Introduction to the SFASU Policy Manual
(Effective 11/9/06)
A. POLICY FORMAT TERMINOLOGY
Captions used within each policy are defined below:
Title. Titles are concise but descriptive and contain key words which appear in the Subject Index.
Index. Each policy is indexed with an alphabetic-numeric indicator. The letter indicates the division and the number indicates the position of the entry within the division. The division names and alphabetic letters are:
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Academic Affairs
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Facilities Management
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Financial Affairs
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General Regulations
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Personnel Services
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University Services
Original Implementation: All new policies must be approved by the board of regents. The caption specifies the date of original approval of the policy by the board of regents. If the date of original implementation could not be determined accurately, Unpublished is substituted.
Last Revision: All revisions to policies must be approved by the board of regents. This caption indicates the latest date that the policy was approved by the board of regents; the text of the policy is the latest revision, as of this date.
Cross Reference: Other policies or statutory references that may have direct impact upon this policy are listed.
Responsible for Implementation: This caption indicates the position title of the senior university administrator who has been delegated by the board of regents and/or the president with the responsibility of administering this policy. This caption should state either the president or the vice president(s) to whom the president has delegated this responsibility. If the policy is a university-wide policy, the responsible office listed is president; if the policy affects or is administered by a division of the university, the vice president of the division is listed.
Contact for Revision. This caption lists the position title of the university employee who directly administers the policy on a day-to-day basis and/or has been assigned the responsibility for revision of the policy. In some cases, there are multiple employees listed as responsible for revision and each must collaborate in the revision to coordinate changes that will impact more than one university division.
Forms. Forms necessary to implement the policy are listed by title, followed by a parenthetical reference which indicates where the form may be obtained.
B. PROCESS FOR PROPOSAL OR REVISION OF POLICIES
Policies may be revised at any time it becomes necessary or advisable. At a minimum, current policies are to be reviewed routinely every three years, with the exception of critical policies that require annual review. These critical policies are:
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Investments (C-41)
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Parking and Traffic Regulations (D-24)
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Student Conduct Code (D-34.1)
The employee listed as contact for revision in each policy is responsible for initiating the review process and submitting the suggested policy changes through administrative channels to the president or to the vice president of the appropriate university division. In the academic affairs division, policy revisions are submitted to the provost/vice president through a policy review committee.
New policies may originate from individual students, faculty or staff members, administrators, or from ad hoc or standing committees, groups, or boards; new policies are submitted through the same process described above for policy revisions.
New or revised policies are submitted for approval to the office of the board of regents by the president or the vice presidents of the four university divisions. The deadline for submission is approximately one month before each quarterly board meeting. As they are received for approval, draft policies are formatted for consistency and posted on the internet at www.sfasu.edu/regents for campus-wide review and input. Additionally, copies are sent to the president, each of the vice presidents, and all policies are reviewed by the general counsel. Proposed policies or revisions are submitted to the board members in the agenda book approximately two weeks before each regular board meeting.
Immediately following approval by the board of regents, policies are available on the internet at www.sfasu.edu/policies. A campus wide email will be sent to highlight policy changes after each board meeting. Each university division will brief its staff concerning changes to relevant policies during staff meetings that follow each board meeting.