General Policies (GEN)

Policy Development, Approval and Formatting Policy

Policy Purpose

CSN policies are the plan of action or ways of administration by which CSN’s mission, vision, and values become accomplishment. Everyone in the CSN community may propose new policies or amendments to existing policies. The CSN Bylaws provide that the Faculty Senate is the primary recommending body for college policies especially for matters concerning academics and pedagogy. Administrative Faculty, for example, may propose policies related to their respective areas of responsibility. It is important to provide for the comprehensive review and debate of proposed policies, as well as uniform standards for the development and publishing of policies. The purpose of this Policy is to provide the requirements and procedures for policy creation and/or revision, construction and formatting, and approval.

Policy Statement

  1. CSN policies must:
    1. Be developed and approved in the format provided in this Policy;
    2. Indicate the purpose of the policy for CSN;
    3. Be maintained on the CSN Policies & Procedures Webpage, which is the only official repository for CSN Policies;
    4. Be regularly reviewed to be kept current, to clarify responsibilities, and to respond to changing circumstances at CSN; and
    5. Be capable of efficient implementation.
  2. CSN policies will be related to:
    1. Activities associated with implementing the overall teaching mission of the College and services to constituents;
    2. Business transactions and contractual obligations; and/or
    3. Compliance, requirements and directives of the Board of Regents, Nevada Revised Statues, and mandates established by other regulatory bodies, as applicable.
  3. A CSN policy must meet all of the following criteria:
    1. College-wide application;
    2. Under the authority of the President;
    3. Mandates actions or constraints for compliance;
    4. Requires approval by the President, after review and recommendation by the Faculty Senate, Vice Presidents, and General Counsel, except in special circumstances when the President can implement a new policy and seek review after it is implemented, or suspend or rescind an existing policy. The President will notify Faculty Senate of the action taken and the special circumstances. Faculty Senate can begin its review of the implemented or suspended policy immediately.
  4. Policies that do not meet the established criteria may be developed at the school or department level to be maintained and disseminated within the appropriate areas, and will be referred to as protocols. Such protocols do not supersede CSN policies.
  5. Whenever new policies are adopted or revisions are made to existing policies, the CSN community will be notified by College-wide communications mediums.
  6. All CSN policies will be posted on the CSN Policies & Procedures Webpage (P&P Webpage).
    1. The Office of General Counsel will maintain the P&P Webpage and ensure that the most current versions are listed.
    2. The original paper version with original signatures are retained permanently as official records with the Office of General Counsel, and are available for inspection.
    3. The Faculty Senate Chair and/or President will ensure periodic review of all CSN policies, as necessary.
    4. The P&P Webpage will be organized alphabetically in accordance with specific subject areas, tables of contents and indexes of the specific policies by approved functional areas. The functional areas are:
      1. GEN: General
      2. FAC: Faculty
      3. STU: Student
      4. FIN: Finance & Facilities
      5. ADM: Human Resources
    5. After the last Faculty Senate meeting of each academic year, the following items shall be printed and bound in a single volume:
      1. all draft policies submitted to Faculty Senate during the preceding academic year, whether currently Information items, Action items, draft policies sent back to a committee for revision, or Faculty Senate approved policies that have not yet been signed by the President and will be labeled according to their respective status;
      2. all official statements made to Faculty Senate or by individual Faculty Senate committees or by Faculty Senate as a whole during the preceding academic year;
      3. all guest presentations and associated handouts made to Faculty Senate during the preceding academic year; and

      4. all Faculty Senate Agendas and Minutes from the preceding academic year.

        The Senate representative from the Library will make four copies of this volume. One copy shall be deposited at each of the three campus libraries, and one copy shall be kept in the Faculty Senate office.

Procedure

  1. Procedure for Policy Development and/or Revision:
    1. If a request is made for the Faculty Senate to develop a new policy or amend an existing policy, the request should be submitted in writing to the Faculty Senate Chair (FSC) with an explanation of the reason for the request, a brief history of relevant circumstances to explain the need for or the objective of the request, and any other information that would help illustrate the need for and the desired content of the proposed policy or revision.
    2. The FSC, in consultation with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC), shall evaluate the request and either assign it to a Faculty Senate committee for drafting, or explain to the requestor why the Faculty Senate will not take action on the request, and work to resolve any concerns.
    3. If the FSEC deems action is warranted on the policy request, the FSC and the Chair of the charged committee will agree upon a development timeline, and the charged committee will investigate the issues to be covered in the proposed policy/revision, solicit input particularly from any area that would be impacted, and prepare a draft. The committee should advise the Office of General Counsel of its draft to receive input early concerning any legal parameters.
    4. In accordance with the agreed upon timeline, the Chair of the charged committee will submit the policy draft to the FSEC for review.
    5. If the FSEC finds the draft unacceptable, the policy will be returned, with the objections noted, to the committee for redevelopment. At that time, the FSC and committee Chair will agree upon a new timeline.
    6. If the FSEC finds the draft to be acceptable, the FSC shall post the draft online and send the corresponding link to the College, at large, and direct the members of the Faculty Senate to solicit feedback from their constituents.
      1. Any feedback may be submitted directly to a representative member of the FS, the members of the charged committee, the Chair of the charged committee, and/or the FSC.
      2. Any college employee wishing anonymity should submit his/her feedback directly to the FSC. After removing any identity markers, the FSC will then forward the anonymous feedback to the Chair of the charged committee.
      3. In order to receive full consideration, all feedback must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the distribution of the draft.
    7. In accordance with the agreed upon timeline, the charged committee shall take the provided feedback into consideration, prepare the final draft of the policy, and the Chair of the charged committee will submit the final draft to the FSEC.

