University Rule 1-001: Oversight and Development of University Regulations.

Purpose and Scope

1. Purpose. To implement University Policy 1-001 (Policy on University Regulations) by defining the membership of the Institutional Policy Committee and setting forth steps for the development, revision, and publication of University Regulations.

2. Scope. [reserved]

Definitions

Definitions of terms provided in University Policy 1-001 apply for purposes of this Rule.

Rule

1. Membership and Function of the Institutional Policy Committee (IPC), and Maintenance of the University Regulations Library.

   1. Membership of the Institutional Policy Committee will be determined by the President, and will consist of University personnel representing the various divisions of the institution, i.e., vice presidential areas of responsibility. Appointment, replacement and termination of members to the IPC will be made by the President, or the appropriate Vice President or other Cabinet Officer. A committee chair will be selected by the President. The chair's responsibility will be to conduct the committee meetings and facilitate the work of the committee. A representative from the President's Office will be a member of the committee and will act as liaison to the President and the Board of Trustees.

   2. The purpose of the IPC shall be to facilitate the development, review, distribution and maintenance of University Regulations. The Committee does this by overseeing the general content, structure, publication, and coordination of University Policies and Rules, and when appropriate, the associated University Procedures and Guidelines. The committee also plays a key role in ensuring that the various areas of the University have a forum for conducting the necessary review of new or revised Regulations.

   3. The IPC shall publish a standard process for the development, review and approval of University Policies that will come before the President and the Board of Trustees for approval. Procedures shall include a formalized process for sponsorship of policy proposals, identifying the group of stakeholders, communication strategies for a notice and comment period prior to final revisions and general policy implementation, as well as regular periodic review of each Policy by the Policy Owner (see below).

   4. The IPC shall maintain a University Regulations Library for official publication of University Regulations. While all University Policies and University Rules shall be published in the library, the IPC shall determine on a case-by-case basis whether to include in the library various University Procedures and Guidelines, Supplemental Rules and Procedures, and related documents. The library shall clearly present a system for retaining historical versions of Policies, revision dates, review dates and drafts to show the progress and detail of changes to Policies over time. The library shall be made available to members of the University community, visitors, and, as appropriate, to the general public.

2. Development of University Policies.

   1. Policy Officers and Policy Owners.

      A “Policy Officer” will be assigned by the President for each University Policy, and will typically be someone at the executive level of the University (i.e., the President and his/her Cabinet Officers). The assigned Policy Officer is authorized to allow exceptions to the Policy in appropriate cases. The Policy Officer shall be designated in the “Contacts” section of each Policy.

      1. The Policy Officer will identify an “Owner” for each Policy. The Policy Owner is an expert on the Policy topic who may respond to questions about, and provide interpretation of the Policy; and will typically be someone reporting to an executive level position (as defined above), but may be any other person to whom the President or a Vice President has delegated such authority for a specified area of University operations. The Owner has primary responsibility for maintaining the relevant portions of the Regulations Library, and shall be designated in the “Contacts” section of the Policy.

      2. An “Officer” or “Owner” may also be assigned and designated for University Regulations other than Policies.

   2. Policy Content.

      1. In general, Policies should be written to serve as general statements of principles, avoiding specificity that would require periodic revisions of Policies to meet a changing external business or academic environment. For example, names of individuals should ordinarily be avoided in drafting of Policies, and position titles should be used instead. Specific details not appropriate for inclusion in a Policy may instead be stated in an associated Rule, Procedure, or Guideline, which are suited for more frequent updating to meet changing circumstances.

      2. Policy should be written in plain English to be clear, concise and streamlined, with the intent of being understood by all. Policy language should avoid gender-specific pronouns.

         To ensure consistency, Policies should be developed using a standardized format. The standardized format shall specify the order of essential content elements, such as Purpose and Scope, Definitions, Policy Statements, References, Contacts, and Revision History. (See Regulations Template, on the IPC Resources page).

   3. Policy Development, Modification, and Review.

      1. Proposals for new Policies or revision of existing Policies will typically originate through the President, a Vice-President, or another officer delegated or assigned to deal with policy matters in one of the various divisions of the University; or a University committee or an individual member of the University community. Such parties will follow this Rule in preparing the policy documents for processing. The Policy Owner will ultimately present the proposal to the IPC for initiating this process.

      2. When revisions to an existing Policy are proposed, the proposed specific changes should ordinarily be presented in a 'marked-up draft' using standard 'strike-out & underline' markings in order to clearly identify what is being proposed to be changed.

      3. For both proposed revisions and proposed new Polices, an Executive Summary or similar explanation of the proposal should be prepared, describing the reasons for the new Policy or Policy changes, an implementation strategy and responsible parties for the implementation, as well as the potential impact the Policy may have on members of the University community.

