Institutional Communications and Brand Stewardship Policy

Policy 2500: Institutional Communications and Brand Stewardship builds institutional legitimacy and protects Selkirk College’s reputation. It establishes parameters for presenting the college as an integrated whole while providing a distinctive brand promise for learners. 

This policy is in effect as of October 23, 2024.

Policy Development

Through the policy development process—which took place from January to June, 2024—interactive consultation occurred with stakeholders across the college through sharing documents, resources and conversation. Thanks to the generous insights of departments, committees and employees, this policy has been through many drafts—from refining the scope and definitions to clarifying the principles.

Summary of Feedback

This feedback was gathered through an online feedback tool when the draft policy was posted from July 2 to 31, 2024. Additional changes were made to the policy based on this feedback. The revised policy was presented and passed at the first Administrative Policy Review Committee meeting of the academic year.

• Some respondents indicated uncertainty around the definition of “college mandate.” The mandate is outlined by an annual Mandate Letter sent to the Board of Governors from the BC government, which in turn aligns with the College and Institute Act. Essentially, our mandate is to provide relevant, accessible post-secondary learning opportunities.
• We heard some concerns that this policy would impede an employee’s ability to take a stand to affirm their values and that it might impinge on academic freedom. This policy doesn’t limit faculty teaching and research activities, nor is it meant to censor individuals’ rights to hold and express their opinions outside of official institution communications channels. Indeed, issuing statements on official channels—thereby suggesting a college position—could be perceived as stifling independent thinking and speech among the college community. The draft of the policy circulated for community review mentioned academic freedom in the principles to emphasize where college policies and documents address academic freedom. That being said, this created some confusion, so we’ve removed any mention of academic freedom except to clarify that it is beyond the scope of this policy. We have also revised the first principle in the policy to clarify that it is specific to official college communication channels.
• Some respondents suggested that not issuing statements on geopolitical issues could be perceived as taking a position, and that abstaining from doing so could reflect poorly on our reputation.
  
  We fully understand and respect this comment and would ask that we also consider this from another perspective. Recent news coverage has brought attention to the horrific treatment of Afghani women, the war-induced famine in Sudan, China’s persecution of the Uighurs, soul- destroying repression in South Korea, the humanitarian disaster in Myanmar and terrible violence in Haiti. We don’t think our lack of public statements on these and many other global tragedies that regularly occur suggests we are unprincipled or indifferent. Indeed, it would be a formidable task to determine which events should and should not get our attention and then dedicate resources to craft statements that provide the nuance and complexity they demand. There is no timely way to produce statements on current political events that are meaningful and reflective of the diversity of viewpoints within the college.
  
  Colleges create opportunities for critical thinking, dialogue and values expression through their actions: operational planning, teaching, learning, programming, and events where discussions and perspectives come to life. At Selkirk College, we see this in our EDI, Indigenization and Sustainability Plans, our efforts to promote international exchanges, and Mir Centre for Peace programming, to name just a few.
• Some of the feedback referenced the role of the Mir Centre for Peace, specifically as it pertains to statements.
  
  Since 2004, the Mir Centre has offered courses and developed programming with a mission to understand and build cultures of peace through learning. The Mir Centre for Peace promotes learning and—importantly—dialogue in the community through programming, lectures, peace cafés and films, all of which are shared and promoted through official college channels. These activities directly address the Mir Centre mission by providing learning opportunities that encourage critical thinking and depolarized conversations.
  
  It’s important to note that the Mir Centre is not a separate entity. It is part of and funded by Selkirk College. As a result, Selkirk College is accountable for any statements made by the Mir Centre on college communications channels.
• Some commenters suggested that asking for feedback in the summer months was less than ideal, as many employees leave for summer holidays. Consultations on this policy started in early January 2024, as we expected a draft to be complete this past spring. However, we decided to take more time for these stakeholder consultations and thus extended the drafting process into the summer to maximize feedback opportunities.
• We heard concern that the policy might dictate the content of educational displays at the college, particularly book displays in the library. To make it clear that this is not the case, we have removed “Displays” from “Signage and Displays.”