DISCLAIMER: This information is intended for UW internal employees and not for public disclosure. It is intended as a general guide for informational purposes only. This information should not be used as legal interpretation or advice. Please contact your legal counsel if you have a specific question, issue or case.
General Compliance Updates
Compliance Matrix
- OCI has been reviewing all options and costs over the fall of 2024. The existing Matrix is not functioning at a helpful level and a great deal of time is spent trying to manage that SharePoint site. Therefore, based on discussions, we will propose to move ahead with Onspring late summer or fall. Once we get some dates set for initial planning, we will ask a few of you to be a part of those discussions so we are addressing your needs and concerns. More to come.
OCI Regular Newsletters
- Per the compliance officers’ survey responses, OCI will start providing monthly updates to the Compliance Officers on high-level regulatory or risk topics that OCI is managing. The goal is to create more awareness of regulatory changes and compliance risks for all of you to use as you see fit. We will start with this January update and make improvements and updates from there.
Compliance Conundrums
- As we discussed last year, OCI has been working on creating a monthly “compliance question/topic” that we could share with the campuses/webpages to get people more involved and aware of compliance/ethics issues. Melissa V. has taken the lead on this project. She will be in touch to ask for your input on how to create the questions/issues that would resonate with you and your universities. More to come.
Compliance and Ethics Resources
- As mentioned during our Compliance Officers’ December meeting, some of you would like to receive more resources, forms/checklists, and training from OCRM, including new hire onboarding. If you have specific items you’d like to ensure are included in new compliance and ethics resources, please reach out to Amy! OCI’s compliance resources webpage is regularly updated as new materials are finalized.
Upcoming Events
2025 Wisconsin Higher Education Summit – May 28-30, 2025
- I am very pleased to announce that UWSA will co-sponsor another Higher Ed Summit conference this year on Wednesday, May 28 through Friday, May 30. More details to come, but please hold these dates. It will be held in person at the Memorial Union in Madison, WI. We will most likely provide a virtual option, but I strongly encourage you to attend in person. Costs will be similar to last year. We are finalizing the agenda and details over the next few weeks. I will send out a formal announcement with registration information at that time. Please watch for more details. It will be a great event!
UW-Whitewater Youth Safety Summit – February 20-21, 2025
- UW-Whitewater is hosting a Youth Safety Summit at the Wilderness Resort at the Wisconsin Dells, WI, on February 20-21, 2025. Here is the landing page for the event: http://www.uww.edu/ce/youth. The keynote sessions will include peer-to-peer abuse, and boundaries and buy-in for abuse prevention. Please contact the UWW Youth Compliance Specialist, Morgan Anderson at andersml@uww.edu for more details.
OCI Areas of Focus: Updates
Title IX
- BREAKING NEWS: In a decision released January 9, 2025, the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, Northern Division, granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in its challenge to the Biden administration regulations on Title IX and sex discrimination. Per the Court, “the corresponding regulations exceed the Department’s authority under Title IX, violate the Constitution, and are the result of arbitrary and capricious agency action.” Until further notice, UW universities should continue to operate under the 2020 Title IX rules and will monitor court proceedings for any further changes. OCI continues to provide support in the form of consultation, investigation, and advisor services.
- The Sexual Assault and Prevention training module is available for all campuses to use for new and incoming students, and many campuses have taken advantage of it so far. The employee Sexual Harassment/Title IX training is coming up on it’s one year anniversary of being in-house.
- Title IX training for practitioners is still through SUNY SCI until we have a better idea whether we will be under 2020 or 2024 regulations.
Clery
- The Stop Campus Hazing Act was signed into law on December 24, 2024. It not only adds new provisions to the Clery Act, but it will require campuses to do other things, including training and prevention programs, and a biannual report. Dany is working with OGC to put together a working group for guidance and to look at any possible administrative code changes, as some of the provisions need to be put in place by June 2025.
Public Records
- The records management policy completed the comment period, and many of the comments received were incorporated into the final draft including some substantive changes. The final draft of the policy is now in the signature approval process. The final policy and policy summary document that details the changes made are attached.
Ethics and SEI/OAR
- If you haven’t already, check out the new introductory/awareness video on the culture of ethics and integrity!
- In preparation for the annual Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) process (April 30th deadline) and to ensure the correct individuals are contacted to file, Amy has been in touch with campus contacts to cleanse the SEI list of Non-State Public Officials (Non-SPOs). The Wisconsin Ethics Commission (WEC) has also previously reached out to campus contacts to cleanse the SEI list of State Public Officials (SPOs). More information on the SEI process is available here.
