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Administered by the Blog Committee, Policy Matters posts are written by members on a variety of topics. From think pieces to how-to's, editorials to news round-ups, there is something for every policy administrator. Interested in contributing a post? Let us know by emailing admin@acupa.org.

 

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Policy in the News
Posted By Deborah Bartlett, Washington State University, Monday, May 10, 2021

Articles on topics that may affect your organization’s policies

As we move into the summer semester, the Blog Committee would like to share some of the articles we’ve been reading that relate to policy administration in higher education.

Tags:  Canada  COVID-19  cybersecurity  data  employment contract  financial aid  free speech  gap  gender  hot topics  HR  information  IT  legal  minimum wage  news  pandemic  phishing  policy  policy in the news  poverty  privacy  records  remote work  sexual harassment  students  Title IX  vaccines 

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In Search of Innovation

Posted By Jennifer Gallagher, Utah Valley University, Monday, February 1, 2021

Policy Management Solutions for Digital Landscapes

When I stop to think about the enormity of what we’re tasked to do, it almost sounds like an impossible riddle: How can one effectively manage a living machine with hundreds of interlocking and evolving parts, each owned by different entities and moving at different speeds along separate but intertwining paths? As policy administrators, we know it’s not so much a riddle as it is just another day in the job. 

At Utah Valley University, our policy administration process involves tracking and managing hundreds of policy drafts and documents through separate review and approval stages, coordinating the necessary entities and stakeholders from drafting to review to approval of each individual draft, and publishing and maintaining approved policy documents (both publicly online for current versions and in a digital archive for those no longer effective). And this represents just a fraction of the responsibilities and services with which our office is tasked. Even under normal circumstances, effectively managing our office’s complex workload can be challenging. Toss in a global pandemic and a sudden, unceremonious switch to a digital-only environment, and we were left scrambling to adapt—an exercise in simultaneously reinventing the wheel while still keeping the cogs in motion.  

In the past, technology was a supplement to our processes, never the backbone. We utilized a combination of both third-party and in-house developed applications to manage different areas of our responsibilities: project management software (Monday) to track development and progress, cloud storage (Box) to share drafts, email newsletters (Outlook) and blog posts (online) to inform the campus community of policy developments, and our own homegrown policy publication software (TOPS), which allows us to upload and publish policy drafts in different stages of development and following approval. And while this worked fine for us in the pre-COVID past, it was admittedly never optimal, and its disadvantages have become even more obvious and obstructing now more than ever.  

Consequently, we have been searching for better ways to optimize our office’s processes for this new digital-only landscape and beyond. After nearly a year of adapting as we go, we now have a better idea of the benefits and challenges of remote work in relation to the unique needs of our office. We’re now working with a business process analyst to decide between purchasing a comprehensive out-of-box policy management application or custom building our own tools within Teams and other Office applications.  

Both options come with advantages and drawbacks. Purchasing an out-of-box application is a quick and relatively painless solution, but finding one that will work seamlessly with our institution’s complex policy process has been a challenge. Many of these policy management applications include additional features that are not applicable to our process while missing features we do need. Additionally, the initial hurdle of implementation and ongoing licensing costs and training are also considerations. And while building our own solutions would allow us the flexibility and customization needed, the time needed to complete the project is time we spend in the current state with our current challenges. 

However, I know our office isn't alone in the growing pains we've faced over the past year. I think most of us fortunate enough with the flexibility to transition to remote work have experienced both the challenges and benefits of this new digital landscape. And I've been wondering how others have reinvented their own wheels. For those of you who have used policy management applications, which have you used and what have your experiences been? Have you found them to have helped in the transition to and continued practice of remote work? What challenges do you still have? And if your institution doesn’t use licensed policy management software, what other solutions does your office implement to aid with your processes? Have you encountered additional challenges with continued remote work? And how has your office adapted to these challenges?

Tags:  covid-19  Jennifer Gallagher  project management  technology  work remotely 

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Policy Changes on Steroids and I'm Over It
Posted By Meg Resue, Rowan College of South Jersey, Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Approaching the End of 2020

The monitoring, updating and revising of policy and administrative procedures is a deliberative process requiring significant time to decipher law, collaborate with the appropriate parties, draft, vet and finalize for presidential and Board of Trustees approval. For some policies and procedures, the pandemic has taken the normal expected sequencing and placed it on steroids, accelerating the process.

By the first week of March 2020, the college’s cabinet began to meet for conference calls with state government officials to discuss an imminent pandemic heading our way. During the second week, a campus Coronavirus (COVID-19) medical taskforce was established. In addition, a credentialed medical director to co-chair the taskforce was soon installed to facilitate college communications and practices, as well as to collaborate with state and local health departments to track the scientific details on COVID-19, including medical statistics showing the virus’ insidious trajectory. By week three, faculty and staff were thrust into working from home by a state stay-at-home executive order, while simultaneously tasked with flipping all classes to an online delivery during the very same week that students were off campus on spring break, with the aim of being ready to begin the new semester upon their return.

