The Office of the Provost uses a standard policy format [docx] and a uniform review and approval process for university policies to improve communication, promote administrative consistency and efficiency and ensure compliance with pertinent state and federal laws as well as state and regional accreditation requirements. A new or revised policy must follow the approval process in order to be properly vetted and approved.
The university policy, UNIV 1.00 Policy on Policies: Development and Oversight of University Policies [pdf], governs the development and oversight of all formal university policies.
A new or revised policy is drafted and vetted within the division. All policies must be formatted according to the standard university policy template. All revised policies must show edits with track changes. Click to view the policy template [docx].
The responsible officer or policy liaison forwards the new or revised policy to the Office of the Provost, [email protected].
The Office of the Provost coordinates internal review for all policies. According to the amount and/or type of edits made to the policy, the office will determined if a revised policy is substantive or non-substantive. All substantive and new polices will be posted on the Office of the Provost's draft new and revised policies webpage, and distributed to USC's Executive Council and Council of Academic Deans for a two week reviewing period. Non-substantive polices will be reviewed by the Office of the Provost and sent for presidential approval.
The university community is encouraged to comment on the posted policies. All comments are sent to the responsible officer of the division, unless otherwise specified. All comments are considered by the division for finalization of the policy.
The responsible officer or policy liaison forwards the final version of the policy to the Office of the Provost.
The provost forwards the final version to the president. The president will approve the policy and send back to the Office of the Provost. The Office of the Provost will notify the responsible officer and policy liaison. The policy is forwarded to Board of Trustees when appropriate.
The final version of the policy is added electronically to USC's Policies and Procedures Manual.