department of education business continuity plan

• Skip to content
• Skip to search
• Staff portal (Inside the department)
• Student portal
• Key links for students

Other users

• Forgot password

Notifications

{{item.title}}, my essentials, ask for help, contact edconnect, directory a to z, how to guides, policy library.

• Give feedback

Business continuity management

This policy was consolidated with the Enterprise management policy under the 2023 Policy and procedure review program on 26/07/2024.

Refer to the Resilience and business continuity management procedures for instructions.

Changes since previous update

Document history

2024 Jul 26 – Business continuity management policy consolidated with the Enterprise management policy and removed from the policy library. Approved by the Chief Risk Officer.

2020 Feb 18 - updated contact details and made minor style and editing changes.

2019 Jun 05 - Updates to reference the new Strategy and Delivery division and deputy secretary. Update reference to the revised risk standard ISO31000

A complete revision of the Guidelines: New toolkit and Business Continuity Plan template & New Business Continuity Response Team Charter.

Updated roles and responsibilities, simplified guidelines, revised toolkit and template and new Business Continuity Response Team charter.

Previously reviewed in 2012 to align with AS/NZS5050:2010

Superseded documents

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Business Continuity Plan Basics
• Understanding BCPs
• Benefits of BCPs
• How to Create a BCP
• BCP & Impact Analysis
• BCP vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

• Business Continuity Plan FAQs

The Bottom Line

What is a business continuity plan (bcp), and how does it work.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? 

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster.

Key Takeaways

• Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
• BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and make sure they can function quickly when disaster strikes.
• BCPs should be tested to ensure there are no weaknesses, which can be identified and corrected.

Understanding Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

BCP involves defining any and all risks that can affect the company's operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks may include natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events, pandemics, acts of terrorism, or  cyber-attacks . Once the risks are identified, the plan should also include:

• Determining how those risks will affect operations
• Implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks
• Testing procedures to ensure they work
• Reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date

BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats, disruptions, or halts to the business activity for any period of time, mean not only losses and higher costs but also difficulty to start back again, which leads to a drop in profitability, financial loss, and protential bankruptcy and liquidations. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs or the customers who move to the competition. It is generally conceived in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and personnel.

Business impact analysis, recovery, organization, and training are all steps corporations need to follow when creating a Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of a Business Continuity Plan

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic. Business continuity planning is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of major disasters such as fires. BCPs are different from a disaster recovery plan, which focuses on the recovery of a company's information technology system after a crisis.

Consider a finance company based in a major city. It may put a BCP in place by taking steps including backing up its computer and client files offsite. If something were to happen to the company's corporate office, its satellite offices would still have access to important information.

An important point to note is that BCP may not be as effective if a large portion of the population is affected, as in the case of a disease outbreak. Nonetheless, BCPs can improve risk management—preventing disruptions from spreading. They can also help mitigate downtime of networks or technology, saving the company money.

How To Create a Business Continuity Plan

There are several steps many companies must follow to develop a solid BCP. They include:

• Business Impact Analysis : Here, the business will identify functions and related resources that are time-sensitive. (More on this below.)
• Recovery : In this portion, the business must identify and implement steps to recover critical business functions.
• Organization : A continuity team must be created. This team will devise a plan to manage the disruption.
• Training : The continuity team must be trained and tested. Members of the team should also complete exercises that go over the plan and strategies.

Companies may also find it useful to come up with a checklist that includes key details such as emergency contact information, a list of resources the continuity team may need, where backup data and other required information are housed or stored, and other important personnel.

Along with testing the continuity team, the company should also test the BCP itself. It should be tested several times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios . This will help identify any weaknesses in the plan which can then be corrected.

In order for a business continuity plan to be successful, all employees—even those who aren't on the continuity team—must be aware of the plan.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis. It identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis. The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers who are well acquainted with the business. These worksheets will summarize the following:

• The impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and process
• Identifying when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Completing the analysis can help companies identify and prioritize the processes that have the most impact on the business's financial and operational functions. The point at which they must be recovered is generally known as the “recovery time objective.”

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

BCPs and disaster recovery plans are similar in nature, the latter focuses on technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure. BCPs are more encompassing—focusing on the entire organization, such as customer service and supply chain. 

