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GOV-001: Development and Approval of University Policies

Date: 11/13/2001 Status: Final
Last Revised: 11/10/2020
Policy Type: University
Oversight Executive: Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Applies To:

Academic Division and the College at Wise.

Reason for Policy:

To establish the rules of policy creation at the University of Virginia.

Definition of Terms in Statement:
  • Area–specific Administrative Policy:Policy established under the President's or the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer's authority that does not apply institution-wide, but significantly affects activities under the authority of only one vice president, equivalent University officer, or the chair of the Faculty Senate. Exception: When a policy significantly affects only activities under the joint authority of the Vice President/Dean of the School of Medicine and the Chief Executive Officer & Vice President of the Medical Center, it will be classified as an area-specific policy.
  • Board Policy:Policy established by the Rector and Visitors of the University as provided in the Code of Virginia (Va. Code Ann. Sections 23-9.2:3) and Section 2.4 of the Manual of the Board of Visitors.
  • General Academic Management Policy:Policy established under the President's authority that significantly affects activities under the authority of two or more schools.
  • General Administrative Policy:Policy established under the President’s or the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer’s authority that significantly affects activities under the authority of two or more vice presidents or equivalent University officers, except for Area-specific Administrative Policy.
  • Policy:A system of principles that guide the management of the University's affairs. University leaders set policy by selecting courses of action from alternatives in a context of well-understood goals and of appropriate strategies that will be effective in pursuing those goals. They record their selections in policy statements that communicate to the University community how its members can comply with policy.
  • Presidential Policy:Policy established under the authority of the President as defined in the Section 4.2 of the Manual of the Board of Visitors. It excludes academic policy related to the conferring of degrees but includes academic management policy.
  • School–specific Academic Management Policy:Policy established under the President’s authority, typically delegated through the Executive Vice President and Provost to the dean of the individual school that involves the activities of only one school. The dean obtains approval for such policy from the Executive Vice President and Provost.
  • University Administrative Policy:Policy established under the authority of the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. Administrative policy covers non-academic support issues. It includes both general administrative policy and area-specific administrative policy.
Policy Statement:

The University will develop, approve, revise, and retire policies (according to type) in the following manner:

  1. Types of Policies:
    1. Board policy will be developed, revised, approved and retired by the Rector and Visitors in accord with the Code of Virginia (Va. Code Ann. sections 23-9.2:3) and with the Manual of the Board of Visitors (opens PDF file).

    2. Academic policy related to the conferring of degrees will be developed, revised, approved, and retired by the faculty, in accord with the authority granted to it by the Board of Visitors. This body of policy is exempt from the provisions of this Policy. Academic management policy is subsumed in Presidential policy described below.

    3. Presidential policy will be developed, revised, approved, and retired at the discretion of the President in accord with the authority granted to them by the Board of Visitors. The President retains authority for approval of general academic management policy that affects more than one school, but may at their discretion, delegate specific policy-approval authority to the Executive Vice President & Provost, the Chancellor of the College at Wise, the General Faculty body, or other University persons or organizations.

    4. University administrative policy will be developed, revised, approved, and retired under the direction of the President by the University officer designated by the Board of Visitors as its Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. University administrative policy includes both general administrative policy and area-specific policy.

  2. Delegation:
    Delegation of responsibility for the development, approval, revision, and retirement will be handled as follows:
    1. Area-Specific Administrative Policy: The President and the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer routinely delegate responsibility for development, approval, revision, and retirement of area-specific administrative policy to individual vice presidents, the Chancellor of the College at Wise, or the equivalent University officers or deans for the management of their own areas. These policies may be more restrictive than general policy but may not be less restrictive.

    2. School-Specific Academic Management Policy: The President routinely delegates responsibility for development, approval, revision, and retirement of school-specific academic management policy through the Executive Vice President & Provost or the Chancellor at the College at Wise to the dean of the individual school or Provost of the College at Wise, respectively. The Provost of the College at Wise obtains approval from the Chancellor for such policy. The dean obtains approval for such policy from the Executive Vice President and Provost.

    3. Policy Review Committee: The Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer designates the chair and membership of a Policy Review Committee and assigns to the chair the responsibility to determine the category (i.e., general, area-specific, administrative, academic management) and the appropriate review process for each proposed policy.

  3. Policy Revision:
    Board policy and academic policy related to the conferring of degrees will be reviewed and revised as necessary as determined by the Board of Visitors and faculty, respectively.

    Presidential and University administrative policy will be reviewed on a 3-year basis unless a review period is specified within the policy.

  4. Compliance with Policy:
    All University policies must meet the requirements outlined above prior to implementation.

    Questions about this policy should be directed to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Major Category:
Governance
Next Scheduled Review:
02/22/2021
Approved By, Date:
President, 11/13/2001
Revision History:

Added Compliance section 12/16/21; Added Section 3 11/10/20; Updated 2/22/18; Updated 10/27/1/6 (code reference), 2/25/13.