The Commission received a report from the Chair of the Standards and Handbook Review Work Group, affirming the principles and guidelines being used to revise the Standards and the Handbook. Those principles are:

1. Putting students at the center
2. Calling for evidence and action
3. Emphasizing equity and inclusion
4. Preserving institutional flexibility in how to meet Standards
5. Respecting institutional perspectives

The guidelines include:

1. Maintaining a manageable number of Criteria for Review (CFRs)
2. Eliminating redundancy among CFRs
3. Keeping individual CFRs to a single topic
4. Avoiding bright lines and overly prescriptive language

In addition, the Work Group will design and propose a new pathway for the Institutional Review Process (used for reaffirmation reviews) and reposition the focus and purpose of the Handbook itself to provide greater clarity. The Work Group has solicited input from institutional representatives, students, policy makers, and the general public, integrating these perspectives into its proposed revisions.

The Standard and Handbook Review Work Group is composed of eleven Commission members and subdivided into smaller teams to accomplish the first round of revisions. The Work Group’s goal is to present a draft of the revised Standards and Process to the Commission at its meeting June 22-24, 2022 and to host a reporting session at the ARC2022 in San Francisco (April 20-22). Upon adoption of the draft in June, it will be circulated to all member institutions and other stakeholders for their comments, and those perspectives will inform the final version of the Standards and Process to be presented at the November 2022 Commission meeting.

March 2022 Newsletter

• Launch of Graduate Only KID and Peer Benchmarking on WSCUC Website
• Commission Policy Changes and Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Changes
• Educational Programs Updates