BCPs focus on reducing overall costs or losses, while disaster recovery plans look only at technology downtimes and related costs. Disaster recovery plans tend to involve only IT personnel—which create and manage the policy. However, BCPs tend to have more personnel trained on the potential processes. 

Why Is Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic and business continuity plans (BCPs) are an important part of any business. BCP is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of threats and disruptions. This could result in a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition.

What Should a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Include?

Business continuity plans involve identifying any and all risks that can affect the company's operations. The plan should also determine how those risks will affect operations and implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks. There should also be testing procedures to ensure these safeguards and procedures work. Finally, there should be a review process to make sure that the plan is up to date.

What Is Business Continuity Impact Analysis?

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis which identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis.

These worksheets summarize the impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and processes. They also identify when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts.

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.  

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15 - 17.

Ready. “ IT Disaster Recovery Plan .”

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15-17.

• Terms of Service
• Editorial Policy
• Privacy Policy

• Buildings & Facilities
• CommuterChoice
• Energy & Utilities
• Real Estate
• Sustainability
• Transit & Fleet

Departments

Energy & facilities.

• Events Management
• Global Support Services
• Harvard Faculty Club
• Harvard International Office
• Harvard Real Estate
• Harvard University Housing
• Office for Sustainability

Transportation

Business Continuity

Lab safety guidelines & sops.

Business continuity focuses on planning efforts that keep Harvard’s critical functions operational during and after disruptive incidents. It connects the emergency response and recovery phases in the emergency management cycle.

Proper business continuity planning improves Harvard's chance of minimizing losses from interruptions by keeping business like teaching and research running.

Schools and departments can use our central tools, templates, applications, and support to help develop their own business continuity program and plan.

Department Contact

Brian Mazmanian 617-495-2062 brian_mazmanian@harvard.edu

Did You Know?

There is a Harvard University Critical Position Policy . For a quick overview, watch the following video.

• Building Maintenance
• Fire Safety
• Shuttle Information
• Evening Van Service

University Operations Center

• Building Automation
• Fire Alarm Reporting
• Wireless Communication

School operations

Emergency and Critical Incident Management Planning

This policy outlines the school planning required to effectively respond to emergencies and incidents. This planning is documented in the school’s Emergency Management Plan.

Schools must:

• circumstances that pose a critical risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of one or more students or staff
• incidents requiring school closure, lockdown, or affecting the school’s ability to operate fully
• develop and maintain their plans using the Online EMP Portal External Link
• inform their school community how they will communicate with parents and carers in an emergency, and of any relocation/closure arrangements (for schools at bushfire risk) contained in their EMP (refer to the Resources tab External Link for letter templates)
• test emergency response procedures by conducting drills at regular intervals, at least quarterly per annum
• review the EMP at least annually by 1 September, and/or following an emergency or critical incident.

Schools must have a current EMP signed off by the principal that is reviewed at least annually by 1 September and following an emergency or critical incident.

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) under the Guidelines to the Minimum Standards and Requirements for School Registration External Link requires schools to have an EMP that addresses emergency and critical incidents.

The EMP must:

• be completed by government schools using the Online EMP Portal External Link
• incidents affecting the school’s ability to operate fully and which require responses such as adjustments to the school program, lockdown, evacuation, sheltering in place or school closure
• describe actions to take before, during and after an emergency or critical incident to ensure the ongoing safety of staff, students and others, and for restoring school operations/continuity of education.

A comprehensive site-specific risk assessment and corresponding response procedures are essential components of an EMP.

Schools are encouraged to seek advice from their regional manager operations and emergency management or emergency management support officers, local municipal councils and emergency service providers where possible, to inform the content of their EMP and their risk assessment.

• ensure that staff who have a nominated role in the EMP have a clear understanding of, and have practiced their role in the EMP
• ensure that all staff, students and regular users of the school site, such as out of school hours care, have an understanding of the EMPs response procedures
• inform their school community how they will communicate with parents and carers in an emergency situation, or any other information that the school considers essential to prepare the school community for action during an emergency (refer to the Resources tab External Link for letter templates)
• inform their school community of any relocation/closure and other pre-emptive arrangements if their site is at bushfire or grassfire risk – refer to the Bushfire and Grassfire Preparedness Policy
• take all preparatory steps identified in the EMP to prevent negative consequences from an emergency or critical incident, including any staff training
• test emergency arrangements for core emergency response procedures (as listed in your EMP) for a variety of emergency scenarios such as fire in the neighbourhood, intruder, or loss of an essential service, at least quarterly per annum.

