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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, January 15, 2024
Updated: Thursday, January 11, 2024
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Articles on Topics that May Affect Your Policies To kick off 2024, the Blog Committee shares some of the articles they have been reading related to policy administration in higher education. Academic Integrity A Brief Guide to How Colleges Adjudicate Plagiarism Cases By Beth McMurtrie, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 3, 2024 Administration 3 policy developments college leaders should keep an eye on this year By Natalie Schwarz, Higher Ed Dive, January 10, 2024 Biden admin dives into next round of higher education regulations By Michael Stratford, Politico Weekly Education Newsletter, January 8, 2024 Education Dept. Outlines Possible Changes in Accreditation, Distance Education, Other Rules By Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, January 3, 2024 AI Creating an AI Policy for Your Marketing Communications Team By Georgy Cohen, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2024 How Will Copyright Law and Plagiarism Change in the Age of GenAI? By Dan Lohrmann, Government Technology, January 8, 2024 Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility After Months of Political Pressure and a Failed Vote, Wisconsin’s Regents Approve Deal on DEI By Erin Gretzinger, The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 14, 2023 Better integration policies for international students needed at universities By Benjamin Maiangwa, University Affairs, October 10, 2023 Judge suspends adoption of pro-Palestinian policy by McGill student union By Jesse Feith, The Montreal Gazette, November 22, 2023 University of Rochester Creates New Digital Accessibility Policy By news staff of Government Technology, January 5, 2024 University principal slams Quebec’s proposed French language policy By Isaac Lamoureux, True North, December 24, 2023 UPEI releases 5-year plan for fixing problems highlighted in scathing review By Carolyn Ryan, CBC, January 3, 2024 Will New House Bill Help Pregnant Students? By Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2024 Free Speech Can a simple procedural reform fix universities’ speech policies? By John Hasnas, The Hill, December 29, 2023 Institutional neutrality policy adopted at Laurentian University By Heidi Ulrichsen, Sudbury.com, December 31, 2023 The Ford government is ignoring its own campus free speech policy By Creso Sá, University Affairs, November 28, 2023 Human Resources DOL independent contractor final rule announced, will take effect March 11 By Ryan Golden, Higher Ed Dive, January 10, 2024 Illinois becomes third state to enact paid time off for all workers By Lauren Warnecke, WGLT.org, January 4, 2024 These universities have embraced remote work—and they’re seeing some big wins By Alcino Donadel, University Business, October 10, 2023
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Posted By Sara Gigeroff, University of New Brunswick,
Monday, July 10, 2023
Updated: Sunday, July 9, 2023
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A Compilation of Contributions
ACUPA’s Blog Committee would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce members to our blog, Policy Matters
! Policy Matters launched in 2018 taking the place of ACUPAexchange
, a triannual newsletter publication. The original purpose of the blog was to address the needs of our members and maximize the efficiency of our processes. To highlight the efforts of current and past Blog Committee members, as well as volunteer
contributors, all posts published since the inception of the blog have been organized alphabetically into categories based on theme and are linked below for easy access.
ACUPA (General)
ACUPA Blog Committee Welcomes Policy Experts
ACUPA Website Features
Welcome to the New Blog!
Accessibility
Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 1: An Introduction to Web Accessibility
Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 2: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 3: Automating Accessibility in Custom Word Templates
Are Your Policies Fully Available to Your Stakeholders?
Hybrid/Remote Work
Adapt to an Online Environment to Develop Policies
And Now We Zoom...
Hybrid Work Schedules
Pivot to a Remote Work Environment
Pandemic and Policy
A Sea of Change and a Pandemic
Campus Changes in Light of the Coronavirus
Moving toward a New Normal
Policy Changes on Steroids and I'm Over It
Policy Matters Open Forum Covid
To Vax, or not to Vax
Policy in the News
Policy in the News (2023)
Policy in the News (2022)
Policy in the News (2021)
Policy in the News (2020)
Policy in the News (2019)
The Policy Process
Always Getting Better
Benchmarking Policies
Choose Your Words Carefully
Do I Really Need a Policy and Procedure?
