Standard Ten
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
Description
The effective operation of Boston University depends on the timely disclosure and dissemination of accurate, detailed information about programs, policies, standards, and governance, as well as readily available means for receiving and responding to requests for information. Providing up-to-date information when and where it is needed is a sound management practice, as well as a matter of compliance.
Prospective undergraduate students can access extensive online information on Boston University’s website, with links to each of the ten undergraduate schools and colleges. The Office of Admissions maintains a website with text and video presentations offering information for prospective freshmen and transfer students, including standards and requirements, tuition and fees, financial aid, and profiles of the most recent freshmen class (e.g., rank in high school class and average SAT/ACT scores). Applicants can also download a virtual tour of the campus or arrange to visit BU in person.
Prospective graduate students receive printed catalogues or online information directly from individual programs and departments. Graduate bulletins include information about degree programs, admissions requirements, and financial assistance.
Enrolled undergraduates can find information about course offerings and degree requirements in the Undergraduate Bulletin, which is revised annually and made available both online and in hard copy. The Undergraduate Bulletin contains information about Boston University’s international programs as well as policies and procedures relevant to undergraduates, such as those governing admissions, financial aid, tuition and fees, academic progress, grading, and intra-university transfer. The Undergraduate Bulletin states that Boston University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and also provides information about other accreditations held by specific BU programs, schools, and colleges. A list of faculty members in each school and college is given, with information about degrees held (and the institutions granting them), professorial rank, and departmental affiliations. Departmental websites typically supply further details, such as contact information, publication history, and research interests. Each of the schools and colleges enrolling undergraduate students also publishes its own handbook in print and online. These handbooks typically include descriptions of academic rights and responsibilities, as well as programs and services unique to a particular school. Each semester a Schedule of Courses, containing information about instructors, class times and locations, and final examination schedules, is made available to students at their respective schools and colleges.
The Dean of Students’ website features the BU Lifebook, which contains information about activities, resources, facilities, and campus safety and residence life issues. In addition, the Boston University Police Department maintains a website with current information about crime prevention and campus advisories. This site supplements a booklet entitled “Safety on Campus,” which is updated annually, available online and in print, and contains emergency phone numbers, crime prevention tips and information about safety programs, campus crime statistics, and policies relating to drugs and alcohol, firearms, and hazing.
The production and dissemination of accurate information to various internal and external constituencies is overseen by a number of offices at Boston University. Marketing & Communications is the principal public communications division for the University, providing information in print and online for all its public constituencies through the departments of Strategic Communications, Media Relations, BU Productions, Campus Information & Visitor Relations, Editorial, and Creative Services.
Marketing & Communications publishes BU Today, a daily electronic newspaper that covers news and events for the Boston University community and provides a snapshot of BU life for prospective students and their families. (BU Today has also been used to inform students and prospective students about financial aid and changes in lenders’ status.) Marketing & Communications also maintains BUniverse—an online repository of archival video material such as lectures and interviews—and works closely with Development & Alumni Relations to produce school and college newsletters and the quarterly alumni magazine Bostonia. An online version of Bostonia, which launched in October 2008, contains additional content and features that allow alumni to remain in closer touch with Boston University and to keep abreast of news and events.
Another significant effort by Marketing & Communications to increase the level of interaction and engagement with alumni and other external constituencies is a new online version of the Annual Report. The 2008 Annual Report was released in three formats: a traditional printed copy; a web-key that takes users straight to the online version of the Annual Report; and a flash drive that contains an electronic version of the report without the need for an Internet connection. All three formats contain links to more in-depth articles and video features online. Next year, the Annual Report will be expanded online to include tailored versions, each highlighting a different academic unit, and sent to alumni and advisory boards in each school and college by email.
More generally, Marketing & Communications is charged with monitoring accuracy and consistency of style in all print and online materials published by Boston University, including recruitment brochures, undergraduate and graduate bulletins, domestic and international viewbooks, admissions materials, school and college newsletters, the magazine Research at Boston University, websites, art exhibition catalogues, and publications relating to events such as Commencement, Summer Orientation, and the annual University Lecture.
