Approval of Academic Policies
The Provost’s Council is an all-College advisory body responsible for the development and review of academic policies and procedures at Âé¶¹´«Ã½. The Provost’s Council follows the following procedures in its review and recommendation of academic policies and procedures.
Activating Polices/Procedures into Review
There are two mechanisms by which a policy/procedure is introduced for discussion by the Council:
- Any member of Provost’s Council may bring a proposed or revised academic policy and/or procedure to the Council for consideration. The Chair makes the final determination of the meeting agenda.
- The Chair or their designee may schedule regular reviews of policies/procedures as part of academic policy management. The Chair may assign policies/procedures to specific Council members for review.
When a policy/procedure is on the agenda for discussion, the Provost’s Council will discuss the policy/procedure, may make initial suggestions for consideration, and will take one of three actions:
- The Chair may activate the policy/procedure into review. If Provost’s Council makes initial suggestions for consideration, only the unedited policy/procedure, as originally introduced, will enter the review and approval cycle unless the Council decides to make immediate corrections to substantional factual errors to avoid inaccurate information from circulating on campus.
- The Chair may decide to delay the review of the policy/procedure temporarily.
- The Council may recommend, by majority vote, to withdraw the policy/procedure from further consideration.
In all circumstances, the minutes shall reflect the decisions of the Chair and Council. Policies/procedures that are activated into review enter the review process, below.
The Review Process
Once a policy/procedure has been activated by the Chair, a designated subcommittee is responsible for returning to the Council in a timely manner with proposed revisions. The original and the revision should be clearly distinguished on the document shared with the Council.
- The Provost’s Council Recorder/designee will share the proposed revisions with the Council in advance of the meeting during which it is scheduled for discussion.
- The designated subcommittee will introduce the policy/procedure and lead a discussion on the proposed revisions. The designated subcommittee is responsible for gathering the Council’s feedback and incorporating it.
- Once the feedback is incorporated, the designated subcommittee will share the revised version with the Recorder/designee, who will post the policy/procedure on the Provost’s website and indicate it is under review. The Recorder/designee will also notify the campus community of policies and/or procedures that are under review. This period is known as the “public comment period.â€
- The public comment period will typically last 30 days (i.e., from the meeting at which the policy is first introduced to the next scheduled meeting), unless the Provost deems a shorter review cycle necessary. During the public comment period, all Council members are responsible for reviewing the policy/procedure with their respective constituent groups and for soliciting and collecting their feedback. Feedback collected is to be shared with the designated subcommittee.
- At the next scheduled meeting, the Chair will ask Council members to report feedback from their respective constituent groups. The designated subcommittee will manage that feedback, incorporating and reconciling the suggestions.
- The Council will take action:
- The Council may decide, by motion, to vote to either recommend the Provost approve the policy/procedure as proposed or revised; or recommend the Provost not approve the policy/procedure as proposed or revised.
- The Council may decide, by motion, to delay the vote to provide constituent groups additional time to review the policy/procedure and/or to provide constituent groups the opportunity to review substantial revisions to the policy/procedure made at that meeting.
Conclusion of the Review Process
The Chair will present proposed or revised policies/procedures that are recommended to the Provost for approval. The following actions will be then taken:
- The Provost will approveÌý´Ç°ùÌýnot approve the proposed or revised policies/procedures.
- The Provost will present the approved policies/procedures to the Mission Element Team as information items.
- The Provost will inform the Council of the approved policies/procedures at its next meeting. The Provost will also inform the Council of any policies/procedures that they did not approve, and provide a justification as to why. The representatives of Provost’s Council are responsible for communicating this information to their respective constituent groups.
- The Provost will inform the Board of Trustees in their regular report to the Mission Fulfillment Committee.
- The Provost will inform the Recorder/designee of the Mission Element Team’s notification. The Recorder/designee will post the approved policies/procedures to the Provost’s website, and will notify the campus community (e.g., faculty, staff, and students) of recent postings. The Recorder/designee will inform the Office of the Registrar of the approved policies/procedures, and their effective dates, for inclusion in the College catalog.