Establishing Administrative Policies

The University establishes administrative policies to align operations, set behavioral expectations across the University system, mitigate institutional risk, and communicate policy roles and responsibilities when appropriate to do so through a broad policy in accordance with the criteria below.

Administrative policies require or prohibit specific actions of faculty, staff, students, and external individuals who use University resources or services, as appropriate.

The president has delegated authority to the President’s Policy Committee (PPC) to establish administrative policies. All new and significantly revised administrative policies must be approved by the PPC before going into effect. The PPC must also approve administrative policies proposed for retirement.

Policy owners must periodically review and monitor their policies and procedures for accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Responsible University officers must ensure that monitoring compliance with their policies occurs.

System-Wide Administrative Policy Development

Criteria

System-wide administrative policies must: 1) advance the University’s mission; or 2) be necessary to implement Board of Regents policy or directive or to achieve compliance with laws, rules, or regulations; and 3) meet one or more of the following criteria:

• address a significant risk to the institution that cannot be adequately addressed otherwise;
• have significant impact, including but not limited to, the number of people, campuses or colleges/units impacted, and the level and number of risk factors involved; or
• promote operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Consultation

Policy owners must consult with representatives from target audiences during the development phase of both new and significantly revised policies; proposals for retirement of existing policies; and during the course of a comprehensive review. Consultation must, at a minimum, include University Senate governance specified in the University Senate Consultation Matrix, and the Diversity Community of Practice (DCoP) Equity Lens Policy Review Committee (ELPRC).

Comprehensive Review Cycle

Policy owners must complete a comprehensive review of each of their policies every four years.  If a policy owner wishes to extend the next comprehensive review period from the standard four years to up to six years, they must complete a Comprehensive Review Extension Request form and receive approval from the President’s Policy Committee (PPC).

In the event that a policy has more than one policy owner (“owner”), the owners must be in agreement with the proposed changes.

Campus-Wide Administrative Policy Development

Individual campuses may develop campus-wide policies when:

• there is no existing system-wide policy or when unique campus requirements cannot be accommodated within an existing system-wide policy;
• the policy satisfies the criteria for system-wide administrative policies; or
• if the policy content is specifically covered within the scope of University Education Association Unit 9 Contract (Duluth and Crookston campuses).

Campuses may not create a campus-wide policy when:

• it is prohibited by an existing system-wide administrative policy; or it would be inconsistent with, or less restrictive than Board of Regents or system-wide administrative policy.

Administrative policies that are specific only to the Twin Cities campus or pertain to multiple campuses and include the Twin Cities campus, will follow the development and approval process specified in the attached procedures.

Unit-specific Administrative Policy Development

Colleges and departments (units) may develop local policies, whether or not a corresponding administrative policy exists, if permitted by their campus or college processes.

Units may not create a local policy when:

• it is prohibited by an existing system-wide administrative or campus-wide policy
• the policy is inconsistent with or less restrictive than Board of Regents policies, system-wide administrative policies, or campus-wide policies.

Exceptions to Policy Requirements

If exceptions are allowed for one or more requirements in a policy, the policy owner should specify the conditions under which an exception would be allowed and the individual or office that would consider granting the exception request.

Alignment Review

The director of the University Policy Program or designate will conduct regular reviews of administrative policies at the system, campus, and unit level to ensure alignment with the associated Board of Regents policies (See Board of Regents Policy: Board Policy Development).

Expedited or Interim Policies

The PPC may approve an expedited or interim policy when legal requirements or a significant institutional risk exists and there is insufficient time to complete the standard review and approval process before publishing. A policy plan and timeline for completing the standard review of the interim policy must be included in the request to the PPC. If approved, the policy will go into effect immediately. The policy owner must complete the standard policy review and approval process during this approved interim period.