After all these operational challenges unfolded, there was catch-up work to be done in order to get policy and administrative procedures appropriately revised within the areas of operations, academics, student services and human resources. Everything needed to align with state issued executive orders that seemed to emerge almost on a weekly basis. Once the stay-at-home executive order eased to a lower level phase, the college was able to bring faculty, staff and students back to campus. The number of individuals allowed back was limited with strict mandated medical protocols implemented. This action spurred yet another round of fast-tracked policy and administrative procedure revisions in the areas listed above. This in turn triggered the issuance of communication plan updates to the college community and local governmental authorities, and additional restart plan submissions to the state. With each state executive order issued, there may have been and, in many cases, most did impact some aspect of standing policy and procedure practices. This has resulted in our new normal of a rapid-fire, expedient policy process – at least for now.

As the month of December wanes, from a human resources policy perspective, it is necessary to keep an eye on the federal mandate regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which has been in effective since April 1, 2020, ending December 31, 2020. The question - will this mandate be extended or will it lapse? The answer will dictate policy revision. Time will tell; uncertainty prevails.

Professionally, 2020 has proceeded with the most frenetic momentum and I am ready, more than ready, to have this aspect of the higher education realm return to what I once considered its mind-boggling glacial pace – I miss those days; really, what was I thinking – glacial pace!

The good news is a COVID-19 vaccine is on the horizon. Better days will come. I wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.

Tags:  challenges  COVID-19  executive orders  federal mandates  hope  Meg Resue  pandemic  policy 

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Policy in the News
Posted By Megan Jones, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Articles on topics that may affect your organization’s policies

As we continue the fall semester, the Blog Committee would like to share some of the articles we’ve been reading that relate to policy administration in higher education.

Tags:  accommodation  ACTs  ADA  admissions  COVID-19  cybersecurity  data  free speech  gap  gender  hot topics  HR  information  IT  legal  news  pandemic  phishing  policy  policy in the news  poverty  remote work  research  SATs  security  sexual harassment  students  talent management 

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A Sea of Change and a Pandemic
Posted By Meg Resue, Rowan College of South Jersey, Monday, June 15, 2020

How COVID-19 complicated a college merger

Institutional change is hard and a gradual process is best accomplished through a series of baby steps taken over months or years to bring it to fruition. That said, Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) has undergone extreme change on a short timeline, which defies my above logic but perhaps speaks to institutional resiliency.

RCSJ was established as a new institution with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) approval on July 1, 2019. The merger joined two community colleges from two counties into one, with the caveat MSCHE would be back in approximately six months to assess if headway was being made based on the original substantive change request information. A few of areas the MSCHE team would review when they returned to campus were policy development progress, institutional effectiveness, and strategic planning development. All of these areas fall within the President’s Office under the Institutional Policy umbrella.

The Institutional Policy Office in the interim has made progress in these three areas. Policies were systematically reviewed with stakeholder meetings held on both campuses, the practice of electronic review and tracking of revisions continued, and the policy library was maintained. Work has begun and continues on aligning the two campuses’ institutional effectiveness practices. And finally, a timeline and strategy to implement a three-year strategic plan process was developed in October 2019, the initial kick-off took place in November 2019, which started a cascade of in-person meetings over the next several months, with the final product ready to present to the RCSJ Board of Trustees pinned down to June or July 2020.

Seven months into the merger, MSCHE did return for a review site visit on March 10, 2020. While preparations for this visit were underway, the day prior to MSCHE’s arrival, the State of New Jersey’s Governor issued both a Public Health Emergency and a State of Emergency Executive Order due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This was followed by another Executive Order on March 16, suspending all face-to-face instruction effective March 18. The following week the college was closed for spring break. This break was when faculty and staff shifted a two-campus commuter college, accustomed to in-person delivery, to an entirely online delivery more than mid-way through the college’s spring semester and strategized how to effectively and immediately communicate this abrupt change to the student body. No small feat, as others I am certain can attest.

New Jersey, with its close proximation to New York City, was significantly impacted by the pandemic, exerting huge financial implications for businesses, schools, and residents. Subsequently, the governor on March 21 issued Executive Order 107 directing all New Jersey residents to stay at home until further notice. At the time of this writing, the State of New Jersey is re-opening in phases; I and my colleagues remain working from home as higher education has not been released to return to work. All summer session classes and student support services will continue to be provided online --- not ideal, but doable.

