WSU Policies and Procedures: What's New

Requested By

Department of Financial Operations and Business Technology

Other Notes For Consideration:

• Added “Balances owed on account” as a university covered account.
• Added verbiage addressing the PLUS loans refund being direct deposited in the parent’s bank account.
• Eliminated reference to training being provided on an annual basis (see my note on statute).
• Added verbiage under Periodic Review section.
• Added section “Non-disclosure of Specific Practices”.

Requested By

• Crystal Stegeman, University Property Manager
• Bob Smith, Executive Director of Facilities Services

Summary Of Policy Or Policy Change:

This policy is recommended for consideration as an effort to establish formal, written HVAC standards for usage in all buildings owned and leased by WSU. This primarily addresses expectations on appropriate set points for heating and cooling seasons, along with a procedure for staff or faculty to report temperature variances or concerns.

Reason Or Need For Policy:

WSU does not currently have an official written policy that provides guidance and parameters on HVAC usage. Our standard of comfort for campus buildings is 68‐76 degrees. This was established in 2007 as part of our Energy Conservation project to meet our ESCO bond payback criteria. Our standard set points are 68 degrees +/‐1 for heating, and 76 degrees +/‐1 for cooling; however, in recent months, we have received increasing requests from faculty, staff and partners to move temperatures outside of this range.

We realize that it is important for students, faculty, staff and community partners to have a comfortable learning and work environment. The challenge is balancing this with the need to also be fiscally and environmentally responsible. On a small scale, adjusting room temperatures by a degree or two may not have much of an impact, but when we consider these requests on a larger scale, the overall impact is significant financially. Facility Services estimates that we are spending over $6,000,000 annually on utility costs. This is an issue in our owned, leased and partnership buildings.

Establishing a formal, consistent policy for HVAC standards will reduce ambiguity over these practices and allow WSU the opportunity to better control utility costs along with promoting environmental sustainability and responsiveness.

Reviewed By The Following University Stakeholders:

• General Counsel’s Office – Stacia Boden, Associate General Counsel
• Finance and Administration –
  • Werner Golling, VP Finance and Administration
  • Eric King, Former Associate VP for Facilities
  • Emily Patterson, Director of Facilities Planning
  • Bob Smith, Executive Director of Facilities Services
  • Crystal Stegeman, University Property Manager

Requesting Department: Human Resources (HR)
Reviewing Stakeholders: HR Business Partners, HR Total Rewards (Leave Administrator and Director), HR Executive Director, and General Counsel.
Policy Intent: This policy provides clear oversight of procedures pertaining to the University's administration of the Shared Leave program in accordance with Kansas Administrative Regulation 1-9-23 (Shared Leave) and associated federal law (FMLA, ADA, etc.). It will ensure the University is providing compliant, fair and consistent administration of Shared Leave for all employees.