Before you begin…
- Review Administrative Policy: Establishing Administrative Policies and the associated procedures.
- Download the template(s) needed for this particular policy.
- Contact your designated Policy Advisor Committee (PAC) representative or the Director of the University Policy Program at 612-624-8081 so that the director can assist throughout the planning and development process.
Overall guidelines for writing an administrative policy
University-wide policies affect a large number of faculty, staff, students, and other external individuals/entities that use University resources or services. The policies must be easy to read, specific, and use language that is easily understood by the intended audience.
Use language that reflects the policy’s intent. Select the words carefully, for example words like ‘should’ and ‘may’ imply a choice, while ‘must’ or ‘will’ reflect a requirement. Each policy must contain a minimum of one requirement.
Additional rules when drafting a policy:
- No gendered pronouns should be used (e.g., he/she, his hers).
- With the exception of the contacts table, titles must be used rather than actual names of individuals as this information will change over time.
- Links to directly related documents may be referenced in the body of the policy statement, but only once for each document.
- Footnotes are not permitted in the template. However, an FAQ might be a good location to provide additional information that is important to the reader.
The information contained below will provide guidance in completing each required (or optional) section of the template or document. Each time the image below appears in this document, it relates to the equity lens with which administrative policies are viewed.
Equity Lens

Throughout this guide you will find information on how equity lens will affect your policy writing process. This information will be highlighted as it is here along with the equity lens icon. Please consider the equity lens information carefully.
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