From a policy stand point, all policy work was already done electronically, so no problem there. What has been unfortunate is the abrupt move from face-to-face meetings with policy owners to a web-based format with frustratingly poor connectivity at times, particularly when our two campuses are in the midst of building rapport and a collaborative foundation. In addition, due to the pandemic, the alignment of institutional effectiveness is now on hold until we can return to campus, and the last two in-person dinner meetings to review the strategic plan’s finalized goals and objectives with the internal and external constituent groups were forced by necessity to an online format. The strategic plan final draft is complete and ready for presentation at our virtual board meeting in July.

We live in a new era of complexities that will certainly define a new normal and change our practices socially, personally, and professionally. We are in the center of a perfect storm with a trifecta of pressures converging:  the rising anxiety and stress due to escalating coronavirus deaths, massive unemployment generating financial insecurity, and the disturbing recent events calling forth understandable nation-wide civil unrest. These are difficult times and as educators we face many daunting challenges, but we are also positioned to make things better by showing understanding and respect for all.

To end on a positive note, out of darkness comes a sliver of light. Remember the strategic plan I mentioned was about to be published? This document will now have a companion piece that will be a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan and will serve as its foundation. It may even preface the overarching strategic plan with a “holding a space” notation within for a future insertion. That is what I would call “belt and suspenders”! The design has and will now become the talk of many of our future virtual meetings. And let’s not forget policy work that is tethered tightly to the strategic plan. Our important work goes on. The storm will clear.

A better way is on its way.

Stay well --- stay healthy.


Tags:  challenges  COVID-19  Meg Resue  pandemic  policy administration  strategic planning 

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Policy Matters Open Forum
Posted By Jennifer Gallagher, Utah Valley University, Tuesday, June 2, 2020
 

The "new normal": institutional policy changes in response to COVID-19

 

On Friday, March 6, 2020, my university announced that they were “closely monitoring the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak domestically and internationally,” but that classes and business should continue as normal. This would be the first of many subsequent, almost daily, public announcements they would make in response to the pandemic. With every announcement came a new change: events modifications, travel restrictions, in-person meeting guidelines, class alterations, etc.

 

By Thursday, March 12, they had cancelled all in-person classes and moved most of their office workforce remote. All business travel was halted and all on-campus events cancelled. In the middle of spring semester, when the halls would normally be alive with thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors, Utah Valley University was a ghost town. 

 

I don’t think any of us could have been fully prepared (both personally and on an institutional level) for the swift and stark snowball caused by COVID-19. Not only did it result in a rapid-fire of radical and necessary responses at the onset of the pandemic in March and continually since, but also will continue to transform the ways we live and work in the coming months as we transition into what public policy administrators are calling the “new normal.” But what does the “new normal” look like for your institution?

 

As college and university policy administrators, we are particularly concerned with keeping institutional action and response aligned with official policy and addressing policy gaps. Over the past few months, I have seen a number of such gaps in policies identified and addressed at my university (we even had to alter our policy that governs our university’s policy process to allow for extensions due to “extraordinary circumstances”). These policies were written in the BC (Before Coronavirus) time, when we were all a little more innocent and unaware that anything like this could happen. As such, our policies naturally do not account for changes caused by a world-wide pandemic. 

 

As our institutions navigate this unprecedented new territory, what kind of policy changes have you seen motivated by the events of the recent months? Has your institution had to update travel policies to account for sudden travel restrictions, require travel disclosures, or impose other requirements? Have they had to alter events policies to address cancellations and extended periods of event blackouts? Will your institution require face masks in public areas, enforce social distancing, or impose other restrictions, andare these requirements aligned with their current policies? What about student health policies, work from home, classroom management, academic scheduling, grading, sick leave? The list is endless. No arena seems to be untouched by the implications of COVID-19 and the never-ending adjustments we make to navigate it. This is the New Normal. Let’s talk about it. 

 

Tags:  change  coronavirus  covid-19  Jennifer Gallagher  open forum  policy change 

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Expediting Policies to Address Organizational Risks
Posted By Megan Jones, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Monday, April 13, 2020

Develop an interim policy process for extenuating circumstances

**The views expressed in this blog are my personal views and do not represent the official position of Metropolitan State University of Denver or ACUPA.**

When I drafted the expedited policy clause in Metropolitan State University of Denver’s “policy on policy,” which allows the MSU Denver president to enact interim policies “to address legal requirements or a significant institutional risk,” I did not have a worldwide, coronavirus pandemic in mind. However, as the daughter of two Vietnam vets and the wife of a military historian, I knew that an organizational threat might come from somewhere (or something) unexpected.

Balancing Inclusivity and Operational Effectiveness

MSU Denver’s policy process is designed to be inclusive and transparent. New and revised policies are reviewed by MSU Denver’s President’s Cabinet, by students and employees who serve on the Policy Advisory Council, by the shared governance groups, and by the university community at-large during an open review period. The inclusive process balances efficiency with effectiveness, in that publishing a policy quickly might not mean that a policy is communicated and implemented effectively.