      4. Policy Notice and Comment Period.

         1. The IPC shall formalize a process under which all proposals for new or revised Policies will be communicated to a group of Stakeholders, and shall identify appropriate Stakeholders for purposes of various categories of Policies. The process shall include appropriate opportunities for the general University community to learn of proposals during a specified period of time, and to forward comments or concerns to the IPC.

         2. Stakeholder groups shall include the Council of Academic Deans and the Academic Senate on all academic or faculty matters. The IPC shall maintain a list of interested committees, groups or individuals throughout the campus community in order to determine an appropriate set of Stakeholders for each Policy proposal.

         3. Based on the comments received, the proposal proponent will work with the IPC to implement the most appropriate revisions to the Policy draft prior to submitting the proposal to the President, the President's Cabinet and the Board of Trustees for final approval.

   4. Policy Approval and Publication.

      The Policy proposal, in final textual format, is submitted to the President and the President's cabinet. If approved by the President, the proposal is submitted to the Academic Senate for either comment or approval in accordance with the Policy 1-001 on University Regulations, Section III.A.4. After such comment by or approval of the Senate (with any changes added for Senate approval), the Policy is submitted to the Board of Trustees. If approved by the Board of Trustees, the IPC publishes the revised or new Policy language to the University Regulations Library, with appropriate version identification and revision date. The IPC shall formalize a communication strategy to notify the Stakeholders and the general campus community of newly implemented Policy or Policy changes.

   5. Periodic Policy Review.

      The Institutional Policy Committee shall formalize a procedure and schedule for a periodic review of policies by the Policy Owner in order to keep policies up to date and applicable to current University requirements.

   6. Editorial Corrections, and Modifications Responding to Changes in External Law

      1. The IPC is authorized to make minor editorial changes to existing Policies as published in the Regulations Library, provided that such changes are limited to correcting editorial errors, or updating references to other Policies. Any such editorial changes shall be documented in the history section accompanying the affected Policy in the Regulations Library.

      2. Occasionally, changes in relevant external law made by courts, legislative bodies or administrative agencies may necessitate expedited modifications of University Policies. The IPC, in coordination with functional administrative areas, shall facilitate making such expedited modifications. Modifications of this type will not be subject to the full notice and comment period, but will be communicated to all affected parties at the earliest opportunity, including the Cabinet, the Council of Academic Deans, the Academic Senate, and others as appropriate. Such modifications will also be presented for approval to the Board of Trustees at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting.

3. Development of University Rules.

   1. General.

      Rules are authoritative pronouncements and are binding in the conduct of University business. Rules are just below Policies in the hierarchy of University Regulations. But whereas Policies deal with institutional governance issues and the principle underlying the missions of the University, Rules deal with the operational aspects of carrying out those missions and the practical application of Policy. As such, Rules do not need to be brought before the Board of Trustees for approval. In accordance with the Policy on University Regulations 1-001, Section II.C., University Rules are promulgated by the President, a Vice President, or another officer to whom the President or a Vice President has delegated such authority for a specified area of University operations. These same officers have authority to approve, revise, and retire Rules, as specified in Section III.A.2, after either approval by or consultation with the Academic Senate, or a designated officer, council or committee, in accordance with Section III.A.4 of Policy 1-001.

   2. Rule Author.

      Each Rule will have an “Author” - someone who sees the need for, and originates the Rule. This person will typically be a Policy Owner or someone in the Policy Owner's organizational structure; but may be any person that has administrative responsibilities for carrying out mission-related or mission- support functions across a specified area of University operations.

   3. Rule Content.

      All Rules will reference the applicable Policies to which they pertain. Content should clearly indicate the principle, practice, or issue that is being addressed; and spell out the expectations in action, behavior, or protocols that are being addressed by issuance of the Rule. The Rule should also address whether there is any limitation on whom the Rule applies to. If limitation language is absent, the Rule will apply to all faculty, staff, and students. The content of a Rule may follow the format illustrated herein, or may be published as an authoritative memo. (See Regulations Template, on the Tools for Regulation Writers Page).

   4. Rule Approval and Publication.

      New or revised Rules will be circulated for discussion and review by the originating division of the University - typically the President, a Vice-President, or another major unit. At the appropriate time, the Rule should be brought before the Institutional Policy Committee to coordinate stakeholder notification. This could be done by the Author, the related Policy Owner, or a member of the committee. At that time, the Rule should be approved by an executive level position and taken to the President's Cabinet for further discussion regarding the need for and impact of implementing the Rule. Based on the nature of the Rule being proposed, it will also be circulated to the Academic Senate in accordance with the provisions of Policy 1-001, Section III.A.4. Once all approvals have been obtained, the IPC will incorporate the Rule into the University Regulations Library for publication and dissemination to the campus community.

