1.2 Policy on Policies

Policy Statment

The Policy on Policies establishes processes and standards for developing, approving and decommissioning campus-wide administrative policies as defined below. The College of Charleston aspires to maintain a policy framework that best serves its mission and supports excellence, ethics and compliance in all its activities. This Policy on Policies is effective throughout the College, but does not apply to governance documents, such as the policies of the Board of Trustees, and does not apply to the policies and procedures of the College's Faculty Senate, the Faculty/Administration Manual (FAM) and intradepartmental policies.

Policy Manager and Responsible Department or Office

The members of the President's Cabinet whose units are subject to the policy shall require and monitor compliance with the policy by their units.

Policy

The College establishes administrative policies to align operations, set behavioral expectations, mitigate institutional risk and communicate policy roles and responsibilities across the whole of the College. Administrative policies will either require or prohibit specific actions of faculty, staff or students, as well as affiliates and external individuals who use College resources or services, as appropriate. An administrative policy is a policy with broad application throughout the College that enhances the university's mission, promotes operational efficiencies, reduces institutional risk, helps ensure compliance with the College of Charleston's Standards of Ethical Conduct, and is approved in accordance with the procedures described in this policy.

Departments/Offices Affected by the Policy

All departments/offices, excluding the Board of Trustees.

Procedures Related to the Policy

Administrative Policy Development

An administrative policy approval request may be initiated by a member of the President's Cabinet. The development of the policy may be delegated to an individual with authority and responsibility for the subject area addressed (Responsible Department/Division).

Administrative Policy Approval

The approval process stated here applies to adoption of new Administrative Policies and substantive amendments to existing Administrative Policies.

  • Administrative policies are submitted to the President's Cabinet for review and require approval of the President before they may go into effect. However, the President may establish policy independently of the cabinet, at his/her discretion, as delegated by the Board of Trustees By-laws.
  • Administrative policies must be reviewed by the Office of General Counsel prior to submission to the President's Cabinet.
  • In accordance with the Board of Trustees' By-laws, policies and procedure, certain policies may require Board of Trustees' review and approval. The Secretary to the Board of Trustees shall be consulted to determine if proposed administrative polices require Board of Trustees approval.
  • The polices under review will be posted online for a 30-day public comment period; reviewed for approval and/or editing by the President or Board of Trustees, as applicable; and provided to the Office of Legal Affairs for publication and indexing.

Decommissioning an Administrative Policy

  • If a responsible department/division believes that an administrative policy is no longer useful, applicable, or is more effective if combined with another administrative policy, the responsible officials shall confer with applicable College of Charleston governance groups and subject matter experts as appropriate to ensure the overall impact of decommissioning the policy is considered.
  • After careful review, the responsible department/division may suggest to decommission the administrative policy and make that recommendation to the President's Cabinet.
  • The polices under review for decommissioning will be posted online for a 30-day public comment period; reviewed for approval of decommissioning by the President or Board of Trustees, as applicable; and provided to the Office of Legal Affairs in order to retire the policy.

Policy Standard

All administrative policies must include the following policy sections:

  • POLICY STATEMENT
  • POLICY MANAGER AND RESPONSIBLE DEPARTMENT/OFFICE
  • POLICY
  • DEPARTMENT/OFFICES AFFECTED BY THE POLICY
  • PROCEDURES RELATED TO THE POLICY (Procedures may be housed separately from the policy and are not required to be set forth within the body of the policy template.)
  • RELATED POLICES, DOCUMENTS OR FORMS (Documents and forms may be housed outside of the policy and are not required to be set forth within the body of the policy template.)

Related Policies, Documents or Forms

College of Charleston Board of Trustees By-laws; Faculty/Administration Manual

1.2 Policy on Policies PDF

Revision Log

Issue Date: 9/8/22

Next Review Date: 9/1/27

Date of Policy Revision: N/A

Web Publication Date: 12/17/25