- NMU Policies and Requirements

Procedures and guidelines are drafted with the policy, but unlike policies, which must be approved by the President, or in some cases, the Provost or the Board of Trustees, procedures and guidelines may be updated whenever necessary by the oversight unit.

A procedure is the worksteps necessary to enact or carry out the policy. Procedures are mandatory and typically highly detailed.

Guidelines are recommended practices or advice on how to achieve a goal. They are advisory, but allow judgment or flexibility.

At NMU, many documents supporting a policy are a combination of both procedure and guidelines, so many are labeled Procedure/Guideline to acknowledge that the document is a mix of worksteps and advice. Procedures and Guidelines are attached to policies, and should be read together as one document, although NMU does have a few stand-alone guidelines, where there a policy has not been developed, but community members have requested some guidance. 

Good procedures indicate who does what. For example: 

• Traveler: Submits request and receipts.

• Supervisor: Reviews and approves travel requests.

• Vendor Payable Department: Processes reimbursements.

Procedures and guidelines may be supplemented with forms or exhibits. Our database allows up to three attachments.

Version Controls:
NMU Policies have version controls. The database is updated by just a few persons at NMU in Internal Audit and Records Management. Changes are only accepted from the oversight unit. Internal Audit and Records Management keeps a log of changes, and keeps prior versions of the policies in an archive when changes are significant. For example, there would be a note in the record if a department name was updated in the body of a policy. There would be a copy of the prior policy transferred to an electronic archive, along with the effective dates if a policy were updated with significant changes.

When new Policies, Procedures, Contracts, Student Handbook sections, or Guidelines are approved, forward them with evidence of approval to Internal Audit for addition to the Policy and Procedure Database.  When changes are approved, forward the full document with changes to Internal Audit.  The prior version will be archived and the new version will be added to the database.

Administrative and Personnel Policies

Policy is defined as the course of action or defined objectives of the University, as approved by the President or Board of Trustees.  The University has two types of overarching policies: Administrative and Personnel.

Administrative Policies:

1.     Administrative Policy is approved by the President and defines functional objectives for the administration of the University.

2.     Ordinances are regulations developed and enforced by Public Safety.  These are the regulations related to safety and public welfare and are often developed to keep the university consistent with local municipality ordinances.  Ordinances are also approved by the President or Board of Trustees.

Non-Represented Employee Handbook, Contracts, and Bylaws:

1.     The Non-Represented Employee Handbook (formerly known as Personnel Policy) is approved by the Board of Trustees and defines the rights, responsibilities, and benefits of employees not represented by a bargaining unit.

2.     Union Contracts also function as personnel policies.  These are negotiated between the university and the union and are ratified by the Board of Trustees.  They define the rights, responsibilities and benefits of employees represented by that bargaining unit.

3.     Bylaws for departments also function as policies for the persons employed by a particular department.  They typically concern the duties of employees within that department, promotion and tenure, and the administrative structure of the department.

Student Code / Handbook:

The Student Handbook informs the NMU community about expectations, acceptable standards of behavior, and procedures for addressing issues/concerns.  It is intended to protect the rights of all members of the NMU community.  The Student Handbook is approved by the Board of Trustees.

1.     Part 1 - Student Rights and Responsibilities:  Addresses students' rights, duties and institutional responsibilities pertaining to academic and administrative matters. Part 1 also describes the procedure for the resolution of grievances relating to academic and administrative matters, including the areas of grading and academic dishonesty. Students' rights and freedoms outside of the classroom are also addressed.

2.     Part 2 – Student Code:  Addresses acceptable standards of student behavior. This section lists university regulations and administrative policies, created through the input of students, faculty, and staff, which govern student behavior. The Student Code section of the handbook describes the adjudication procedures for and due process rights of students who are charged with violations of the stated regulations and policies.

Stand-alone Guidelines:

Many NMU policies have guideline documents attached. Sometimes, however, the University asks for a guideline document that is not directly related to an existing policy. These guidance documents are labeled and stored and Stand-alone Guidelines in the Policy and Procedure Database. This document is an example of a stand-alone guideline.