Policy Development Process

Proposal

A proposal for a new or amended policy may originate from any area of the College. The proposal should impact a broad group such as all students, all faculty, all employees, or all classified staff; proposals should not be focused upon an individual division or department.

The Policy Review Process occurs from October 1 through May 31, each academic year to ensure that all necessary stakeholders are available to participate in the review process.

An individual or group should submit the proposal through their individual chain of command. Once the proposal has been processed, it should be sent to the Policy Coordinator, who will review the proposal for formatting and assign a policy number. If necessary, the Policy Coordinator will work with the appropriate personnel to do a preliminary legal review and a review of the collective bargaining agreements.

The Policy Coordinator then takes the proposal to the appropriate representative from the President’s Executive Team who serves as the sponsor of the proposal and oversees the policy as it moves through the process.

Executive Team Review

The representative from the President's Executive Team who sponsors and oversees the policy, presents the policy to the President and the President's Executive Team. The team will review the policy, which provide one of three outcomes:

1. The proposed policy is not recommended for review. The policy is then sent back to the originator with comments.
2. The proposed policy is considered to be of Urgent Importance, and goes directly to the President for approval and the 30-day review process is waived. If a proposed policy is to be deemed to be of Urgent Importance, it must meet one of two criteria:
   1. Failure to pass the policy will result in potential harm to people or facilities, or
   2. Failure to pass the policy will result in potential legal liability to Green River College.
3.  The proposed policy is recommended for a Formal Review Process.

Formal Review Process

Once a policy is proposed for a Formal Review Process, the Policy Coordinator sends an electronic version of the proposed policy to the leaders of the College unions for a 10-Day Review Process. 

If the policy passes the 10-day union review process, the Policy Coordinator posts the proposed policy on the College's website to solicit input from the College community. The sponsor of the policy must also take the proposed policy to campus groups, which may include: College Council, Instructional Council, Classified Staff Council, Exempt Staff Council, Administrative Council, or others as appropriate.

The sponsor monitors and collects comments during the review process. Comments are summarized, and the sponsor will make the necessary modifications to the policy. If applicable, the sponsor works directly with the Policy Coordinator and the Vice President of Human Resources & Legal Affairs to handle the final legal review and review of collective bargaining agreements.

Final Review

The President reviews the proposed policy and provides comments. The president with either:

1. Policy is Approved—The Policy Coordinator assigns the approved policy an effective date. Approved policies are posted on this website within 15 days.
2. Policy is Not Approved—The rationale for not approving the policy is shared with the policy sponsor. The Policy Coordinator will record that the policy was not approved and all information gathered during the policy development process.