    8. If a proposed policy or an amendment to an existing policy is developed outside of Faculty Senate, the proposal shall also be submitted to the Faculty Senate for review and concurrence prior to its signatory stage, except under special circumstances addressed in Section II.C.4.

      If Faculty Senate concurs, the FSC shall sign as also recommending. Alternatively, the FSC shall provide the Faculty Senate’s input to the author(s) to request revisions and/or additional information for clarification purposes, and work to resolve any concerns.

  2. Standards for Policy Construction and Formatting
    1. Policies must be written in 10-pt Arial font with 3/4-inch margins.
    2. If a section is not applicable to a particular policy, it must be annotated N/A.
    3. Policy Sections must be indicated with capital Roman numerals.
    4. Subsections must be indicated with capital letters.
    5. Lists contained within subsections must be indicated with numbers.
    6. Sub lists contained within lists must be indicated with lower case letters.
    7. Pages numbers must be included in the lower right corner of the document footer, and be indicated as “Page #.”
    8. Document headers must be displayed on every page after the first page, and contain the title of the policy on the left and the effective/revised date on the right.

    9. The prescribed format of a CSN policy contains the following sections:

      Title Section: The first page heading must include the title, category, version, effective date, and a summary of the most recent changes.

      I. Policy Purpose

      This section briefly states the purpose of the policy.

      II. Policy Statement

      This section states the policy.

      III. Procedure

      This section describes how the policy should be implemented, as appropriate.

      IV. Authority and Cross Reference Links

      This section provides links to the current State laws, the NSHE Board of Regents Handbook, or CSN By-Laws that are applicable. Do not copy the content into the policy; just provide the appropriate links.

      V. Disclaimer

      The following DISCLAIMER must be included in all policies:

      The President has the discretion to suspend or rescind all or any part of this policy or related procedure(s). The President shall notify and provide written notification of the action to appropriate CSN personnel, including the Faculty Senate Chair of the suspension or rescission.

      Questions about this policy should be referred to the Faculty Senate, the Office of General Counsel (general.counsel@csn.edu, 702.651.7488), and/or the Recommending Authority.

      VI. Signatures

      Signature lines for the Faculty Senate Chair, the Recommending Authority as appropriate, the General Counsel and the President and the corresponding dates must be included.

      VII. Attachments

      Provide a list of the attachments to the policy, and then start each item on a new page. These addendums may include glossary, appendices, forms and/or templates, as applicable.

    10. Due dates should be stated as specific calendar dates.
      1. If a stated due date falls on a non-workday for the College, the due date shall be the next College workday.
    11. Deadlines will be before 5:00 PM on the stated due dates.
  3. Procedure for Policy Approval
    1. Once the final draft of the policy has been approved by the FSEC, the FSC will schedule the policy as an Information item at the next Faculty Senate meeting, and as an Action item at the subsequent meeting.
      1. As per Robert’s Rules of Order, the Faculty Senate may elect to move the Information item to an Action item and vote on it at the same meeting.
      2. With the exception of grammatical corrections and friendly amendments, significant policy alterations should not occur to the policy during the period between the Information and Action items. The time between the Information and Action items should be used to consider the passage of the policy.
    2. If the Faculty Senate votes to reject the policy, the FSEC may elect to have the charged committee reexamine the policy or choose to take no further action, and the FSC will notify the Faculty Senate of the decision at the next Faculty Senate meeting.

    3. If the Faculty Senate votes to recommend the approval of the policy, the FSC and the General Counsel will sign the policy as soon as practicable.

      If the Vice Presidents or General Counsel request further modification of the policy, the proposed alterations will be communicated in writing. If the FSEC deems that the desired modifications would result in a substantive change to the policy intent, the changes will be considered by the FSEC and, if necessary, the originally charged committee.

