3.7 Policies Pertaining to The Academic Council Policy Manual

3.7.1 Revising the Existing Manual

(Approved April 1993) (Amended January 17, 2007) (Amended January 25, 2012) (Amended May 18, 2022)

The contents of the Academic Policy Manual are controlled solely by the Council. Any content revision to the Manual requires:

1. distribution to Council Representatives, the Vice Provost of Academic Leadership, academic unit Chairs, Departmental Ph.D. Committee Chairs, Academic Associates, and Program Officers two weeks in advance of any vote;
2. a majority vote for approval taken from a quorum of the Council.

The Secretary of the Council has the authority to make any necessary administrative revisions to the Manual and will inform the Council and others of such changes.

3.7.2 The Process for Complete Revision of the Manual

(Approved April 1993) (Amended January 17, 2007)

The process for revision of the entire Manual flows as follows:

1. The Secretary of the Council will constitute a temporary Manual Rewrite Committee. The Secretary will, at this time, establish a deadline for the delivery of the new Manual and inform the Academic Council of the existence and powers of the Rewrite Committee. The Secretary must identify a Chair of the Rewrite Committee.
2. The Rewrite Committee will submit a plan for their task. This plan will include a skeleton Manual, this skeleton to include:
   1. major section headings for the new Manual;
   2. identification of sections of the old Manual that will be retained, either verbatim or with minor revision;
   3. identification of sections which need major revision or invention.
   4. identification of tasking for writing sections which need major revision or invention.
   5. identification of responsibilities for managing each major section of the document.
3. The Council must approve this document skeleton.
4. The Rewrite Committee will task others as specified in the skeleton document, and is empowered to impose reasonable deadlines on those tasked.
5. Each section or subsection of the new Manual will be approved individually. If the Council feels that the section being presented is too large to consider for a single vote, the Rewrite Committee Chair may spontaneously disassemble the section into subsections. The Chair may then seek Council approval on some or all of these subsections. Hence, each approval vote will be two-phased:
   1. the Council must approve a motion to vote on the section as a single item;
   2. the Council must approve the section.
6. The Rewrite Committee may present any number of sections to the Council for approval in any meeting, provided these sections are distributed to the Council at least one week in advance.
7. Where applicable, the contents of sections of the new Manual will supersede the contents of the existing manual at the time of approval.
8. The Council may consider revision of approved Manual revisions following the procedures for revising the existing Manual.
9. After all content of the Manual is approved, the Rewrite Committee will propose a set of stylistic standards for the Manual, including but not limited to the format of the document to be maintained, the section numbering system to be used, and any online facilities for accessing the Manual.
10. The Rewrite Committee will move for approval on the entire revision. Upon approval of this motion, the old Manual will be retired and the Rewrite Committee disbanded.

3.7.3 Circulation of the Manual

(Approved February 16, 1993) (Amended January 17, 2007) (Amended January 25, 2012) (Amended May 18, 2022)

The following individuals are entitled to and are expected to possess a copy of the current Academic Policy Manual:

1. Council Representatives
2. Academic Associates
3. Academic unit Chairs
4. Program Officers
5. Departmental Ph.D. Committee Chairs and individuals appointed to supervise Engineer's Degree programs.
6. Vice Provost of Academic Leadership

It is the duty of the Recording Secretary of the Academic Council to maintain a current list of these individuals and to provide them with updates of the Manual as substantive modifications occur.

In addition, the Secretary of the Council shall be responsible for maintaining an online copy of the Manual, which is accessible through campus-wide computer network services.