Conflict of Interest Policy

The Standard staff is committed to reporting with impartiality and accuracy. Therefore, we expect Standard staff members to avoid conduct that may infringe upon these values. We urge the staff to refrain from interviewing family members and those they have close personal relationships with. With co-written stories, no interviewees should have obvious affiliations with any staff members listed in the byline. Personal relationships with interviewees may be perceived as partial and may risk the credibility of the publication. In rare cases where a conflict of interest is unavoidable, action will be taken by the managing editors to handle each individual case and clearly disclose the conflict. 

No staff member taking part in an event can report the story. Moreover, students part of a club, organization or sports team are not permitted to report stories about the given student group. Staff members should also refrain from editing stories about student groups they are involved in to avoid partiality at any step of the process. Any staff member of The Standard cannot be interviewed for the publication. While staff members are permitted to take photos, a non-participating staff member must do the interviews and written reporting. 

Staff members may not use The Standard’s platform for public relations work for themselves or other individuals.