Contact information for the Office of the General Counsel is available here. If you are not sure who to contact regarding a legal matter, you may contact Cheryl Hanley or email the Office of the General Counsel inbox at bostoncollegeogc@bc.edu
Please contact the Office of the General Counsel immediately and provide the document directly to us. We will help ensure that the University responds appropriately and fulfills any legal obligations in a timely manner.
Contact the Boston College Chief of Police (617-552-4445 or 617-552-4444) or the Office of the General Counsel (617-552-0960) immediately. Do not provide information or access until you have conferred with one or both of these offices to ensure that the person has valid authority and the University responds appropriately. Calmly explain that you are checking with other University officials and ask the official to wait.
If this is an expected or planned visit, please follow your office’s standard protocol, which should include referring requests for employment verification to Human Resources and referring requests for education verification to Student Services.
If you are an international student or J-1 international scholar, please contact the Office of International Students and Scholars.
If you are a University employee (other than a J-1 scholar), please contact Cheryl Hanley in the Office of the General Counsel, as the OGC works with outside employment immigration counsel.
The Office of Global Engagement (OGE) maintains a Global Engagement Gateway available at bc.edu/globalgateway. This webpage includes information and resources about international travel, including the University's travel registry protocols.
If you are an employee and have a question about whether international travel is permitted in light of your immigration status, you may also contact the Office of the General Counsel.
Please note that the University maintains an International Travel Policy and an Academic and Extracurricular Student Travel Policy.
Inform the attorney that the Boston College Office of the General Counsel represents the University in all legal matters, and refer the attorney to the OGC.
Please contact the Office of the General Counsel promptly, so we can advise as appropriate.
No. Only the Office of the General Counsel can retain outside counsel for University matters. If you require legal assistance on a University matter, please contact the OGC and we will determine whether to handle the matter in-house or retain outside counsel.
We may notify you or your department of the need to preserve certain records, both paper and electronic, in the event of actual or anticipated litigation involving the University. This obligation to preserve records is extremely important and overrides any records retention schedule that you or your office may have in place. Please follow all the instructions in the preservation notice. Failure to do so may expose the University to sanctions and expose the University to undue liability.
No. We represent Boston College and advise only on University-related matters. If you are a Boston College employee seeking legal assistance on a personal matter, you may be able to obtain a referral or consultation with an outside attorney through the Boston College Employee Assistance Program. Please contact Human Resources for more information about this program.
Generally, information you convey to the Office of the General Counsel attorneys for the purpose of seeking legal assistance in connection with a University matter will be privileged and confidential as to third parties, but not as to other University officials, with whom the OGC may need to communicate about the matter. If you have any questions about protecting privilege in connection with a particular matter or issue, please contact the OGC directly for advice.
The University strongly encourages all members of the Boston College community to report all forms of unethical behavior. If you have information about behavior believed to be in violation of the law, University policies, or ethical standards, the normal course of action is to report these suspected violations to your supervisor or to the person or office responsible for investigating and responding to the specific situations, such as the University Office for Institutional Diversity. If that is not feasible, other lines of communication should be considered, such as the Internal Audit department or the Office of the General Counsel. The University ethics reporting hotline provides an anonymous channel for employees to facilitate reporting of possible illegal, unethical, or improper conduct when normal channels of communication are not available or are impractical under the circumstances. An employee can submit an anonymous report through the EthicsPoint Hotline at bc.ethicspoint.com.
It depends. The University policy on the Authority to Execute University Contracts describes who at Boston College is authorized to sign contracts on behalf of Boston College and who may delegate their signature authority to others. If you have any questions about signature authority delegation in your office or department, you should contact your supervisor, Vice President or Dean, or the Office of the General Counsel. For additional information, please also visit the Signature Authority page on this website.
Please visit the Contract Resources page on this website (BC login required) for contract-related guidance and resources.