The Syracuse University Policy Creation, Revision and Retirement Policy and Process defines an academic policy in this way:
An academic policy is a policy that is created by the Office of Academic Affairs and that governs areas including student academic status and progress, student and faculty leaves, academic grounds for student dismissals, transcripts, advising, teaching, classroom assignments, enrollment, faculty (re)appointments, promotions, roles, and responsibilities, dean and department chair/school director selection and review and policies governing the conduct of research. These policies are found in the Academic Rules section of the Undergraduate and Graduate Course Catalogs and on the website(s) of the Office of Academic Affairs. Although academic policies may set standards for schools and colleges on educational or academic matters related to students or faculty, nothing in this definition or in these procedures is meant to interfere with the rights and duties conferred on individual schools or colleges and the University Senate by the Syracuse University Bylaws.
School/college academic policies fall under this definition and thus must be reviewed and approved by the vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer.
This document lays out the procedures and guiding principles for creating, revising and/or retiring school/college academic policies.
Guiding Principles
- School/college academic policies should be explicitly driven by the University mission, core values and/or strategic initiatives. This connection should be clear in the policy document.
- School/college academic policies must align with University policies and bylaws and should reference, but not repeat or duplicate, relevant University policies and bylaws.
- The process of creating, revising, or retiring school/college academic policies should include opportunities for impactful feedback from faculty. If staff or students are impacted by a proposed academic policy or proposed change to an academic policy, they should also be given the opportunity for impactful feedback.
- For academic policies with substantive reach or impact, a period of public comment (typically two weeks to a month) in the school/college is appropriate.
- Members of the school/college community (faculty, staff and students) should be made aware of efforts to create, revise or retire school/college academic policies. This awareness can take the form of periodic updates in newsletters, emails or meetings or a website listing policies in progress, under review and approved.
- School/college academic policies should be easy to access for those impacted by them. Faculty, staff, and students should be reminded each year of how to access these policies.
- Except in the case of interim academic policies, feedback on proposed school/college academic policies should take place during the academic year, although policy drafting and revising may happen in the summer.
School/college academic policy creation, revision or retirement
Each school/college will submit an inventory of current academic policies, along with proposed revisions or additions to this list, to the vice provost by Oct. 1 of each academic year.
All school/college academic policies must align with University policies and bylaws. All school/college academic policies must also include the following elements:
- Policy rationale that identifies the “why” behind the policy, along with the policy’s goals.
- Policy scope that identifies the groups or stakeholders impacted by the policy.
- Guiding principles that lay out the core values, mission or strategic initiatives that shape the policy.
- Description of the policy that is detailed enough that those tasked with enforcing the policy and those subject to it fully understand how to comply with the policy.
- A description of how and with what frequency the policy will be reviewed, as well as who within a given school/college is responsible for enforcing the policy.
- Date of initial policy approval and/or date of policy revision.
When a school/college begins work on creating, revising or retiring an academic policy, the dean or their designate, who may be chosen in line with school/college bylaws that identify groups responsible for policy activities, should alert the vice provost. School/college academic policies should be drafted by the dean or their designate. Faculty, staff and students, however, can request to their deans that a new policy be created or that an existing policy be revised or retired.
Once fully drafted, a school/college academic policy should be shared with relevant stakeholders for feedback. For feedback from department chairs/school directors (where relevant), faculty councils or executive committees, and/or program directors, at least a two-week review period is appropriate. For feedback from the full faculty, full staff and/or full population of students in a school/college, a comment period of one month is appropriate. Schools/colleges can also repurpose standing meetings of the relevant stakeholders for discussing draft policies.
Once a school/college has finalized a new or revised academic policy and addressed stakeholder feedback collected along the way, the academic policy, along with a list of stakeholder groups that provided feedback, is sent to the vice provost for additional review and then to the provost for review and final approval. No school/college academic policy is official until the provost has reviewed and approved it. School/college academic policies approved by the provost go into effect at the start of the next semester, unless there are extraordinary circumstances that, in the provost’s view, merit immediate adoption of a new or revised policy.
When a school/college academic policy is submitted to the vice provost, the dean or academic associate dean overseeing the policy creation/revision process should begin work on an implementation plan and timeline for the policy. This document should be submitted to the vice provost within two weeks of submitting the final policy draft. Schools/colleges are also expected to formally communicate with the relevant stakeholders when a new policy is created or an existing policy is revised or retired.
In situations in which there is a pressing legal or operational need for a school/college academic policy, the dean, with approval from the provost, may create an interim policy. That policy may be enforced immediately, with clear communication to the faculty, staff and students about it, and work on a permanent academic policy must begin immediately. Interim policies may be in place for two semesters.