Regent laws and policies review moves forward

The formal review of the Board of Regents’ laws and policies is gathering momentum, with expectations for a busy 2017. The board last year directed its Laws and Policies Committee to undertake a formal review of the nearly 100 active laws and policies.

“We’ve spent a productive year developing a process for the review, engaging governance groups in the effort and building a website to track progress,” said Patrick O’Rourke, vice president, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Regents, who is leading the administrative side of the effort in coordination with Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Leonard Dinegar.

Regent Stephen Ludwig, chair of the board’s Laws and Policies Committee, is scheduled to update the full board at its meeting today at 1800 Grant. In addition to the board committee, the initiative involves representatives from each campus, system administration and governance groups.

“We have the right people involved and we should really start seeing some progress in 2017,” O’Rourke said.

The process, similar to the one over the past several years that winnowed administrative policies from 210 to 88, aims to:

• evaluate the structure of policies
• simplify and consolidate where appropriate
• update to conform to best practices and/or statutory requirements
• better align rescinding those no longer needed or addressed in Administrative Policy Statements
• better align with systemwide APS and campus policies

Those now under review include policies related to fiscal misconduct, gifts benefitting the university, meeting posting, organization of academic units, intercollegiate athletics and use of CU’s name in advertising.

The website -- http://www.cu.edu/regents/rlpreview -- details the status of laws and policies under review, any that have changed recently and a mechanism for feedback.