The following policies have been updated or added and recently approved:
November 2018 Policy Meeting
9.5 Use of College Name, Seal and Emblem/Logo
– Updated policy statement to include reference to website for further clarification of accepted use
– Updated Entities Affected by this Policy and Who Should Read this Policy
10.5 Student Refunds
– Added “Attendance Policy” and “Attendance and Enrollment Reinstatement Agreement” (new document) to List of Related Documents
– Added “Failure to Initiate Attendance – Administrative Cancellation” to Procedures to further explain process when students are administratively cancelled from class(es), when students attend at least one course and when students who never attended are handled, in regards to refunds and responsibility for self-withdrawal and tuition/fees owed.
– Added “Attendance and Enrollment Reinstatement Agreement” (new document) to Forms
15.2 Web Accessibility
– Policy Statement: deleted “Web content in existence prior to the passage of this policy will be evaluated for compliance with this policy and remediated going forward,” as this intention is already outlined in C. Remediation Processes, section d. In addition, this revised policy is intended to focus on newly created Web Content and the publishing processes thereof.
– Reason for the Policy: added to include best practices in Web Content and promote the benefits thereof: “Grand Rapids Community College is actively committed to providing equal opportunity to persons with disabilities, including equal access to all GRCC Web Content. Accessible Web Content enhances the usability for all web users and ensures that as broad a population as possible is able to access and benefit from GRCC’s services. Implementing the requirements outlined in this policy also ensures grcc.edu is in line with best practices for user experience, which promotes student recruitment, retention, and success.”
– Related Documents:
Edited to remove redundancies:
— Changed: “B. Public Law 105-220, ‘Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended in the Workforce Reinvestment Act of 1998’” to: “B. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including 2008 Amendments”
— Changed: “C. Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended” to: “C. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, notably Section 503, Section 504, and Section 508”
— Deleted: “E. Title 44, U.S.C., § 3501, ‘E-Government Act of 2002’”
— Changed: “F. Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 1194, ‘Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards’” to: “F. Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 1194, ‘Information and Communication Technology Standards and Guidelines’”
— Changed: “G. Title 48, CFR, 39.204, Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), ‘Acquisition of Information Technology’” to: “Title 48, CFR, Part 309, ‘Acquisition of Information Technology’”
— Deleted: “H. Federal Acquisition Regulation, Final FAR Ruling 48, CFR Parts 2, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 39 (FAC 97-27; FAR Case 1999-607) “
Deleted: “I. Public Law 105-220, Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Amendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 USC 794d)”
– Added to include specific, current policies that relate: “G. GRCC Policy 3.2: Non-Discrimination on Basis of Disability” and “H. GRCC Policy 6.2: Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination.”
– Changed: “J. GRCC-specific policies and directives”” to: “I. Other GRCC policies and directives.”
– Updated Contacts
– Updated Definitions
— Added: “D. Electronic Document: Any file attachment including but not limited to Portable Digital Files (PDFs); Word documents, PowerPoint presentations or spreadsheets; and Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.”
— Added: “E. Remediation: The process of correcting non-compliant information. This includes making inaccessible documents or Web Content compliant by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, and Level AA standards.
— Added to replace the Web Monitor role and definition: “H. Web Team: Web Content Manager, Web Systems Architect, Director of Academic Applications,” and to identify the job titles of those serving on the Web Team. The responsibilities of the Web Team are outlined throughout the policy.
— Deleted: Web Monitor definition.
– Updated Procedures
A. Monitoring
– Section 1.:“The Web Monitor,” changed to “The Web Team”
– Section 2: “The Web Monitor” changed to “The Web Team”
– A part of section 3 was deleted as it was redundant of sections 1 and 2. Deleted: “The Web Monitor will consult with the Communications Department quarterly to review compliance, outline concerns, and develop/update a remediation action plan(s).”
– Section 3: “The Web Monitor and Communications Department,” was changed to “The Web Team,” as the Web Team has replaced the role of Web Monitor and includes a member of Communications.
– Section 4: “The Communications Department” was changed to “any member of the Web Team.”
