The Office of Investments and Banking manages the investments of the University’s financial assets in a broad array of assets, including private equities, private debt, hedge funds, and many other strategies. The Office of Technology and Commercialization also makes equity and debt investments in seed stage startups through its Discovery Capital program. Ruilin Li provides advice and counsel in investment strategy, contract drafting and negotiations, and other matters.
OGC advises the Office of Human Resources on employee benefits, including its retirement plan and the Retirement Plan Governance Committee (RPGC), as well as other employee benefit-related issues.
The use of web applications and software (even for free services) generally involves agreeing to a contract with the software/application provider. These agreements commonly take the form of “Terms of Service,” “Terms of Use,” or an “End User License Agreement.” These documents are legally binding contracts, as they demonstrate the user’s explicit consent through an affirmative action, typically by clicking “I agree” upon creation of an account or downloading an application or by proceeding with use after being presented with the terms.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) governs the privacy of student records. Under FERPA, information about personally identifiable students is private, except for “directory information.” Directory information is information that has been determined by the Board of Regents to be public. Even directory information must be kept private, however, if a student has exercised the right to “suppress” directory information—suppression status should always be checked before disclosing data as directory information.
The Academic Health Center Counsel provides legal advice and counsel to the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs, including with regard to issues relating to professional liability and insurance and educational affiliation agreements.
The University is a complex organization with operations around the state, the country and the world. It frequently partners with other government agencies and departments, non-governmental organizations, and private companies to conduct research, teach and provide services and information to the community. It creates entities, alone or in collaboration with others. These arrangements further the University’s mission, bringing needed capital, resources, and knowledge to support University programs and activities.
Trademarks are indicators of unique source. They contribute to the University’s mission in multiple ways, both through their primary function and by generating revenues through licensing.
Arnie Frishman and Liz Lim in the Office of the General Counsel provide advice to Technology Commercialization (Tech Comm), the office at the University whose mission is to facilitate the transfer of University of Minnesota technology to licensee for the development of new products and services that benefit the public good, foster economic growth and generate revenue to support the University’s research and educational goals.
The OGC advises faculty, administrators, panels, and other decision makers at the University regarding student conduct and discipline under the Board of Regents Policy: Student Conduct Code and other campus, college, and program conduct policies and procedures. Students are entitled to due process and compliance with governing policies and procedures before their status as students can be affected by disciplinary charges.