- The annual Outside Activity Reporting (OAR) also has an April 30th deadline. More information on the OAR process is available here.
Youth Protection
- The Office of Internal Audit will be attending the January 14th meeting with Precollege Liaisons across the universities to discuss the engagement objectives and the topics normally discussed during our entrance conferences. Given this upcoming meeting, individual entrance conferences with the universities are optional and at the discretion of each university. If your university would like to hold an individual entrance conference with us, please contact Aletha Karls (aletha.karls@wisconsin.edu) to schedule.
Investigations
- UWSA continues to review its shared services. As you know, OCI’s investigative services continue to be utilized by many of your universities – and seems to be growing. We are considering how to provide these services going forward in FY26 and at what cost. We are having internal discussions on whether we could cover the costs for the investigators rather than a charge back. My ask to you is if you see the need for investigators increasing on your campuses, please let us know. We are at capacity and if we do need to increase our investigator team, we want to start planning for that now for the FY26 budget year.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal law that was enacted in 1991. TCPA regulates telemarketing calls (including commercial text messages), pre-recorded calls, calls and texts made using automatic dialing systems, and unsolicited faxes. It also provides the statutory basis for the National Do Not Call Registry. As originally written, the TCPA did not directly address text messages. However, in numerous declaratory rulings since the TCPA was passed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made it clear that text messages must be treated the same as calls to a mobile device under the TCPA. Federal judges interpreting the TCPA have consistently reached the same conclusion. (NACUANote: April 2022 edition republished by NACUA in January 2025)
- OCI is working with OGC to provide you with a summary of information on this regulation. Stay tuned. More information will be shared in the coming days. Duane Harlow will join our February 4th Compliance Officers meeting to provide some guidance and legal advice on this topic.
UWSA Work Groups Involving OCRM
Digital Accessibility
- We continue to make good progress on the planning and preparation for compliance with the new ADA Title II rules that require universities to make any digital content accessible (visual and audio) by April 2026. Each campus has an assigned “campus contact” so your universities are directly involved in this work. Please reach out to those individuals if you have questions or concerns (two attachments included on this topic).
Research Security and Misconduct
- UWSA continues to work with your research directors to develop UWSA support for non-R-1 universities regarding research activities and sponsored programs. We have created a website that is still being vetted by universities to ensure it meets their needs. We also have checklists and other resources that will be on the OCI webpage. Finally, Matt Lind has offered to schedule training for research directors on some research topics. More to come as this work continues.
Title VI (Nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin)
- UWSA continues to develop resources, guidance, and proposed RPD policy revisions considering the recent OCR resolutions and commentary related to this topic. Wade and I are working on some specific training for universities for those on the ground practitioners. If you have anything urgent on this topic, please let me know so we can be sure to be responsive to your needs.
Distance Education/State Authorization
- There have been several changes in this regulatory space over the past few weeks. Specifically, the new Administration has decided not to move forward with several proposed changes. This is good news. Your SARA Coordinators are aware of these changes and will continue to be the main point of contact for SARA/Distance Ed issues. If you would like more information or more involvement in this area, please let me know. Duane Harlow will join us at our February 4th meeting to provide an update on the regulations. Sub-degree Credentials
Sub-degree Credentials
- The UW taskforce is working with a goal to deliver a set of policy and practice recommendations that will guide the development, offering, and promotion of sub-degree credentials within the UW. A final report with all findings and recommendations should be submitted by March 31, 2025.
Audit Updates (as of Jan 1, 2025)
[This section will be reserved for current or pending audits being conducted by the Office of Internal Audit that relate to compliance or risk management functions].
Youth Protection and Compliance Audit
- This audit will be conducted for all 13 universities. The engagement letter was issued on January 8, 2025, to the CBOs. The audit objectives are to evaluate and test compliance with high-risk areas of UW System Administrative Policy 625 – Youth Protection and Compliance (SYS 625) including:
- Policy adoption of SYS 625 or a university policy at each university.
- Volunteer criminal background check screening and training.
- Facility use agreements with third parties.
- OIA will conduct fieldwork through March 2025 and anticipates that reports will be finalized by May 2025. OIA intends to present its findings to the BOR Audit Committee at the June 2025 meeting.
As always, if you have specific issues, complaints or concerns related to this work above, please contact us directly and be sure to contact your legal counsel office for specific guidance if it involves a specific case or individual.
Paige Smith
Chief Compliance and Risk Officer
Office of Compliance and Risk Management