[phas-faculty_staff_others] Reminders on lobbying and communications

[Kurtis Williams]

Hello everyone,

This is just a brief reminder of your rights and responsibilities regarding contact of government officials and a couple related communications issues.  Nobody is in trouble; it just seemed timely.


  1.  As state employees, you are prohibited from using state resources to lobby the state or federal government.  As a private citizen, you have the right to contact and petition federal, state, and local leaders.  I won't try and go through all the ins and outs of what this means, as I don't fully know myself.  But effectively this means that you are free to contact elected officials on your own time as long as it is clear you are not speaking on behalf of the university.



A safe way of doing this is simply not to mention your place of employment when contacting elected officials.  For example, if you contact state senator Paxton or state representative Money, it is fine to say that you are a university professor residing in their district, but avoid mentioning you are a professor at East Texas A&M.



  1.  Avoid use of university property or equipment to contact elected officials to voice your personal opinions.  While not necessarily prohibited, again it is safer to use your own phone or computer that doesn't have a property tag.



  1.  Remember that any email you send from your university account is subject to Freedom of Information Act requests and other investigative purposes.



  1.  Finally, on a related note, if you use your own personal electronic device (phone, tablet, laptop, etc) to conduct university business, even as simple as reading email, your device can be impounded and searched if there is an investigation involving the university.


So definitely exercise your first amendment rights as you please, just be aware of the above!

Cheers,
Kurtis

Dr. Kurtis A. Williams (he/him/his)

Professor and Department Head

Department of Physics and Astronomy<https://www.tamuc.edu/physics>


P: 903.886.5488


East Texas A&M University<https://www.tamuc.edu/>
(formerly Texas A&M University-Commmerce)



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