Substantive Change

The University will request approval of and report all substantive changes as required by IHL policy, to the IHL Office. The University will request approval of and report all substantive changes to SACSCOC, as required by SACSCOC policy.

The Academic Council is the approval body for all academic substantive changes, while the President’s Cabinet is the approval body for substantive changes not programmatic in nature.  The Academic Council maintains approval forms and procedures that require approval by the appropriate educational unit faculties and committees and include recommendations by the corresponding administrators, such as the chair/director and dean prior to the approval of substantive change by the Academic Council.

The Office of Academic Affairs/Office of the Provost prepares requests for the President to submit to IHL for approval of academic changes as required by IHL policy, and maintains records of correspondences on all requests. Substantive changes that are non-academic in nature require the approval of the President’s Cabinet. When Cabinet approves a change, the President submits a notice to IHL as required by IHL Policy.

Following IHL approval, or in the absence of a requirement to submit a request to IHL, the Accreditation Liaison prepares the notification letter for the President to submit to SACSCOC for approval of changes as required by SACSCOC policy, and maintains records of correspondences on all requests.

If a prospectus is required by the SACSCOC, the dean or appropriate senior administrator shall coordinate preparation of the prospectus and forward the prospectus to the Accreditation Liaison for final review. The Accreditation Liaison shall review a required prospectus and obtain approval of the President before preparing for submission to the SACSCOC by the President.