Do You Cite References in Policy?
Do you evaluate your policy objectives?
Expediting Policies to Address Organizational Risks
Inclusive Policy Development
Increase Awareness of and Participation in Policy Development
Let's Talk About Procedures!
Organizing a Policy Catalog
Our Language Matters
Policies as More than Rules
Policy Development – Are Templates Required?
Policies Requiring Public Review and Comment
Project Management
The First Element
What Is a Policy?
When Your Steering Committee Fails to Steer
Where Does Your Policy Function Belong?
Where have all the Policies Gone? Part I
Where have all the Policies Gone? Part II
Roles and Responsibilities of Policy Professionals
Beyond the Policy Administrators Role
Defining Career Success
Other Duties as Assigned
So, What Do You Do?
What it Takes to be an Effective Policy Administrator
What’s In Your Policy Closet?
Software, Programs, and Digitization
Behind the Scenes of Policy Data
Customize Your Microsoft Word Experience (I)
Customize Your Microsoft Word Experience (II)
Easily Convert Web Pages to PDF Format
In Search of Innovation
Policy Administration for the Digital Age
Version Control, Auto Saving, and Collaborative Editing
Title IX
Historical View of Title IX
Title IX Officers are the People Who Stay Awake at Night
Miscellaneous
Bereavement Leave
Betting on College Sports
Equity Review at Georgia Gwinnett College
Is Technology Dictating Policy?
Is Your Institution Ready for the Robot Invasion?
Learning and Love
"Operation Varsity Blues": High Stakes Testing in College Admissions
Policy and Political Activism
Protecting Essential Records -- Key to Surviving a Catastrophe
Reducing Risks to Institutional Data
Student Interns as Valued Employees
The Joining of Two Community Colleges
The Power of P3s
The Robots are Coming
The Violence of the Last Six Months
Thoughts on Retirement
Values in Action
As was stated in the inaugural blog post, we continue to appeal to you, our members, to help us evolve and decide whether the information shared in the featured posts are relevant and interesting. Do you have an idea for a blog post? Ultimately, this blog is for you, our members, and your submissions are encouraged and welcomed! If you are interested in contributing as a guest (maybe you are interested in being interviewed to share your own experiences as a policy professional), becoming a member of the Blog Committee, or want to share an idea for a topic to be explored through a post, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Tags:
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ACUPA
Data
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Posted By Deborah Bartlett, Washington State University,
Monday, June 12, 2023
Updated: Friday, June 9, 2023
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Making Your Policies Accessible to All Audiences
Most institutions are now aware of the need for recognizing and respecting the differences among the members of our stakeholder communities. As policy administrators, many of us are building
equity review into our policy development processes.
Most of us now publish our institutions' policies online and share our policy drafts electronically, rather than in paper policy manuals or through paper documents. Just as it's important
to consider adding equity review to the development of policies, it's also important that we consider how to prepare the content for distribution in ways that make it accessible to a wide range of people, including those who use assistive devices.
Here are some considerations for your institutions, all of which we’ve put in place here at Washington State University (WSU): - Establish a policy and/or procedures for improving the accessibility of online and electronic content. As
an example, here at WSU we have an executive policy and supporting procedures:
- Require web accessibility training for all institutional
online developers and webmasters.
- Provide issue reporting and complaint/grievance procedures regarding accessibility issues.
At WSU, our Web Communications unit handles web accessibility problems and our institution's ADA (Americans with
Disabilities Act) coordinator is responsible for managing access complaints and grievances.
Creating Accessible Word and PDF Documents
Most of us use Word to create our source documents and either Word or PDF for drafts and creating
web versions of our policies. Taking in consideration of assistive devices, here's some key components for making Word and PDF documents accessible to all: - Headings:
- Headings create a hierarchy in the document that a screen reader
can follow.
