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KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Acting at its March 14 meeting, the É«É«À² Michigan University Board of Trustees formally approved a set of standards developed by a campus task force that are designed to formalize and govern the way University policies are developed, reviewed and shared with the campus community.

The É«É«À² Michigan University Policy Development Policy, dubbed by task force members as "the policy on policies," was approved by trustees following a presentation by É«É«À² Assistant General Counsel Jessica Swartz. The policy has been in development for more than a year.

The policy will govern the development, approval process, distribution and review schedule that a policy must meet to carry the force of becoming a University policy. The new measure becomes effective immediately and applies to new policies and policies currently under development. Units will need to perform a rolling review of existing, approved policies so they may be adjusted to meet the new format and standards.

A campuswide policy committee will be charged with ensuring each new or revised policy meets the requirements of the new, board-approved measure. A regularly scheduled review process will put existing policies in line to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

Other critical elements that are part of the policy on policies include:

• Clear definition of what a University policy is as well as categories of policies that exist.
• Description of what should be in a policy, including naming conventions, a summary of its contents, identification of responsible office, policy category, approval date and expected review date.
• A format template for the full text of each policy.
• A website, now in development, for the campuswide policy committee that will include easy links to the policy template and general policy information.
  
• Ultimate publication of all policies on É«É«À²'s current policy page at wmich.edu/policies.

The major impetus for the policy on policies, Swartz told the board, was a dictate by the Higher Learning Commission—the University's accrediting body—that says a university must "engage its internal constituencies in the institution's governance" through policies that, once created, are made known to the campus community and followed. The HLC expects such policies to be easily accessible and expects the campus community to be aware of the policies and where they are housed.

Swartz and Dr. Jody Brylinsky, associate provost for institutional effectiveness, led the task force that developed the policy that the board passed. They will oversee follow-up implementation, with information going out to the campus community as templates become available and as the University policy site is developed and populated.

For more É«É«À² news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.