The Staff Council met with representatives from the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Risk on Tuesday to discuss the University’s new policy review process, which integrates community feedback into the development or revision of all University policies.
Dorinda Tucker, the associate vice president of the ethics office and data privacy officer, walked staff through the policy review process during the meeting, which she said University President Ellen Granberg tasked Tucker and Executive Director of Ethics and Compliance Ashley Fountaine to develop “several months ago.” Tucker said the newly developed process involves more meaningful involvement of students, faculty and staff in policy implementation.
The new review process comes after the University entered a voluntary settlement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in January to resolve two Title VI complaints from 2023 that alleged anti-Palestinian discrimination and antisemitism on campus. The OCR identified “concerns” that GW may have “failed” to effectively respond to reports of discrimination and antisemitism on campus in 2023.
Tucker said Granberg wanted a new policy review process that is transparent and provides consistency with community feedback, along with establishing timelines for how policies are renewed. She said there are at least 150 University-level policies that could potentially go through the process in the future.
“We are going to rely on the leaders of our constituent groups to help their constituents participate in this process,” Tucker said.
There are currently five draft policies under review and open for community feedback, including three policies in response to January’s OCR agreement. This includes changing current policy to comply with the OCR agreement stipulations regarding the standards and procedures surrounding discrimination, demonstrations and postering at the University.
The University is required to implement an anti-hazing policy in response to the Stop Campus Hazing Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden in December 2024. The other policy draft in regard to barring people from campus prohibits threats and acts of violence on campus.
Tucker said the new policy process includes a five day pre-notice period that officials send to Faculty Senate leaders, the Student Government Association and the Staff Council. She said a public notice in GW Today will open the 30-day feedback period on the policy, and after the community feedback period closes, five days are reserved to the three constituency groups — Faculty Senate, SGA and Staff Council — to look at the revisions based on the feedback.
Tucker said following revision, the policy is reviewed by the policy approval board, which includes Provost Chris Bracey, CFO Bruno Fernandes, Chief of Staff Scott Mory and General Counsel Charles Barber. They then decide to finalize the policy or send it back for further revisions, Tucker said.
Mallory McPherson-Wehan, the Staff Council’s division of student affairs representative, said a constituent raised concerns that the policy approval board is entirely male, which exhibits a lack of gender diversity within the last group that gets a say in important GW guidelines.
Tucker said the optics of the board are “undeniable,” but the University’s highest-ranking executives have “always” given the final approval of a policy. She said that despite the board happening to be all male-identifying, the people who create and own the policies come from more diverse backgrounds.
“I think it’s important to note that our policy owners, though, are generally the vice president of the division or department. So that brings, I think, a better diverse look,” Tucker said. “It doesn’t eliminate the fact that the decision-makers are the four individuals.”
Tucker said the new process also describes the procedure for eliminating or reviewing already-existing policies, like OCR agreement policies in the drafting stages. She said officials realized they can simplify policies through consolidation if they find it isn’t relevant anymore due to how much time has passed or changing circumstances.
Tucker said the University has made improvements with transparency on the office’s website that outlines policies, including by adding the policy’s origination date, last review date and next review date to show what stage the policy is in.
“This process, hopefully, will help our constituents just be more in tune with university policies and the process for how they can participate in the development of them. It will bring a little bit more accountability to our constituent groups overall,” Tucker said.
Staff Council members elected Sadie Haun, an operations assistant in the School of Engineering & Applied Science’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as parliamentarian.
Staff Council President Kim Fulmer said the Department of Athletics position is still vacant and no candidates have expressed interest. The Staff Council will meet with Bracey and Fernandes on Tuesday at 11 a.m., which Fulmer said will mark the first time the body has ever engaged with the provost.