Inquiries from the public and from the press are handled by Campus Information & Visitor Relations and Media Relations, respectively. Campus Information also publishes detailed information online about the size and composition of the student body.
The Office of Institutional Research, within the University’s budgeting and planning administration, produces an annual “Benefits to the City of Boston” report, which contains data on Boston University’s contributions to the city of Boston from 1981 through the most recent fiscal year. Institutional Research also prepares the “Economic and Social Impact Study,” a yearly sourcebook outlining BU’s “impact” on the Massachusetts economy in terms of direct and indirect spending measures. The Office of the Vice President for Financial Affairs & Treasurer prepares an annual financial statement and makes available the annual audit of Boston University by external auditors. The University Registrar publishes policies on the confidentiality of and access to student records. The Director of Athletics is responsible for the collection and reporting of data about budgets, revenue, and participation of men and women by sport, as required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994.
The Medical Campus maintains a separate Office of Corporate Communications, which provides information about its programs and activities to the public—often through the Boston Medical Center—and oversees the production of a monthly newsletter and biannual alumni magazine.
Policies and procedures for faculty, staff, and students are available on department and unit websites. For ease of reference, Boston University has also established a central web-based repository for policies and procedures, which includes explanations of how certain University policies are developed. The web-based repository launched in early 2009.
Finally, Boston University is utilizing advances in cellular communications technology through its new “BU Alert” system. In the event of a serious security incident, a campus-wide notification system will send information to students, faculty, and staff via email, voicemail, and text messaging. “BU Alert” has been tested successfully several times in non-emergency situations. In an emergency, Boston University’s website and cable television system will also carry important information.
Appraisal
Administrators and faculty members at Boston University recognize their obligation to provide accurate, timely, and up-to-date information to a variety of constituencies as a matter of principle and legal compliance. Succession challenges earlier in the decade resulted in a renewed commitment to clarity and transparency in all dealings with members of the University community and with the public. A number of new documents and communications grew out of this desire for transparency and full disclosure, including the University’s first full Annual Report in 2005 (prior to that the Boston University released only a brief report each year that was strictly limited to financial information); the publication of BU Today and the creation of BUniverse; and the launch of an entirely redesigned BU website in September 2006. There is also a webpage, new since the last reaccreditation, with information about Boston University’s organization and senior administration. An organization chart on this site shows the reporting structure and names of key administrators and deans of the schools and colleges, with links to details and contact information for their respective offices.
Boston University makes available a wealth of information about its academic programs, activities, finances, operations, and demographics, both in print and online. More than half a dozen offices are specifically charged with providing this information to interested parties. Marketing & Communications—newly established since the last reaccreditation—is charged with ensuring quality, consistency, and accuracy in University publications and online.
The advent and expansion of electronic means of communication has been a great help to an institution as complex as Boston University. Targeted emails to faculty, students, staff, and alumni—in a given school or college, or across the University—provide an instantaneous, cost-effective way to reach specific audiences. Websites allow information of interest to prospective students, parents, alumni, and interested members of the public to be accessible and easily updated. Online repositories make documents available publicly, permanently.
Projection
Boston University will continue to meet all relevant local, state, and federal laws requiring the disclosure of specific information to students, parents, employees, and the public. Materials for students such as the Undergraduate Bulletin, Lifebook, and “Safety on Campus” brochure will continue to be updated annually and made available in print or online. As publications are revised and updated, they will be brought into line with branding guidelines established by Marketing & Communications, ensuring greater consistency—and continued accuracy—in the future.
In its Standards for Accreditation document, the NEASC Council on Institutions of Higher Education identifies important information that is not presently contained in the Undergraduate Bulletin and graduate bulletins but should be in future. Specifically, this includes the University’s mission statement, the names of key administrators and members of the Board of Trustees (information currently available online), and goals for student outcomes. This third component—student outcomes—is by far the most complicated. Given the wide range of academic programming at Boston University, the “value added” of a BU education necessarily means different things to different people. The process of distilling and articulating the University’s expectations for student outcomes across the board will be both challenging and constructive.
