Whistleblower Policy

What this covers

The policy protects anyone — employee, student worker, or student — who reports a good-faith concern about fraud, misuse of state or grant funds, falsified research data, or a supervisor abusing their authority. It does not require the reporter to already have proof, only a reasonable basis for the concern; deciding whether it holds up is the investigator’s job, not the reporter’s.

How to report

Reports go to the university’s compliance officer, the UW System Office of Internal Audit, or the statewide fraud, waste and abuse hotline — whichever feels safest, since none of them require going through a direct supervisor first. Reports can be made by name or anonymously; an anonymous report is investigated the same way, though an investigator who cannot ask the reporter a follow-up question sometimes has a harder time closing gaps in the account.

No retaliation, and what that actually means

Retaliation covers more than firing someone: a changed work schedule, a suddenly worse performance review, exclusion from meetings, or a reassignment timed suspiciously close to a report can all qualify. A employee who believes they have faced retaliation for a good-faith report files that as its own separate complaint, investigated independently of whatever the original report was about.

What happens after a report

The compliance officer triages every report within five business days, decides who investigates (internal audit, human resources, or an outside investigator, depending on who is implicated), and updates the reporter periodically without disclosing details that would identify witnesses. Substantiated findings go to the chancellor’s cabinet and, where state funds or a legal violation are involved, to the appropriate state agency.