- Document Title, Description, and Tags:
- A default document title is necessary for a screen reader to be able to scan and read out loud to its user.
- A document description gives screen reader users a brief summary of the
document they are about to read.
- Document tags allow a screen reader to know if they are looking at an image, a paragraph, a heading, etc.
- Hyperlinks:
- Hyperlinks need to have clearly defined labels of the destination of each link
so that a screen reader is able to read them out loud when scanning the document.
- It's preferable to embed link URLs (attach the URL in the background to a word or phrase using the Link function), also known as contextual links, rather than writing
out URLs in the document.
- Tables:
- Clear table structures and headers are necessary for a screen reader to be able to scan the document.
- Alt Text:
- Alt Text data allows a screen reader to scan a description of tables, figures,
or images that may be on the document.
- Lists:
- The built in formatting tools of Word make it easier for the screen reader to scan the document.
- Capitalized Words:
- Use bold for emphasis and avoiding capitalization of words.
- Assistive devices may provide capitalized words to users by reading each individual letter, instead of complete words.
- Tab/Reading Order
- For PDFs, identifying the reading order of a document’s text helps a screen reader present the text
as it is meant to be read, rather than just as random blocks of text.
Creating Fully Functional PDFs from Word
With the latest versions of Word in Office365, all accessibility functionality in a Word source document may be directly
transferred to a PDF version: - Select File->Save As
- Change the file type (suffix) from the default Word Document (.docx) to PDF (.pdf).
A PDF file created in this way includes all of your active hyperlinks and other functionality.
Creating Accessible Documents from Scanned Images
In order to make scanned document images accessible to a screen reader user, a few things need to be done, otherwise none of the information on the document can be read by a screen reader: - Make or convert the scanned image to PDF
- Under Tools (in Adobe Acrobat Pro):
- Select Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
- Select Text Recognition and In This File, and
- Select the pages to be included
- Under Tools:
- Select Action Wizard, then
- Select Make Accessible
- Select Find Recognize Text Using OCR
- In the Recognize Text -- General Settings window:
- Select the applicable language and
- Select Searchable as the PDF Output Style
- Select OK
Accessibility Guides
The process of increasing equity in our policies and policy access is ongoing. Here are some accessibility guides to provide you with further ideas as you get started:
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Posted By Sara Gigeroff, University of New Brunswick,
Monday, April 10, 2023
Updated: Thursday, April 6, 2023
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Articles on Topics that May Affect Your PoliciesDue to the popularity of our previous Policy in the News post, the Blog Committee wanted to take this opportunity to share recent policy-related higher education articles ahead of the ACUPA Annual Conference. Administration
Guidance for an Often Thankless Task: Revising the Faculty Handbook By Laura L. Behling, Inside Higher Ed, April 4, 2023 AI in Academia
AI Tools Don’t Have to be the Enemy of Teaching and Learning By Gavan P.L. Watson & Sarah Elaine Eaton, University Affairs, February 17, 2023 Canadian Universities Crafting ChatGPT Policies as French School Bans AI Program By Aaron D’Andrea, Global News, February 1, 2023
Campus Safety
West Virginia Governor Signs Campus Carry Gun Bill By John Raby, AP News, March 1, 2023
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
Free Speech vs. Hate Speech By Safia Abdulahi, Inside Higher Ed, April 4, 2023 Harvard Grad Union Members Mixed on New University-Wide Policies on Bullying and Discrimination By Julia A. Maciejak, The Harvard Crimson, April 5, 2023 How EDI Policies are Failing International Students By Karine Coen-Sanchez, University Affairs, January 24, 2023 The Ohio Education Bill that Stands Against Diversity Training—and China By Alcino Donadel, University Business, March 15, 2023
Health and Wellness
New ‘Disconnecting from Work’ Policies Aren’t Enough to Tackle the Problem of Work-life Balance By Michael Rancic, University Affairs, August 8, 2023 What Higher Ed's Paid Parental-Leave Policies Look Like By Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 28, 2023 Yale University’s New Mental Health Policy Raises Discussions Among BW Communities By Madeline Dwyer, The Exponent, March 23, 2023
Information Technology
Education Espionage: FSA “Secret Shoppers” to Monitor Higher Ed for Unethical Practices By Alcino Donadel, University Business, March 15, 2023 How IT Departments Can Shape Acceptable Use Policies in Higher Ed By Alexandra Shimalla, EdTech: Focus on Higher Education, March 29, 2023 U.S. Department of Education Announces Updated Data Security Expectation for Postsecondary Institutions By Sarah Pheasant, Jonathan Tarnow (Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP), J.D. Supra, March 31, 2023
