Frequently Asked Questions

A policy is a governing set of principles that guide University practice.  It helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, promotes operational efficiencies, enhances the University’s mission and values, and reduces institutional risks.  It has broad application throughout the University community.  It provides a basis for consistent decision making and resource allocation, or a method or course of action selected to guide and determine, present, and future decisions.  It mandates actions or constraints and contains specific procedures to follow. In developing a University policy, consideration should be given to the implications for implementation to ensure that the intent of the policy is achievable, cost effective, and that outcomes can be measured.

A university policy is a policy that applies university wide, which distinguishes it from policies that pertain to only a particular school or department. 

There are two distinct kinds of University policies:  Board of Trustees policies and campus-based policies.  In general, Board of Trustees policies include those specific actions required by state law, executive orders issued by the Office of the Governor, policy issued by other state agencies, and all other items for which the Board chooses to establish policy. 

The authority to determine which policies require Board of Trustees approval rests with the Office of the President.  All other University policies are by definition campus policies and are approved by the Chancellor or his/her designee.  Any College, Department, or Operational Memoranda cannot supersede or conflict with a campus policy.

Any individual (including Deans, Chairs, Center Directors, etc.), group, or campus unit at UMass Dartmouth can identify a campus-wide policy issue and accordingly request that a new policy or procedure be formulated or that changes be made to an existing one.  In both cases, proposals for new or updated policies and procedures are to be submitted initially to the Vice Chancellor having primary responsibility for the policy area.  If the primary responsibility rests directly with the Chancellor, the proposed policy or procedure will be submitted first to the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (VCAF) for review and further action.

Amendments are initiated in the same manner as drafts of new policies.

The Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (VCAF) supports the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellors in implementing and disseminating policy, and in identifying a responsible university office for each policy. The committee works to ensure consistency in the format and presentation of policies; elimination of conflicts between policies to the extent possible; consistency with laws or other external regulation; identification of necessary policies, proper archiving, mission consistency, and ensuring a process for regular review of all policies.

Policies delineate in broad strokes an organization's goals in a certain area of interest. The procedures that correspond to the policy describe exactly how the policy is carried out.

• Procedure:   A procedure is a set of mandatory steps established to implement a University policy and/or to manage a University activity.  It describes a process that must be followed to achieve the desired outcomes.
• Guidelines:   Guidelines establish a protocol to manage a particular policy or procedure as it relates to a University activity.

The Responsible Office is charged with the administration of the policy.

Compliance with policies resides with individual managers and Vice Chancellors.

Only one version of a university-wide policy may exist and that version resides on the official policies page. This is to ensure proper updating of policies, and consistency in presentation. Any policies referenced on a department web page should link back to the official web page. 

The policy page, to the extent possible, will contain archives of past versions of a policy. From the current policy page, look in the Related Policies and Additional History box. If you select a policy from this box it will take you to a prior version of the policy. If you select the related policy with History indicator, this link will take you to the amendment history of that document.

 For example, Policy on Policies (GOV-C07-001A) (PDF). If you click on  University Policies - Original Policy on Policies (PDF) in the Additional History box, it will take you to the archived version of the policy in place immediately prior to the current policy in the original format. If you click on Policy on Policies History (DOC) in the Additional History box, it will take you to the amendment information.

If there is no archived version on the additional history page, this means we did not have the policy in electronic format. You will then need to consult the older versions of print documents such as the Announcements, the Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, and the Staff Handbook.