Policy 1000 provides complete details on policy management at JMU.

How Policies are Managed
The University Policy Committee (UPC) is a team that is responsible for assisting the president and vice presidents with the oversight and management of those policies that have wide university impact.The UPC has primarily two responsibilities: keeping existing policies up to date and suggesting new policies.

The need for a new or revised policy, or for the elimination of an existing policy, is typically identified by a vice president, academic unit or department head, dean or representative of the UPC. Any employee of the university community may recommend a new or revised policy, or the elimination of a policy, by contacting his/her director or head. An employee or student may also contact the appropriate stakeholder representative (see #5 under "Steps for Recommending New Policies) with suggestions.  

1.    Revised policies shall be designated by the UPC members as receiving substantial revisions, minor revisions or superficial changes.

2.    Revised policies with substantial revisions: When policy changes are considered by the committee to be substantial, meaning they include one or more distinct modifications that represent a major change to the policy itself or the associated procedures, the policy approval process steps shall be identical to those of a new policy as noted in #1 below in the “Steps for Recommending New Policies” section.

3.    Revised policies with minor revisions: When policy changes are considered by the committee to be minor, the policy review process shall be managed by the appropriate divisional representative on the UPC who will request a review by the responsible office, or officer, and the UPC. If, after their review, the policy is still deemed as having minor revisions, the policy shall be published to the Manual of Policies and Procedures webpage and a notice sent to the campus community and the stakeholder groups via the University Policy Listserv. All modified policies shall include cover sheets that briefly describe the modifications made to the policy. These cover sheets will be included as attachments to the email sent to the University Policy Listserv members. If there is a question whether a policy has experienced minor or substantial changes, the UPC will deem the changes substantial to allow for greater scrutiny of the policy by the campus community.

4.    Revised policies with superficial changes:  When policy changes are considered by the committee to be superficial changes, the policy review process shall be managed by the appropriate divisional representative on the UPC who will request a review by the responsible office, or officer, and the UPC. If, after their review, the policy is still deemed as having superficial changes, the policy shall be published directly to the Manual of Policies and Procedures webpage. No notice is sent to the campus community or the stakeholder groups via the University Policy Listserv.

1.    To recommend a new policy, submitters must complete the New Policy Proposal Form, located on the Manual of Policies and procedures website. The form should be submitted through the appropriate divisional representative of the UPC or to the Chair of the UPC. The UPC will review the form and the required draft policy and will prepare the document to be approved through the following steps.

2.    The chair of the UPC sends a copy of the resulting draft, along with the completed New Policy Proposal form, to each UPC member for review and approval to move forward with the full vetting process that includes VPs (see below beginning with step 3). The chair will work with the responsible officer and responsible executive to make changes to the new policies based on UPC member feedback. Once updated, the UPC will review the new policy one last time before moving to the next step.

3.    The chair of the UPC sends a copy of the resulting draft to each vice president for review and approval before posting it for public review. Based on the feedback received from the vice presidents, the chair will make changes to new policies in conference with the appropriate UPC member and the entire UPC.

4.    The chair of the UPC posts a copy of the resulting draft to the Manual of Policies and Procedures Public Review webpage for ten business days so that it may be reviewed by the campus community. The draft may be viewable only through use of a university username and password. The chair of the UPC notifies the university community of the presence of the draft policy via the University Policy Listserv. Campus community members may opt in to the listserv by clicking the link on the Manual of Policies and Procedures webpage. Listserv members will receive a notice of the posting and it will be shared with stakeholder representatives (the Employee Advisory Committee co-chairs, the speaker of the Faculty Senate, and the president of the Student Government Association, or their respective designees) who are members of the listserv.

5.    The draft policy remains posted for a minimum of ten business days, during which time the UPC accepts comments from the university community. During this posting period, Employee Advisory Committee (EAC) co-chairs, the Faculty Senate speaker and SGA president (or their respective designees) have the opportunity to notify the UPC committee chair of any request to attend the next UPC meeting to provide comments on behalf of these organizations. During breaks between semesters or other extended periods of time when stakeholder representatives are not available to provide comments, stakeholder representatives will be asked to present any comments they may have to the UPC within the first ten business days of the following semester, but the publication of the policy will not be postponed.

6.    If the EAC co-chairs, the senate speaker, and/or the SGA president (or their respective designees) make a request to attend the next UPC meeting, the committee will hear from the stakeholder representative(s) at the beginning of the next regularly scheduled meeting.

7.    The comments received by the UPC from the university community and from any of the three stakeholder groups are advisory in nature and obligate neither the UPC nor the responsible officer to make changes in its recommendations concerning the policy under consideration or elimination. After considering comments, the responsible officer in collaboration with the UPC may amend the draft of the policy.

8.    The chair of the UPC sends a copy of the resulting draft to each vice president for final review and approval. The chair will make changes to the policy in cooperation with the responsible officer and their divisional representative on the UPC based on the feedback of the vice presidents.

9.    Once the draft is adjusted to consider relevant suggestions from the vice presidents, the chair of the UPC forwards the resulting draft to the president’s office for final review and approval.

10. The chair of the UPC maintains documentation that contains pertinent supporting materials applicable to the development of each new policy and procedure.

11. Once the president has approved a final draft, the chair of the UPC ensures that the new policy is published to the web-based Manual of Policies and Procedures.

12. A notice is sent to the University Policy Listserv of any new policies (any employee may gain access to the listserv by visiting the landing page of the Manual of Policies and Procedures and clicking on the “subscribe to the Policy ListServ”).