Formal mission statements and the requirements of Chapter 36 provide one leg of the constitutional framework for the implementing documents for the university system in general and UWM in particular. State and federal law and administrative practice provide a second framework. In addition the campus develops formal procedures concerning academic practice, employee rules and regulations, and student conduct. Particular procedural documents have been developed over the years in response to particular mandates. Seen as a whole, the procedures provide a coherent set of rules and practices guiding university actions.
Each campus in the UW System has developed foundational policies and procedures implementing the statutory mandates in Chapter 36. The UWM Policies and Procedures were written in the 1970s by the faculty and approved by the Board of Regents. They are frequently amended and updated by faculty action. UWM Policies and Procedures defines how to organize the basic academic structures and processes of the campus. It defines how to constitute the administration and the faculty, the departments, executive committees, schools and colleges, and committees. It defines the authority of faculty and administration; procedures for faculty governance, faculty and administrative hiring, promotion, tenure and dismissal; the handling of grievances and complaints against an individual with faculty status; and defines procedures for fiscal emergency.
The statutes that created the UW System also created the category of “academic staff” employees, university professionals without faculty status. That statutory mandate required the definition of “Academic Staff Policies and Procedures” at each UW institution. The UWM academic staff wrote their procedures, which were approved by the Board, to define the employment rules and the rights and responsibilities of individuals with an academic staff appointment.
Procedural documents colloquially referred to as SAPPs, Selected Administrative Policies and Procedures, constitute a third category of documents. Often based upon UWM Policies and Procedures or Academic Staff Policies and Procedures, they commonly focus on a particular aspect of rule or procedure. They are generally written at the campus administrative level. SAPPs are particularly useful for adding to the procedural system rules and regulations mandated by innovations in federal or state law, for example, rules for the proper handling of hazardous materials, defining signature authority, or establishing guidelines for contractual and business agreements.
