student Regent as an equal. The Student Regent has a first and foremost responsibility to represent the students in the Montana University System.
    11. Regents respect one another's opinions and strive to have a supportive meeting environment that allows for full expression and discussion of all opinions.
    12. Regents strive to have focused and efficient meetings and respect and support the role of the Chair in facilitating meetings.
    13. Regents understand and will provide information even when it is information that may be difficult to deliver and hard for others to hear.
    14. Regents understand that anyone may offer revisions to this Code.

 

Approved March 2003 Regents meeting; language modernized and reformatted November 2013.

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