Policy Search
EWU Policy 201-03 External Communications_(First Read)
- Comment period ends June 13, 2025.
- Policy Proponent: Vice President for University Advancement
- Adds a provision indicating that employees who publish materials or make speeches outside of the scope of their employment at EWU must ensure it is clear to the audience that their comments are personal and they are not writing or speaking on behalf of the university. If the employee’s title is used in relation to the comments, they should add a disclaimer indicating the writing/speech are their own personal statements and they are not writing/speaking on behalf of EWU.
Please add in how the university will ensure that employees are notified of this expectation, how often, and through what means. Further, I know at least one colleague who wondered if this meant they had to put a caveat on every personal social media post. The concern here is that you’re setting up employees to fear speaking up. For example, if I write a young adult novel, it doesn’t seem reasonable to ask me or my publisher to put a strange caveat in it when most wouldn’t know that I worked here though they could look it up potentially if needed. I think further in depth view about employee understanding and unreasonable impact should be thought through and addressed. Especially in this era of increasing fascism, I would love to see the university do more to protect employees and support their rights than constrict.