Approval of Academic Policies

The Provost’s Council is an all-College advisory body responsible for the development and review of academic policies and procedures at Ramapo College. The Provost’s Council follows the following procedures in its review and recommendation of academic policies and procedures.

Activating Polices/Procedures into Review

There are two mechanisms by which a policy/procedure is introduced for discussion by the Council:

1. Any member of Provost’s Council may bring a proposed or revised academic policy and/or procedure to the Council for consideration. The Chair makes the final determination of the meeting agenda.
2. The Chair or their designee may schedule regular reviews of policies/procedures as part of academic policy management. The Chair may assign policies/procedures to specific Council members for review.

When a policy/procedure is on the agenda for discussion, the Provost’s Council will discuss the policy/procedure, may make initial suggestions for consideration, and will take one of three actions:

1. The Chair may activate the policy/procedure into review. If Provost’s Council makes initial suggestions for consideration, only the unedited policy/procedure, as originally introduced, will enter the review and approval cycle unless the Council decides to make immediate corrections to substantional factual errors to avoid inaccurate information from circulating on campus.
2. The Chair may decide to delay the review of the policy/procedure temporarily.
3. The Council may recommend, by majority vote, to withdraw the policy/procedure from further consideration.

In all circumstances, the minutes shall reflect the decisions of the Chair and Council. Policies/procedures that are activated into review enter the review process, below.

The Review Process

Once a policy/procedure has been activated by the Chair, a designated subcommittee is responsible for returning to the Council in a timely manner with proposed revisions. The original and the revision should be clearly distinguished on the document shared with the Council.

1. The Provost’s Council Recorder/designee will share the proposed revisions with the Council in advance of the meeting during which it is scheduled for discussion.
2. The designated subcommittee will introduce the policy/procedure and lead a discussion on the proposed revisions. The designated subcommittee is responsible for gathering the Council’s feedback and incorporating it.
3. Once the feedback is incorporated, the designated subcommittee will share the revised version with the Recorder/designee, who will post the policy/procedure on the Provost’s website and indicate it is under review. The Recorder/designee will also notify the campus community of policies and/or procedures that are under review. This period is known as the “public comment period.”
4. The public comment period will typically last 30 days (i.e., from the meeting at which the policy is first introduced to the next scheduled meeting), unless the Provost deems a shorter review cycle necessary. During the public comment period, all Council members are responsible for reviewing the policy/procedure with their respective constituent groups and for soliciting and collecting their feedback. Feedback collected is to be shared with the designated subcommittee.
5. At the next scheduled meeting, the Chair will ask Council members to report feedback from their respective constituent groups. The designated subcommittee will manage that feedback, incorporating and reconciling the suggestions.
6. The Council will take action:
   1. The Council may decide, by motion, to vote to either recommend the Provost approve the policy/procedure as proposed or revised; or recommend the Provost not approve the policy/procedure as proposed or revised.
   2. The Council may decide, by motion, to delay the vote to provide constituent groups additional time to review the policy/procedure and/or to provide constituent groups the opportunity to review substantial revisions to the policy/procedure made at that meeting.

Conclusion of the Review Process

The Chair will present proposed or revised policies/procedures that are recommended to the Provost for approval. The following actions will be then taken:

1. The Provost will approve or not approve the proposed or revised policies/procedures.
2. The Provost will present the approved policies/procedures to the Mission Element Team as information items.
3. The Provost will inform the Council of the approved policies/procedures at its next meeting. The Provost will also inform the Council of any policies/procedures that they did not approve, and provide a justification as to why. The representatives of Provost’s Council are responsible for communicating this information to their respective constituent groups.
4. The Provost will inform the Board of Trustees in their regular report to the Mission Fulfillment Committee.
5. The Provost will inform the Recorder/designee of the Mission Element Team’s notification. The Recorder/designee will post the approved policies/procedures to the Provost’s website, and will notify the campus community (e.g., faculty, staff, and students) of recent postings. The Recorder/designee will inform the Office of the Registrar of the approved policies/procedures, and their effective dates, for inclusion in the College catalog.