Institutional Policies

This site provides a central reference for Smith’s college-wide policies. The policies can be accessed alphabetically.

Any institutional policies written after June 18, 2024, must follow the workflow and policy template below.

Policy Approval Process

Step 1:

Draft policy and vet with subject matter experts as needed
Vet with sponsoring president’s team member

Step 2:

Policy author completes the Policy Owner Submission Checklist and provides necessary documents with submission request
Requests will be reviewed in the quarterly review cycle and the author may be asked to present to the president’s team for approval

Review Cycle	April	June	September	December
Policy Submission Deadline	2nd Friday in March	2nd Friday in May	2nd Friday in August	2nd Friday in November
Review and Approvals completed no later than	2nd Tuesday in April	2nd Tuesday in June	3rd Tuesday in September	3rd Tuesday in December
Board Approval (if needed)	May meeting	October meeting	October meeting	February meeting

Step 3:

Post policy to appropriate webpage

Step 4:

Communicate policy to affected community members

Policy Template

Download the Policy Template.

College-Wide Policies are policies that meet one or more of the following criteria:

Has broad application or impact throughout the college;
Outlines the College’s purpose and expectations for a specific topic or operational area;
Involves a subject matter specific to one are that has direct financial or operational influence to the work of other offices across the college;
Has budgetary impact and requires review and approval by a member of the president’s team or an oversight committee;
Seeks to ensure compliance with applicable local, state and federal regulations and laws, ethical norms, accepted best practices, promotion of operational efficiencies, enhancement of the college’s mission, and/or reduction of institutional risks; and
Mandate or constrain actions.

College policies can apply to some or all members of the college community, including: (a) the Board of Trustees; (b) faculty, including visiting faculty; (c) employees; (d) volunteers; (e) students; and (f) others who are performing activities or providing services at or under the auspices of the college, including consultants, vendors, and contractors.

Procedures are statements that provide for the implementation of established policies through specific, prescribed actions that outline the roles, responsibilities, processes and tasks required. Operating procedures can be formal or informal, specific to a department or applicable across the entire institution. If policy is “what” the institution does operationally, then its procedures are “how” it intends to carry out those operating policy expressions.

Identifying a Policy vs. Procedure

Policy	Procedure
Widespread application	Narrow application
Changes less frequently	Prone to changes
Uses language such as “required,” “mandated” or “must”	Uses language such as “should,” “could” or “may”
Statements of “what” or “why”	Statements of “how,” “when” or “who”
Usually expressed in broad terms	Often stated in detail
Contains requirements and rules	Contain steps to perform activities and tasks