Authority, History and Use of the Faculty-Staff Handbook

Last updated: July 12, 2021

Authority of the Faculty-Staff Handbook

The Faculty-Staff Handbook (FSH) contains university-wide policy. A university-wide policy is a set of governing principles that applies throughout the University, or to a major component of the University. University-wide policies authorize or constrain actions to enhance the UI’s mission and operational efficiency; mitigate and manage institutional risk; or ensure compliance with higher governing authority.

All University policies fall within a hierarchy of laws, statutes and regulations. University policies are subject to compliance with laws and regulations instituted by higher governing authorities in the following order of hierarchy:

  1. Federal laws and regulations
  2. State laws and regulation
  3. Board of Regents/State Board of Education policies and procedures
  4. University-wide policies and procedures
  5. College/center/institute policies and procedures
  6. Unit policies and procedures

The University takes due care to ensure that policies, when issued, are in compliance with then-applicable controlling laws, regulations, and policies. However, changes in controlling authority may result in all or a portion of a policy becoming incorrect until a necessary revision is made. In such cases, those portions of policies that are contrary to or in conflict with any controlling authority are invalid. To the extent that the remainder of a policy is unaffected by a change in controlling authority, the remaining portion of the policy will remain valid and in effect.

The Faculty-Staff Handbook is not contractual in nature and can be changed unilaterally by the University.

In the event of a conflict between a policy as published online and the official, approved version maintained in the policy office archives, the official, approved version will prevail.

The Faculty-Staff Handbook does not include all policies and procedures for specific departments or units within the University. Information about the University’s business procedures is contained in the Administrative Procedures Manual. Websites of individual units may also contain unit-specific policies and procedures. Other academic and student policies are to be found in the University of Idaho General Catalog, the College of Graduate Studies Catalog and General Graduate Regulations, and the College of Law Catalog/Law Student Handbook.

History of the Faculty-Staff Handbook

The first edition of the Faculty-Staff Handbook was published in 1974 and rewritten in 1979. In the years since 1979 the FSH has been updated and revised numerous times.

The 1974 and 1979 editions of the FSH were the sole policy publications that were university-wide in scope. A third edition, published in 2005, appeared jointly with a new publication, the Administrative Procedures Manual (APM). The APM provides information about the university's business procedures.

Using the Faculty-Staff Handbook

Changes to the FSH are normally published in January and July of each year. The version history of each policy, to the extent known, is located at the end of the policy. In most cases the version history begins with the 1979 Faculty-Staff Handbook, although some policies have longer histories. The policy office maintains a digital archive of policy versions, usually dating back to approximately 2000. Older hard copy archives are maintained by the Faculty Secretary.

When a policy is deleted, the text of the policy will continue to be available in the “Recently Deleted Policies” section for a period of two years. After two years, deleted policies may be obtained from the policy office. 

Version History

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