    4. Once the FSC and General Counsel have signed the policy, the FSC will transmit the policy to the President for signature. As provided in the CSN Bylaws, the President shall respond to the policy proposal within 20 working days.
    5. Should the President reject the policy, he/she will provide written justification of the rejection to the FSC.
    6. Should the President accept and sign the policy, he/she will notify the FSC of the signature and send the policy on to the Office of General Counsel for posting on the P&P Webpage.
    7. The FSC will inform the FSEC of the approval of the policy and will make a corresponding announcement at the subsequent Faculty Senate meeting and assist the Communications Department to develop a message communicating the general substance of the new policy. Individual Senators shall be responsible for informing their constituents of actions conveyed to the Faculty Senate. If deemed to have a major impact on the College faculty, the FSC may also announce the Presidential actions to the faculty via email.

Authority and Cross Reference Links

Most Recent Changes

  1. The policy has been rearranged and amended to reflect the creation/revision and approval process. None of the original formatting requirements were changed.
  2. TITLE: Changed name to “Policy Development, Approval and Formatting”.
  3. Section I. PURPOSE: Section I “PURPOSE” was expanded.
  4. Section II.A: Clarity was added to ensure nothing in this policy supersedes Presidential actions.
  5. “CSN Policies & Procedures Webpage” is noted as the official policy repository.
  6. Section III. “PROCEDURE” was divided into sub-section A: Procedure for Policy Development and/or Revision, B: Standards for Policy Construction and Formatting, and C: Procedure for Policy Approval.
  7. Section IV. “AUTHORITY AND CROSS REFERENCE LINKS”:
    1. The link to CSN Bylaws has been updated.
    2. A link to the existing Policy & Procedures Webpage has been provided.
    3. The link to the Policy Template was updated and moved to this section from ATTACHMENT

Disclaimer

The president has the discretion to suspend or rescind all or any part of this policy or related procedure(s). The president shall notify the appropriate CSN personnel, including the Executive Sponsor and shared governance leaders, of the suspension or rescission.

Questions about this policy should be referred to the Executive Sponsor.

Attachments

History

  • Version 3:
    • 08/21/2017: Approved by President Richards
    • 08/18/2017: Reviewed by General Counsel
    • 08/18/2017: Recommended by Faculty Senate (A. Pandey)
    • 1/30/2017: Revision Submitted by Bylaws and Rules Committee (J. Matovina)
      • The policy has been rearranged and amended to reflect the creation/revision and approval process. None of the original formatting requirements were changed.
      • TITLE: Changed name from “CSN Policy Requirements and Format Policy” to “Policy Development, Approval and Formatting”.
      • Section I “PURPOSE” was expanded.
      • Section ii. A: Clarity was added to ensure nothing in this policy supersedes Presidential actions.
      • “CSN Policies & Procedures Webpage” is noted as the official policy repository.
      • Section III. “PROCEDURE” was divided into sub-section A: Procedure for Policy Development and/or Revision, B: Standards for Policy Construction and Formatting, and C: Procedure for Policy Approval.
      • IV. AUTHORITY AND CROSS REFERNCE LINKS:
        • The link to CSN Bylaws was updated.
        • A link to the existing Policy & Procedures Webpage has been provided.
        • The link to the Policy Template was updated and moved to this section from ATTACHMENT C.
  • Version 2:
    • 12/14/2010: Approved by CSN President Mike Richards
    • 12/07/2010: Reviewed by General Counsel
    • 11/06/2010: Recommended by Senate Executive Committee (B. Kerney)
    • 11/05/2010: Revision Submitted by Policy Review Committee (F. Jackson)
      • Simplified and Clarified Language & Format
      • Reorganized Policy According to this Format
      • Changed References from “Policy Manual” to “Online Policy Catalog”
  • Version 1:
    • 07/21/2005: Revised
    • 06/14/2005: Approved by CSN President Richard Carpenter

Glossary

Authority and Cross-References: The references and authorities are the sources upon which the policy and procedure in this section are based, such as USCA, NRS, NAC and Board of Regents Handbook sections, CSN bylaws and CSN manuals or directives. Related policies may also be cited.

Policy: A policy is a governing principle, plan, course of action, or understanding that guides or channels thinking and action. It answers the questions "What will be done?" under certain circumstances and "Why?" to guide appropriate personnel in making decisions. It may also specify delegations of responsibility and authority for particular decisions. It is the formal guidance needed to coordinate and execute activity throughout the organization. Policy provides the operational framework within which the organization functions. A policy should be clearly distinguished from the procedure that implements the policy.

Procedure: A procedure is the "how" of a decision presented in the policy statement. It is a step-by-step outline of action that spells out, in sequence, who does what and when within a logical cycle. A procedure should be clearly distinguished from a policy.

Protocol: A protocol is a governing principle, plan, course of action, or understanding that guides or channels thinking and action within a department or other area.

Purpose Statement: The purpose should clearly summarize the goal the policy seeks to achieve. The purpose statement should answer two questions for the reader: "What information will I find here? Why was this policy issued?"