An institutional policy is defined as any policy that has broad application or impact throughout the College and meets most of the following criteria:

• involves a subject matter specific to one area that has direct financial or operational influence to the work of other offices across the College;
• has budgetary impact and requires review and approval by a member of the Senior Leadership Team;
• seeks to ensure compliance with applicable laws, ethical norms, promotion of operational efficiencies, enhancement of the College’s mission, and/or reduction of institutional risks; and
• mandates or constrains actions.

Institutional policies can apply to some or all members of the College community, including the Board of Trustees; faculty and staff employees; students; volunteers; visitors; and others who are performing activities or providing services at or under the control of the College, including vendors and third-party contractors.

Examples of Non-Institutional Policies:

• • the operational policies / processes required to implement institutional policy;
  • policies that are narrow in focus;
  • policies / processes that have direct impact only on a single or a minimal number of departments; or
  • are policies / processes not applicable across the entire institution.

The authority to approve policies is granted to the College President and is passed by the President to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). All Hartwick College institutional policies must be approved by SLT, unless otherwise directed by the President.

Prior to submitting policies to SLT for approval, it is the responsibility of each department or manager that wishes to create an institutional policy to draft the policy in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and obtain the respective divisional vice president(s)/SLT representative(s) approval. The divisional vice president(s)/SLT representative(s) may consult with the President’s Cabinet prior to approving the policy and presenting the draft policy to SLT.

Policies must be drafted in accordance with the Hartwick College Institutional Policy Template.

SLT has discretion on how draft policies are presented and approved. Prior to approving policies, SLT should consider the need of the policy and impact it will have on the College community. A sampling of questions that can be used in the SLT’s review are below:

• Does the proposed policy already exist?
• Has the policy manager clearly articulated the need or purpose of the proposed policy?
• Does the College have the resources to execute and maintain the proposed policy?
• Does the proposed policy impact or conflict with other current policies?
• Has the policy manager/department mitigated any known risks associated with the proposed policy?
• Has the policy manager developed procedures to uphold the proposed policy?

Prior to approving the policy, the SLT may:

• Seek guidance from other stakeholders, i.e. President’s Cabinet, Board of Trustees, etc.
• Request the policy manager provide additional documentation or information in support of the draft policy.
• Return the draft policy to the policy manager to address concerns, questions, or other topics identified by SLT.

Upon policy approval by the SLT:

• The SLT will inform the divisional vice president(s)/SLT representative(s) that the policy has been approved.
• The policy manager’s vice president/SLT representative will provide the College Compliance Officer with a copy of the approved policy.
• The approved policy must be provided in the Hartwick College Institutional Policy Template.
• The College Compliance Officer will assign the policy a number.
• The College Compliance Officer will place the policy in the College’s Policy Repository or direct the policy manager to do so.

Policy Manager Responsibilities: Upon approval of a new institutional policy, policy managers are responsible for:

• policy enforcement,
• applicable policy training,
• policy communications (see Section 6),
• policy revisions as necessary (see Section 5).

Enforcement of Hartwick policies, including any applicable training, is the responsibility of the policy manager/office. The responsible manager/office will contact the appropriate authority regarding any faculty or staff members, students, vendors, or visitors who violate policies.

All institutional policies must be in electronic format and published in the College’s online policy repository, which is the College’s official source for policies and related information and which is maintained by the Compliance Officer.

The responsible manager/office is charged with making revisions to policies it manages. All institutional policies must be reviewed annually by the responsible office. The purpose of the annual review is to ensure the policy is current, however policies can be updated at any time to reflect immediate and required changes that result from changes in regulations, best practice, or other College policy changes.

There are two types of policy revisions (changes) (1) Material Policy Revisions and (2) Non-Material Policy Revisions.

Material Policy Revisions
Material Policy Revisions are revisions that change the purpose or scope of a policy. These may be based on changes in laws, regulations or other College policies. Material revisions may mandate or restrain actions, change the rights or what is expected of individuals to whom the policy applies, or impact the operations of the College. Material Policy Revisions must be made following the steps for Institutional Policy Adoption (Section 2).

Non-Material Policy Revisions
Non-Material Policy Revisions normally are minor changes that do not significantly change a policy and do not change the rights or what is expected of the individuals to whom the policy applies. Non-Material Policy Revisions may include expanded definitions, wording or administrative clarifications, reformatting, and editorial or technical changes. Non-material changes will be made and documented by the policy manager with the approval of the divisional vice president.

Prior to publishing a policy revision, the policy manager must inform the College Compliance Officer via email of the policy revision. The policy manager must include their respective vice president or SLT representative on the email notification to the College Compliance Officer. The College Compliance Officer will archive the current policy and inform the policy manager when the current policy has been successfully archived. Archived policies will be stored in the College Compliance Office.

Only after the current policy is archived, the College Compliance Officer will directly or will direct the policy manager to update the Policy Repository with the policy revisions.

Policy managers are responsible for informing relevant Hartwick community members about new or revised policies in a timely manner as needed, or as required by law or the policy itself. Communication must be made through relevant communication and/or education such as the Wire, College email, department/divisional meetings, or other College forums.