The University Policy Review Committee (PRC) met virtually on February 17, 2022 and discussed several policy updates.
University Committees Policy
Tom Shanahan, Interim Chief Administrative Officer, briefed the PRC on a new Policy on University Committees. Shanahan explained that this policy sets the requirements for high profile committees of faculty, staff, and students working on matters of University-wide significance and requires this select group of committees to confer with the Chancellor’s Office and University Communications before engaging in media inquiries and prior to publication of any formal recommendations or statements.
Committee members asked for further clarification as to whom this policy applies, and Shanahan responded that it does not apply to regular business processes (such as the PRC managed by the Office of Ethics and Policy), but rather to special committees set up to respond to point-in-time concerns. PRC members asked if an accompanying procedure for creating a committee was under development. Shanahan responded that it was not at this time. He advised that Chancellor’s Office could provide support with the process of opening committees.
UNC Alcohol Policy
Aaron Bachenheimer, Executive Director of Off-Campus Student Life and Community Partnerships, briefed the PRC on edits that align UNC Alcohol Policy to Office of Ethics and Politics’ policy template. The policy was edited for clarity. The PRC discussed the exclusion of UNC Health from the “affiliates” definition of the policy, which may reflect the administrative distinctions between UNC Healthcare and the School of Medicine. Bachenheimer and PRC will further investigate this matter. Bachenheimer also noted corrections to minor typographical errors discovered by the committee.
Team Dynamix/Policy Management System Training
Matthew Teal, University Policy Analyst, reported that he is continuing to develop the policy management system, Team Dynamix (TDX). Particularly, he is investigating TDX’s capacity to restrict the visibility of certain documentation to single units. Such a function would allow sensitive practices to be posted in TDX, but available only to those who need access. As an example, certain auditing processes must remain confidential in order to preserve the audit’s integrity, so these specific processes should only be visible to the Internal Audit staff.
Jen DeNeal, Associate Director of Ethics and Policy, shared that further information about the Policy Equity Audit was forthcoming.