B. Training and Accountability
– The approach to training has changed from providing in-person training to providing online training materials in an effort to better meet the training needs of a broad audience with varying skills. Therefore, this section was deleted: “a. The IT Department will coordinate and conduct Department Owner and Web Editor training – including new user and refresher courses – in collaboration with the Communications Department on a regular basis…”
– This paragraph was added to provide information about online training materials and include the work of the Accessibility Advocates: “a. The Web Team will coordinate and publish training material on the college website. The creation and dissemination of this material will engage, when appropriate, Accessibility Advocates, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) or Human Resources Staff Development, with consultation provided by the Director of EO Compliance where necessary. Training material will focus on web accessibility, user experience best practices, common areas of concern, and tips and tools for creating accessible content. Online training material will be made available to all Department Owners and Web Editors.”
– Section c. was edited for clarity: “Accessibility Advocates will be trained on course- and faculty-specific concerns, including document accessibility. Accessibility Advocates will also be trained to assist individuals and conduct broader training sessions on general accessibility concerns.”
— “Accessibility Advocates will be trained in Blackboard” was removed as it is part of the general course- and faculty-specific concerns they will be trained on.
— Added “faculty-specific” to include matters in addition to course-specific concerns.
— Added “including document accessibility” to provide specificity.
C. Remediation Processes
– “Processes” was added to the section title to clarify that there is more than one process to remediate content.
– Section a. was moved to section d. “Web Monitor” was changed to “Web Team” in two instances.
– New sections (C. Remediation Processes a, b, c) were added to include new publishing and remediation processes that allow the Web Team to provide better support for Web Editors and Department Owners, as well as support best practices in accessibility and general user experience:
— Added: “a. Department Owners and Web Editors are encouraged to publish content found in Electronic Documents as web copy within webpages in an effort to promote accessibility, the search engine optimization of Web Content, and web user experience.”
— Added: “b. New documents will be uploaded to the website if:
— The Electronic Document is required to remain online by any accreditation organization, or local, state or federal laws or regulations.
— It is essential to department or college processes that the Electronic Document is made available for print from grcc.edu.
— If a newly created Electronic Document does not meet the outlined criteria, a Web Team member will work with the Department Owner or Web Editor to publish the content in an already existing or new webpage, webform or other online format.”
— Added: “c. Newly created Electronic Documents that meet the outlined criteria must submit a ticket to the IT Help Desk at least two weeks in advance of the requested online publication date for the material to be made accessible.”
– Sections b, c, and f were deleted as they are no longer relevant with revised Remediation Processes sections a, b, and c:
— Deleted section: “b. The Web Monitor, in collaboration with the Communications Department, will implement remediation action plans, create and enforce timelines, and monitor progress …”
— Deleted section: “c. The Department Owner or Web Editor will be directed to the Web Monitor and Communications Department for assistance in implementing the remediation action plan …”
— Deleted section: “f. If it is not possible to remediate GRCC Web Content in a timely manner, the Department Owners and Web Editors are responsible for providing alternative access to the information …”
– Section e. moved to section f. and is edited to read: “If Department Owners or Web Editors refuse to comply with the policy guidelines or remediation action plans, the Web Team, in consultation with the Director of EO Compliance, may implement a remediation action plan or remove the inaccessible content from the web.”
— Added: “policy guidelines.”
— Added “may implement a remediation action plan.”
— Added: “Inaccessible” to the phrase “remove the inaccessible content.”
— Changed: “Web Monitor and/or Communications Department” to “Web Team.”
— Deleted to avoid redundancy as this is included in Remediation Processes, section c.: “If this action is taken, information will be published in the appropriate location on available GRCC assistive services, such as email, fax or phone options until the remediation action plan can be completed.”
– Policy History: added: This policy was modified in 2018 to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Web Team, promote best practices in web accessibility, and clarify training resources.
11.3 Professional and Institutional Memberships
– Procedure #3: Removed “required by employee’s contractual agreement shall be subject to the dollar limitation stated therein” and changed authorizers to include appropriate BCO and/or supervisor.
– Procedure #4: Removed entire procedure and added “payment” to Procedure #3.
– Procedure #5: Removed entire procedure due to redundancy.
– Procedure #6 becomes New Procedure #4: Changed language to clarify who designates and selects employee or board member to represent the College in the membership.
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