Policy Development and Administration

This policy describes the essential elements of all university-wide policies; defines the manner in which university policies are developed, maintained and published; and establishes a schedule for the regular review of university policies.

The Policy Development and Administration policy applies to all students, faculty, administrative staff, as well as vendors, sub-contractors, and additional educational locations.

Policies shall be posted to a dedicated, official web page located within the university’s home page.

Operating units, departments and colleges may develop internal policies and operating procedures for their use and may post the internal policies and procedures on their specific web pages.

Reason for Policy

The policy is to codify all university policies and assure universal access through the creation of a centralized website for university policies and procedures.

The Office of the President acts as the official repository for all university policies and serves as the point-of-contact for university-wide policies, process questions, and initiation of policy actions.

Format and Publication of University policies

Before approval of any proposed university policy, the proposed university policy shall be assigned a responsible office/contact person.

In most instances, the responsible office shall be the university office most directly responsible for implementing and administering the policy.

The Office of the President shall maintain an original and the revision history of all university policies, publish, and maintain a searchable electronic directory of all university policies on the university’s web site.

Online university policies shall include the following information, as applicable:

• Policy Title
• Policy Number
• Policy Number History
• Effective Date
• Adopted Date
• Last Reviewed
• Amended Date
• Related Policies
• Policy Statement
• Reason for Policy
• Appeal Statement
• Definitions
• Other Relevant Information
• Contact Information
• Procedures (if applicable)

The Office of the President shall notify the university community via Listserve of all new policies, material, substantive revisions to existing policies that have been designated, as well as any repealed policies.

Public comment will be open for ten (10) business days.

Policies are effective when adopted by the President and officially posted on the policy webpage.

All division web pages must link to the official policy webpage instead of posting their own versions of the approved policy.

Printed versions of the policy may be included in supplemental materials but must include a disclaimer that the official policy webpage should be consulted for the latest version.

The university policy shall supersede the divisional practice or protocol.

The State System Board of Governor's Policies, Procedures and Standards shall supersede the university's policies and procedures.

Delegation of Policy Making Authority

The council of trustees or one of its committees acting under authority delegated by the council shall review and provide input on policies.

Pursuant to Act 188 of 1982, the enabling legislation of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, the President of the University is vested with the power and duty to develop and implement policies and procedures for the administration of the institution.

Interim policies may be created by the president where a policy must be established in a time period too short to permit the completion of the process delineated in this policy.

An interim policy will remain in force for up to six (6) months from the date of issuance.

Operating units, departments and colleges may establish "internal" policies and operating procedures applicable to their units but in no case shall they conflict with or supersede applicable law or university polices established by the president.

Internal policies and operating procedures are approved by the senior officer and by the divisional vice president to whom the unit reports prior to its establishment.

Regular Review of university Policies

Each university policy shall have a regular schedule for review ("Scheduled Review") by the responsible office to assure that the policy remains useful and consistent with applicable federal and state laws and regulations, State System Board of Governors policies, and other university policies.

All university-wide policies shall be reviewed no later than five years from the date of enactment.

Current policies that are deemed no longer active or non-effective by the responsible office and president’s council will be suspended or repealed.

All related procedures shall be continually reviewed no later than two years from the date of enactment.

Archiving of Policies

Policy Administration will keep, to the extent reasonably practicable, an archive of the university policies with appropriate indexing, including all effective dates.

Appeal Statement

Not Specified in Current Policy

Definitions

Administrative Divisions: The primary administrative divisions of the University, including the President’s Office, Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Administration and Finance, Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, and Campus Life and Inclusive Excellence.

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC): Consists of staff and faculty nominated by the vice presidents to represent their division.

PAC develops and refines the processes for policy conversion, new policy development, and policy retirement; recommends administrative processes for effective processing and policy administration; and assures proper vetting of all policies with the university constituencies prior to implementation.

President’s Council (PC): President’s Council oversees the administrative policy framework to:

• ensure policy alignment, continuity, and accountability;
• applies an institutional perspective to the review and approval of administrative policies;
• approves new policies and substantive amendments to existing policies for promulgation to ensure policies meet the minimum criteria for adoption as administrative policies;
• assesses and determines the institution’s administrative policy needs;
• ensures policy development and management plans are appropriate for the administration of policies.

President: The President determines the role of PC in reviewing and approving substantive amendments, based on assessment of proposed change.

Procedures: Statements that provide for orderly implementation of established policies through specific prescribed actions and are more detailed than a policy statement.

Responsible Office/Policy Contact: The vice presidents shall assign a responsible office to all existing policies within their area of operations and to any newly generated policies to ensure proper archiving, availability and training as to those policies.

If there is no responsible office, the vice president for that area of operations will be deemed the responsible official.

The responsible office is typically the office, department or official at the university that is most directly responsible for implementing and administering a particular university policy and is the primary contact for questions concerning the implementation and administration of a particular university policy.

This is generally the responsible office or person who is the subject matter expert designated by the policy owner to be the first point of contact to answer policy questions and assist in policy interpretation.

The responsible office also assures that a particular university policy is consistent with that university policy’s scheduled review.

The policy contact may be the same person as the policy owner.

University-wide Policy: A policy adopted and approved consistent with the requirements of this policy that has broad applicability beyond the internal operating procedures of a single office, department, or division.

This definition encompasses only East Stroudsburg University policies, which is distinguished from procedures and from divisional practice or protocol.

The university policy shall supersede the divisional practice or protocol.

Other Relevant Information

ESU Policy Development and Administration Procedure

Policy numbering system changed in January, 2019. Divisions are no longer identified in policy numbers.