4. Development of University Guidelines & Procedures.

   1. General.

      Procedures are instructional documents meant to set forth uniform and appropriate ways of performing tasks necessary to University business. Guidelines provide additional and useful reference information for individuals while performing their responsibilities. Procedures may be promulgated by Policy Owners, under the direction of the Policy Officer or other senior level leadership. Procedures provide methods for performance of tasks, are mandatory, and therefore must be followed by all staff, faculty or students that are participating in any University task addressed by the Procedure. Guidelines, however, may be published either by the Policy Owner, where information provided is meant to be useful to anyone in the institution, or may be developed within any College or Unit of the University to outline helpful instructions or information meant to be binding only to those within said College or Unit. Guidelines are not mandatory.

   2. Procedure & Guideline Author.

      Policy Owners or Content Experts in the area of the applicable policy are responsible for the development, periodic review and maintenance of all Procedures and Guidelines that are published as part of the University Regulation Library. Procedures and Guidelines should be published in the Regulations Library whenever campus users would benefit from more specific guidance, and when these documents would promote consistency in operations and sound management practices.

   3. Procedure & Guideline Content.

      Because the nature of tasks and concepts being addressed in Procedures and Guidelines will be varied, the Policy Owner shall determine the most effective format in which to present concepts or instructional information as part of any institutional Procedure or Guideline that is made available in the Regulation Library. Procedures may be presented as instructional documents or forms, online tutorial demonstrations or as handbooks, tables, or documents meant to serve as desk manuals. Guidelines are more informal and provide general assistance to the University community; and may be submitted to the University Regulations Library in varying formats. Policy Owners shall work with the IPC to develop appropriate and effective materials for Procedures and Guidelines published in the Regulations Library. The IPC has the authority to determine whether any Procedure or Guideline will be published in the Regulations Library.

   4. Procedure & Guideline Approval and Publication.

      New or revised Procedures or Guidelines intended for publication in the University Regulation Library will originate within the organizational units reporting to the Policy Officer. The Policy Officer may delegate the development and publication of Procedures and Guidelines to any responsible position within their area. The appropriate individual to whom the responsibility has been delegated shall work with a representative from the IPC in the publishing and stakeholder notification of new or changed Procedures and Guidelines.

5. References to Related University Policies, Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, and External Laws.

   1. Policy Owner Responsibility.

      The Policy Owner bears the responsibility for determining which reference materials are helpful in understanding the meaning and requirements of particular Policies, and should periodically review all reference materials to be certain they remain current. Reference materials may include related University Policies, Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, and Forms; relevant external laws (via courts, legislative bodies or administrative/regulatory agencies); or other working manuals or helpful instructional materials.

      Submission of useful reference material to the IPC for publication will be the joint responsibility of the Policy Owner, Officer, and designated coordinator within the IPC.

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      Note: Parts IV-VII of this Regulation (and all other University Regulations) are Regulations Resource Information - the contents of which are not approved by the Academic Senate or Board of Trustees, and are to be updated from time to time as determined appropriate by the cognizant Policy Officer and the Institutional Policy Committee, as per Policy 1-001 and Rule 1-001.

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Policies, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources

1. Policies

   Policy 1-001

2. Procedures

3. Guidelines

4. Forms

5. Other related resource materials

References (reserved)

Contacts

Policy Owner: Director, University Regulations Office

Policy Officer: Vice President and General Counsel

These officials are designated by the University President or delegee, with assistance of the Institutional Policy Committee, to have the following roles and authority, as provided in University Rule 1-001:

"A 'Policy Officer' will be assigned by the President for each University Policy, and will typically be someone at the executive level of the University (i.e., the President and his/her Cabinet Officers). The assigned Policy Officer is authorized to allow exceptions to the Policy in appropriate cases. "

"The Policy Officer will identify an "Owner" for each Policy. The Policy Owner is an expert on the Policy topic who may respond to questions about, and provide interpretation of the Policy; and will typically be someone reporting to an executive level position (as defined above), but may be any other person to whom the President or a Vice President has delegated such authority for a specified area of University operations. The Owner has primary responsibility for maintaining the relevant portions of the Regulations Library [and] bears the responsibility for determining which reference materials are helpful in understanding the meaning and requirements of particular Policies. " University Rule 1-001-III-B & E.

History

Renumbering: [Not Applicable].

Revision History:

1. Current version: University Rule 1-001, Revision # 0, approved by the Academic Senate January 12, 2009, with the designated effective date of January 1, 2009.

   Legislative History of Revision 0. 

   Editorially corrected 2021-03-23.

2. Earlier versions: [reserved]