Vendor Relations Principles

Monitoring Compliance

For most of our major vendors, on most issues, we will detect potential problems and monitor continuing compliance with our principles through a social audit. This is simply a list of questions which we expect our major vendors to answer. We will trust them to give accurate and honest answers unless we have some reason to withdraw trust.

On some issues, it is possible to hire independent third parties to act as auditors. We probably could not afford this, but it remains a possibility.

We propose that the Vice President for Financial Affairs maintain a list of Earlham's major vendors and a second list of the vendors with which we have decided not to do business.

We propose a standing Vendor Relations Committee (VRC). The VRC should have one member of the teaching faculty from the college and one from ESR, each named by the faculties' nominating processes; one student from the college and one from ESR, each named by the student governments' nominating processes; one member of the hourly staff named by Employee Council; and one senior member of the Earlham administrative faculty named by the President.

The VRC will take on four kinds of business. First, it will write the social audit, revise it as needed, administer it to vendors, interpret the answers, and decide how to deal with vendors whose answers are inadequate. Second, it will decide controversies about our vendors in light of the principles in this document and a factual inquiry into the relevant vendors and alternatives. This includes deciding what steps to take in response to unethical vendors. Third, it will bear responsibility to recommend revision of the principles in this document. Fourth, it will meet annually with the Vice President for Financial Affairs to review his/her lists of our major vendors and vendors with which we have decided not to do business. The decisions of the VRC will be advisory to the President of Earlham College.

A member of the Earlham community may ask the VRC to inquire into an Earlham vendor by sending a letter to the convenor or to any member of the VRC.

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