Some circumstances, however, require quick, decisive action when it comes to policies. To address the current situation, MSU Denver’s leadership has instituted several interim policies related to moving courses online, working remotely, and allowing flexible grading options for students for the spring 2020 semester. Policies that were already in the works, such as a new social media policy, are still moving through the inclusive process, with meetings and document review occurring online.

Full Process

  • Decision maker: Board of Trustees, president, or provost
  • Review/Input:
    • Board of Trustees (for governance policies)
    • President’s Cabinet
    • General counsel
    • Policy Advisory Council
    • Student Government Assembly
    • Faculty and staff senates
    • University community open comment period
    • Ad hoc work groups based on expertise and operational area
  • Documentation: Formal policy statement published online in University Policy Library

Interim Process

  • Decision maker: President or provost
  • Review/Input: Key constituents at president’s or provost’s discretion (in this case, a cross-functional taskforce, including the provost, general counsel, senior leadership team, and others was formed to address all things COVID-19)
  • Documentation: Informal policy statements published online in the employee newsletter and MSU Denver’s COVID-19 Updates and Resources webpage

Staying Flexible

Including some flexibility in the policy process has saved me a great deal of stress during this time, as it allows me to focus on ongoing operations as senior leaders within the organization address current developments.

Tags:  coronavirus  covid-19  expedited policy  governance  inclusive  interim policy  Megan Jones  policy administration  policy change  policy process  process  risk management 

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Campus Changes in Light of the Coronavirus
Posted By Teresa Raetz, Georgia Gwinnett College, Monday, March 30, 2020

Keep policy work going while working from home

Many of us are involved to varying degrees with our respective institutional responses to the current coronavirus situation. In thi­­­­­­­­s week’s blog, I’d like to describe my experiences in the past couple of weeks and then open things up to your input.

 

Like so many others, my work routine changed rather quickly about two weeks ago, as the coronavirus situation began to expand and affect our state and institution. My campus, Georgia Gwinnett College, is located in the Atlanta metro. Our region has seen the highest rate of virus diagnoses in the state, simply due to more population density, about 6 million in Atlanta and suburbs. Decisions to suspend in-person classes, study abroad plans, and certain travel were made quickly by our state university system but each campus is also responding according to local needs and capabilities. As of March 16, only essential staff are on campus and most institutional effort has been focused on moving all classes and needed services online and transitioning students out of residential housing. Our residence halls remained technically open until yesterday, as plans were arranged for some students. I manage the institutional policy review and approval process, but not the policies themselves or compliance, so my role has been fairly minimal in the first two weeks. Buildings are mostly locked (although campus police will let you in if necessary), and the rest of us are working remotely. I’ve used the time to work on a variety of projects, including one for a new VP that was created BC (Before Coronavirus) to help her get up to speed on institutional policies and processes.

 

Communication is always essential, of course, but has become much more so recently. I have given thought to how (or even if) I should communicate to administrators about policies during this time. Normally, I send a weekly update to senior leadership and others with policy responsibilities, describing policy review activity, tips for good policy practice, and so on. I sent out a basic version in the first week just to maintain some hint of normalcy in a weird week, and last week, I added in a suggestion for using time working remotely to do policy work, along with reminders about tools to facilitate that. There are quite a few tasks that need to be done, such as formatting older policies in our current template, and they can be accomplished remotely, so all policy proponents have at least some policies they could address. I’ve already had an online meeting with one division’s policy team and I hope my nudge will encourage more to tackle policy projects, once the immediate needs associated with pandemic response are settled.

 

Because I’m a one-person office, my day-to-day work is relatively solitary and I have not found the transition to remote work too difficult, other than the need to address random questions and thoughts from my children, who are also home doing school work online. (My 13-year-old just asked me if I knew there is a penguin species that lives in the desert…science class research, apparently). After the first week of working just on my laptop, I went to my campus office over the weekend to retrieve some hardware, including my 39-inch monitor that helps me compare documents side-by-side. It’s invaluable in the office and even more so at home, even if it makes my dining room table/new office look like the bridge of the Enterprise. I’ve also received some in-the-moment training on using Microsoft Teams, which my colleagues are using for meetings. Georgia is blooming more each day and my family is taking a daily sanity walk, spring weather and pollen count allowing, while we maintain physical distancing, and I’m keeping the same daily routine, if somewhat more casually dressed, which I find helpful.

 

How has your work been affected as a result of coronavirus response? What role is policy playing in your campus’ response? Has the situation highlighted any strengths and/or weaknesses in your current policies? If you are working from home, what tips or discoveries can you share? How can we support you?

Tags:  coronavirus  covid-19  work remotely 

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