Tim Mack, Dean School of Graduate Studies and Research

Agreements at IUP 907 current agreements in the Division of Academic Affairs ( ). Agreements are university-wide! Each agreement enables all departments at IUP to send interns to an entity.

To put it differently, what has changed in the past few years?

Punishment was a loss of a raise. Some wanted the faculty member to be fired. IUP Agreements have language about Title IX rights

Why is This Happening? Pennsylvania is Ground Zero

New Laws and Regulations New PASSHE Policy: Protection of Minors, effective Dec 31, Also: House Bill 112 (Vereb)—Act No. 56 House Bill 112 House Bill 726 (Petri)—Act No. 108 House Bill 726 House Bill 431 (Gingrich)—Act No. 31 House Bill 431 House Bill 436 (Stephens)—Act No. 32 House Bill 436 Senate Bill 21 (Ward)—Act No. 33 Senate Bill 21 Senate Bill 23 (Baker)—Act No. 117 Senate Bill 23 Senate Bill 24 (Vulakovich)—Act No. 29 Senate Bill 24 Senate Bill 33 (Mensch)—Act No. 34 Senate Bill 33

What Do These New Regulations DO? The new laws…. Strengthen the definition of child abuse Increase penalties for abusers Improve child abuse reporting Protect children from abuse by school employees Expand due process protections Improve investigations and prosecutions As state employees, we are required to comply with these new laws.

Why Do We Need Internship Agreements? Agreements protect our students. Provisions in the agreement guarantee that the Civil Rights of our students are protected, that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and other applicable laws, as well as the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act are guaranteed. Without these guarantees, then our students are NOT protected.

What is An Agreement? It is a contract between IUP and an entity. The position of the PASSHE Office of Legal Counsel is that the term “contract” is all-inclusive, and that it includes: Internship Agreements. Affiliation Agreements. Articulation Agreements. ALL contracts/agreements, unless specifically exempted by the PASSHE Affiliation Handbook 1, are subject to review by Legal Counsel. 1

PASSHE Academic Affiliation Handbook

Are Some Agreements Different Than Others? NOT REALLY. Internship agreements, affiliation agreements, renewals, foreign exchange program agreements, and articulation agreements are all AGREEMENTS. The same process of review and approval applies to all of these. No agreements are exempt from review or approval per the requirements of the Commonwealth Attorneys Act.

Why Do We Need Internship Agreements, II Agreements define the internship itself They define how many hours of internship equals one academic credit- typically 40 hours. They require the entity to develop an internship description. They require the entity to notify IUP if any changes are to be made to the internship. Without the above items in place, IUP should not allow students to sign up for an internship course. We cannot guarantee that the internship is worthy of academic credit without the above.

Why Do We Need Agreements, III Agreements protect our faculty The review and approval of an agreement means that there is an agreed upon plan between IUP and the entity. If something goes wrong, IUP has recourse through the agreement. The PASSHE Handbook says, “A person without delegation who signs an agreement will be acting outside the scope of his or her employment and will be held personally liable for obligations created by the inappropriate signing of the agreement.”

Interesting fact IUP has cancelled or refused to accept agreements with an outside entity based on inappropriate legal requirements or lack of willingness to adhere to Title IX, (Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence). Protecting our students is paramount

How Can I Easily Have an Agreement? Use a PASSHE Template Agreement! These are pre-defined agreements from PASSHE Legal Counsel. Use them, WITHOUT ANY MODIFICATIONS. If the PASSHE Template is modified in any way, then it is no longer a pre-approved Template. The Templates enable rapid review and approval by IUP personnel.

Some Things to Remember Agreements cannot auto-renew, and the maximum timeframe usually is five years. All internship agreements where credit is awarded need an agreement. The site may or may not agree to pay the intern. Only individuals with delegated signature authority may sign agreements. Faculty cannot negotiate terms of an agreement, nor can they sign an agreement.

Where Can I Find Standard Agreement Templates?

Who Can Sign an Agreement on Behalf of IUP? Quoting the PASSHE Affiliation Agreement Handbook: “The president of each university must delegate in writing and, forward that delegation to their respective university legal counsel, as to which individuals will have contracting authority for executing affiliation agreements. It is strongly encouraged that each provost have this authority, but in no case should the authority go beyond the level of dean.” At IUP, only the President and Provost can currently sign an Agreement for the Division of Academic Affairs.

What is the Process for Reviewing and Approving an Agreement at IUP?

Steps for Approval of An Academic Agreement Unit Approval- the chair and the dean should know about and agree to (but not sign) the Agreement. Submission of draft to the Dean of the SGSR. The SGSR maintains an electronic repository of all agreements in Academic Affairs.

Steps, II The SGSR routes the agreement for signatures: The Vice President for Administration and Finance signs agreements related to finances or property. The Assistant Vice President for International Education and Global Engagement signs agreements related to international or foreign organizations. The Provost signs academic agreements. The President signs agreements requiring presidential signature. The SGSR returns the signed agreement to YOU.

Routing Form for Agreements The routing form can be found here: spx?id= spx?id= The college Dean or A- Dean can sign this form in the ‘Unit Leader’ section. It should be sent with the agreement to the SGSR.

WHEN Should I Begin Processing an Agreement? The semester before it is needed. Allow one month to process a standard, PASSHE Template agreement. This assumes that the entity has already agreed to all of the terms in the PASSHE Template. Allow several months for any legal negotiations related to an agreement. IUP cannot control how long this takes.

What if an Agreement Isn’t Processed? Quoting the PASSHE Affiliation Handbook, “Until a fully executed contract is received by the University (which includes, when applicable, the signature of University Legal Counsel), NO STUDENT PLACEMENT WITH THE AFFILIATION ENTITY SHOULD OCCUR.” The Handbook also says that someone who allows this to occur will be held “…personally, responsible, including financially liable….” In other words, the student cannot sign up for internship credits.

Summary PASSHE has standard agreement templates that we should use whenever possible: s/Pages/Templates.aspx s/Pages/Templates.aspx If we use the templates, approval is swift. If we do not, then approval can take weeks to months due to legal negotiations. Agreements cannot auto-renew, and the maximum timeframe usually is five years.

Summary, II IUP has a procedure for processing agreements, which you can find here: There is a routing form for agreements on that page. Allow one month for a standard agreement and several months for ones requiring legal negotiation. Contact the Dean of the SGSR for questions…