Tenure and Recruitment
Florida University System Approves New Tenure Policy, Spurning Faculty Critics By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Higher Ed Dive, March 30, 2023 Texas Senate’s Priority Bills on Higher Ed Would End Tenure, Diversity Policies By Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune, March 10, 2023
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Posted By Deborah Bartlett, Washington State University,
Monday, March 15, 2021
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Considering the Words We Use
An important aspect of policy writing and editing is wordsmithing, i.e., making changes to improve the clarity and style, as opposed to content. The language choices we make can affect a reader's impression of our organization and affect their emotional, as well as intellectual, ability to "hear" the information we're trying to convey.
The words we choose may change over time, as our understanding and appreciation of the impact of our language changes. As my administrative policy office approaches writing and editing new policies and/or updating existing policies, we try to use "new eyes" to view and plan for changes to the words we include, as well as the content we're asked to communicate.
While the wording in an existing or new policy may have been through a number of iterations and appear to still be applicable or agreed upon, it can be useful for policy administrators to review the language for possible updates. Here are some choices to consider:
Inclusive language -- Use inclusive language, replacing oppressive terms with terms that support persons and reduce bias. Inclusive word choices reflect awareness of and respect for the differences inherent in all individuals. Approaching language from a perspective of kindness and respect makes it easier for our audiences to feel safe and more open to accepting the content. It's important to remember that understanding is a function of the heart, as well as the mind.
Plain talk – Plain talk allows readers to find what they need, understand what they find, and be able to use what they find to meet their needs. Even if not mandated for your institution, as it is for federal agencies and Washington state agencies, following plain talk guidelines can greatly increase the usability of your policies and procedures.
Jargon -- Avoid jargon (special words or expressions used by a particular profession or group that are difficult for others to understand), when possible. Define the words when jargon terms must be used. When writing for institution-wide audiences, it's advisable to write your policies and procedures to be read and understood by non-subject matter experts.
Positive vs. negative -- Make positive statements, rather than negative statements, whenever possible. Positive phrasing is easier to understand than negative. And a positive tone affects how readers react to the writing, even just subconsciously.
Useful References
Here are some related references you may find useful:
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Deborah Bartlett
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Posted By Megan Jones, Metropolitan State University of Denver,
Friday, February 19, 2021
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Considerations for remote and flexible work policiesMany organizations are pivoting to an online or hybrid work environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To adapt, some organizations are developing policies on remote work and flexible schedules. When developing policies related to remote work, consider impacts on: - Access to vaccine for those unable to work remotely
- Accessibility of faculty and staff to students
- Connectivity and IT support
- Employee wellness and staying emotionally connected virtually
- Equipment purchasing and lending for remote work
- Equity of individuals allowed to work remotely (front desk staff, senior leadership, etc.)
- Facility and space usage and planning
- Information and records security and privacy
- Performance, conduct and time management
- Workers compensation coverage
- Working out-of-state or out-of-country (tax implications and privacy laws)
Resources The following articles, while not specifically about higher education, provide useful policy guidelines for our organizations: For Future Thought - How has your organization responded to the need for policies on remote work and flexible schedules?
- What should other organizations consider when developing remote work policies and procedures?
- How has your experience been working remotely or on-campus during the pandemic?
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COVID19
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taxes
time management
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