Who Makes the Policies: NOVA, VCCS or the Commonwealth?

Today’s topic is policy. In my office hours zooms and in other meetings, you have likely heard me respond to some questions with a reminder that NOVA is a part of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and, thus, is a state agency. These connections–as well as applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations–affect the degree to which NOVA can make local decisions on a wide variety of matters. In fact, our institutional policy website typically references NOVA’s authority for enacting a policy as residing with VCCS, a state agency or a specific law.

The VCCS Board is NOVA’s governing board, and its policies (which can be found here) define many aspects of our operations. Unless temporarily suspended or changed, these policies govern NOVA, our employees and our students. Several examples of temporary changes to VCCS policies occurred during COVID, such as the waiver of limits on overload hours and the implementation of P+/P- grades in Spring 2020. Changes or additions to VCCS policies typically first begin with an engagement of the system’s shared governance bodies (e.g., the Academic and Student Affairs Council, the Council of Deans and Directors, etc.) and go through significant review before being advanced to the VCCS Board.

In addition, NOVA is governed directly by decisions, policies and practices set forth by Virginia’s Governor and state agencies, such as the Department of Human Resource Management. For example, the Executive Orders signed by Governor Northam during the pandemic led to NOVA’s actions on temporary remote work and employee vaccination.

In some cases, you will see that NOVA must look to both VCCS and state agencies because different policies cover different employee groups. For example, NOVA’s webpage articulating leave policies references both VCCS and DHRM.

Finally, NOVA must follow all applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations. Some of these are fairly well-known, such as Title IX and FERPA, but others are not. Because of their access to personally identifiable student financial information, higher education institutions are governed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which is typically associated with financial institutions. Thus, colleges and universities must engage in specific measures to safeguard and secure student information and sensitive data.

If you ever have a question about what policy governs what action or decision, remember to go to the source. For example, Associate Vice President for Human Resources Charlotte Calobrisi for employment-related questions or CFO/VP Ina Dimkova for financial ones. And, as always, if you don’t know who to ask, just send an email to PresidentsOffice@nvcc.edu, and I’ll make sure it gets to the subject matter experts—who deserve all of our thanks both for keeping us on the right side of the policies and laws in place and for advocating to change or amend those that may need another look.