While a hotline was established this semester exclusively to report incidents of hazing on campus, the little-known Ethics and Integrity Hotline was accessible to the LSU community since July 2014.
The hotline was created to help uphold LSU’s policy that employees and students have a responsibility to report any suspected financial irregularities, said Chad Brackin, chief auditor of the Office of Internal Audit.
“We wanted to make sure that the LSU community had an opportunity to report confidentially, if they so choose,” Brackin said.
While the hotline’s primary purpose is to report financial irregularities, Brackin said, it can also report allegations of fraud, abuse, misconduct and other violations, according to an email from the Division of Strategic Communications.
An outside party, EthicsPoint — a regulatory compliance company — operates and managed the hotline.
After EthicsPoint receives a report, it is transmitted to the university’s office of internal audit, which then conducts a preliminary review to determines whether the issue has merit. If it does, it would prompt an investigation , Brackin said.
To file a report online, users must select the LSU campus at which the incident occurred and then fill out the following forms. Users are then assigned a “report key” which they can use to follow up on their report after five to six business days.
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said the hotline could serve the university well.
“We have such grotesque violations of ethics every day in the state government, so we welcome it if it’s a step forward,” Cope said. “It’s there for reporting, and it is a basic moral to take action when
seeing something wrong.”
However, some students like political science senior Jane Ashley Roborn remain skeptical.
“I’m sure it’s helpful, [but] I don’t think a lot of students at this university would use it,” Roborn said.
Reports can be filed anonymously online at www.lsu.ethicspoint.com or can be called in at (855) 561-4099.