List of system policies shrinking

Office of Policy and Efficiency's annual report details elimination of obsolete verbiage

The Office of Policy and Efficiency has released its first year-end report, summarizing changes to systemwide policies made from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2009. The complete report included 19 revised, three new and 25 eliminated policies, yielding a net reduction of 22 administrative policies in 2009.

Dan Montez, director of the Office of Policy and Efficiency, credits the policy owners in academic affairs, human resources, Office of the University Controller, capital assets, information technology, university counsel and administration for their work in reviewing and identifying those policies that were obsolete or more cumbersome than necessary — all in an effort to help streamline and simplify administrative policies.

Among the changes:

• Elimination of a provision for "auxiliary aids to handicapped students," outdated since the 1991 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Expansion of a policy on the collection of personal data from students and consumers. It now includes requirements for detecting indicators of possible identity theft.
• Revision to a 10-year-old policy on performance ratings for employees. The change establishes a consistent performance rating system for officers and exempt professionals; a separate policy detailing performance ratings for faculty will be issued in the future.

Many policies remain under review, and an updated list is available here. The list, which may change weekly, provides a preview of system administrative policies being considered for possible implementation, revision or deletion in January. The site provides the current policy, a justification statement for the proposed action and, when applicable, a draft of the new or revised policy.

Policies and procedures are changed only twice a year, to reduce the impact on campuses. As a result of the streamlining efforts, the number of university policies has been reduced from 210 in November 2008 to 106 in July.