Yale University is committed to cultivating a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment where all students, faculty, and staff can pursue their professional aspirations. Accordingly, the university seeks to welcome new faculty to our community who embrace the university’s values of integrity, honesty, and ethical conduct.
Yale's Professional Conduct Review for New Faculty Policy is intended to allow for the gathering of relevant information about prospective faculty.
The following procedure provides candidates and departments with details on how this policy is implemented.
Implementation Timeline
This new policy and procedures are effective July 1, 2025 for all new external faculty hires, manifesting either:
a. when a conditional offer (letter dated on or after July 1, 2025) is extended to an external candidate for a non-ladder faculty position, or
b. when a search is created in Interfolio for a ladder faculty position at Yale.
Updates to Wording, Interfolio Faculty Searches
For all new faculty searches that are created in Interfolio on or after July 1, 2025, the following specific language is required to be added to both the job advertisement and Interfolio record:
“The final candidate, upon acceptance of a contingent offer of employment/faculty appointment, may be required to disclose whether they are, or have been, the subject of any disciplinary proceeding (investigation, hearing, etc.) at previous institutions or employers, and may also be subject to a background screening. Candidates who materially misrepresent information on their resume or other application materials are ineligible for hire/appointment. Final candidates may also be required to sign a release to allow Yale to solicit information regarding any substantiated conduct violations from current and/or past employers.”
Updates to Wording, Faculty Offer Letters
In offer letters for all faculty ranks dated on or after July 1, 2025, the following specific language is required to be added to the conditional offer letter:
"This offer is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a professional conduct assessment for which the required documentation is enclosed."
Professional Conduct Review Procedure
1. Conditional Offer Letter and Questionnaire
When a conditional offer is extended to an external candidate for a faculty position at any rank, the candidate will be asked to accept the terms of the letter, including the professional conduct review requirements. An attachment to the offer letter will provide the candidate with a link to the Professional Conduct Questionnaire that will require the candidate answer the following questions:
- Have any current or former employers and/or educational institutions determined that you have violated their policies regarding any form of harassment or discrimination1, retaliation, sexual misconduct, bullying or intimidating/abusive behavior, unprofessional relationship, or misconduct related to scholarship, research, teaching, service, or clinical/patient care (collectively “Misconduct”)?
- Are you currently under investigation, or is there an investigation pending, by a current or former employer and/or educational institution in which it is alleged that you engaged in conduct which, if you were found responsible, would amount to a violation of the employer’s or educational institution’s policies concerning any of the above referenced Misconduct?
- Have you ever left your employment or academic position during the pendency of a complaint investigation which did not conclude due to your departure and in which it is alleged that you engaged in conduct which, if you were found responsible, would amount to a violation of the employer’s or educational institution’s policies concerning any of the above referenced Misconduct?
- If any of these questions are answered in the affirmative, the candidate has the opportunity in the questionnaire to provide further elaboration and upload any relevant supplemental documentation.
- Once the candidate submits their answers to the Professional Conduct Questionnaire, the cognizant Dean’s Office or Office of Faculty Administrative Services (OFAS) will receive confirmation of submission.
2. Questionnaire Response Workflow
Tenured and Continuing Appointments:
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For all tenured and continuing appointments, regardless of the candidate’s responses on the questionnaire, the candidate will be required to upload a signed Authorization to Release Information form, and their recent CV into the conduct review questionnaire. The Provost’s Office will then reach out to the candidate’s current and former employers and/or educational institutions to ask for more information regarding any substantiated violations of their institutions’ policies governing faculty conduct pertaining to misconduct. The Provost's Office will then contact the cognizant Dean's Office and/or a representative from OFAS to confer and share additional information.
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If the candidate answers “No” to all three questions and there are no substantiated violations of misconduct reported by the candidate’s current or past employers and/or educational institutions, either a representative of the Dean’s Office or OFAS will notify the hiring department that the Professional Conduct Review requirement has been successfully fulfilled, and the department can immediately continue with the new hire onboarding processes. Hiring departments should save this confirmation notification, which may be required for submission with other onboarding processes, including but not limited to the hire transaction in Workday, as well as international VISA processing.
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If the candidate answers any of the questions in the survey as “Yes” or if any current or previous employer or educational institution provides information about substantiated violations of Misconduct, the candidate’s responses and any supplemental documentation will be received by the cognizant Dean’s Office or OFAS, as well as the Provost’s Office. The Provost's Office will then reach out to the cognizant Dean’s Office and/or representative from OFAS to confer for further review.
Term Appointments:
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If the candidate answers “No” to all three questions, either a representative of the Dean’s Office or OFAS will notify the hiring department that the Professional Conduct Review requirement has been successfully fulfilled, and the department can immediately continue with the new hire onboarding processes. A copy of the candidate’s responses to the questionnaire will be sent to the hiring department, and will be saved to the faculty member’s personnel file. Hiring departments should save this confirmation notification, which may be required for submission with other onboarding processes, including but not limited to the hire transaction in Workday, as well as international VISA processing.
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If the candidate answers any of the questions in the survey as “Yes,” the candidate’s responses and any additional documentation they upload to the questionnaire will be received by the cognizant Dean’s Office or OFAS, as well as the Provost’s Office. The Provost's Office will determine if additional information is needed, and the may then contact the candidate to have them provide their CV as well as a signed Authorization to Release Form authorizing the Provost’s Office to contact the candidate’s current and former employers and/or educational institutions to gather more information. The Provost's Office will then reach out to the cognizant Dean’s Office and/or representative from OFAS to confer for further review, and the Provost's Office may contact the candidate’s current or former employers to gather more information.
3. Professional Conduct Review Committee
Any information received regarding substantiated instances of misconduct will be assessed by a committee comprised of the chair of the hiring department and/or the dean of the school or the dean’s designee, and representatives from the Office of the Provost, Risk Management, and the Office of the General Counsel. After reviewing the response(s) from the academic institution(s) and any additional related information, the committee will determine whether the candidate remains eligible to be hired into the position.
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If the committee concludes that the candidate’s conduct review meets Yale policy, the Dean’s Office or representative from OFAS will contact the hiring department to confirm that the department can continue with the new hire onboarding processes.
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If the committee concludes that the candidate’s conduct review does not meet Yale policy, one of the committee members will notify the candidate of the decision, as well as notify the hiring department that they may not continue with the new hire.