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From Glenda Grace, General Counsel & Chief of Staff:

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we want to remind the Queens College community of the CUNY rules and New York State Public Officers Law regarding the acceptance of gifts. These rules are in place to help CUNY employees avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety. While we anticipate a bulletin from the CUNY Office of the Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs on this topic, below is a highlight of some of the basic rules:

Definitions:

• A "gift" is defined as anything that has a value of more than $15.
• An "interested source" is an individual or entity that does business or seeks to do business with QC/CUNY, such as vendors and publishers. 

Rules:

• CUNY employees may not solicit or accept gifts from any interested source.
• CUNY supervisors may not accept gifts from CUNY subordinates.
• CUNY employees may not accept gifts from students.
• CUNY supervisors may give modest gifts to their subordinates.

How to handle gifts you receive:

• CUNY Legal Affairs has made a sample letter available to those CUNY employees who are required to return a gift to its sender in accordance with CUNY policy and New York State law. The letter can be found at www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/ethics/no-gifts-sample-letter-template/
• Perishable gifts, such as fruit baskets, must be returned, donated to charity, or placed in a common area.

For more information regarding gifts, please visit CUNY Legal Affairs ethics webpage: www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/ethics/. 

If you have any questions about gifts, interested sources, and/or other ethics issues, please call my office at 718-997-5725.

Thank you for your cooperation. I hope the rest of your semester goes well, and enjoy the upcoming winter break!

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Queens College, CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367