The Minimum Standards for school registration require schools to update their EMP as required and review it at least annually and immediately after any significant incident.

Emergency drills

Practicing emergency response procedures through drills:

• ensures widespread familiarity with emergency response procedures and the capacity to efficiently and effectively implement them in a live emergency
• promotes more effective emergency response procedures, by ensuring that evacuation locations and pathways are practical and workable in different emergency scenarios and that safety will be maintained throughout the response procedure.

Fire services and police may be willing to assist schools with emergency testing by acting as observers or by reviewing school emergency procedures.

Emergency drills should be followed by a debriefing of all staff and the school’s incident management team (IMT) – refer to the Emergency and critical incident management planning guide for government schools (PDF) External Link for details on establishing an IMT.

Schools must document outcomes and lessons from the drill, with any required changes to response arrangements, incorporated into their EMP.

An emergency response drill observers’ record is available at Drill observer and debrief record (DOCX) External Link (staff login required).

Support with completing the EMP

For information on how to develop or update an EMP, refer to Emergency and critical incident management planning guide for government schools (PDF) External Link .

Schools requiring assistance with their EMP or the Online EMP Portal External Link may contact their regional manager, operations and emergency management or emergency management support officer.

Questions about emergency management arrangements and advice from the department may be directed to [email protected]

Questions about school business continuity and advice from the department may be directed to [email protected]

Emergency management planning for excursions and camps

Schools are required to undertake emergency management planning for certain excursions, overseas tours or camps – refer to Excursions for guidance.

Student activity locator

Victorian government and non-government schools are expected to use the Student Activity Locator External Link (staff login required) to record student activities and excursions that occur outside the school, or are in school but outside normal school hours.

By centrally recording offsite activities in the SAL, emergency services can quickly be notified of student locations in the event of an emergency or critical incident, at those locations.

Definitions

Emergency As defined in section 3 of the Emergency Management Act 2013 (Vic.): 'The actual or imminent occurrence of an event which in any way endangers or threatens to endanger the safety or health of any person in Victoria or which destroys or damages, or threatens to destroy or damage, any property in Victoria or endangers or threatens to endanger the environment or an element of the environment in Victoria including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing:

• an earthquake, flood, wind-storm or other natural event
• an explosion
• a road accident or any other accident
• a plague or an epidemic or contamination
• a security threat
• a hi-jack, siege or riot
• a disruption to an essential service.

These events ordinarily require a coordinated whole of school response.

An incident is an actual or alleged event or situation that:

• causes harm or creates a risk of causing harm to a student’s health, safety or wellbeing either directly or indirectly while under the care or supervision of the school, including international students
• impacts a student and is brought to the attention of the school, regardless of when or where it occurred, provided it is impacting on the student or other students within the school environment
• causes harm or creates a risk of causing harm to an employee’s health, safety or wellbeing either directly or indirectly in the work setting
• affects or risks affecting the continuity of school operations, including matters of security (including cyber security), property damage and emergencies
• requires police notification or involves matters of serious conduct
• is a WorkSafe notifiable incident .

Critical incidents requiring planning include, but are not limited to:

• child abuse
• medical emergency
• mental stress
• data or privacy breach
• missing student/person.

Related policies

• Bushfire and Grassfire Preparedness
• Crime Prevention in Schools
• PROTECT Child Safe Standards External Link
• Reporting and Managing School Incidents (including emergencies)
• Supervision of Students

Related legislation

• Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) External Link
• Emergency Management Act 1986 (Vic) External Link
• Emergency Management Act 2013 (Vic) External Link
• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) External Link

Incidents assessed as Low or Medium can be reported directly into eduSafe Plus External Link (staff login required) by the principal (or delegate). The principal (or delegate) is to contact the Incident Support and Operations Centre (ISOC) on 1800 126 126 to report 'High' or 'Extreme' severity incidents for support (report for support).

For general queries or feedback in relation to this policy or guidance, contact the Policy and Intelligence Unit, Security and Emergency Management Division by email: [email protected]

For support in completing the school online EMP refer to the section above on Support with completing the EMP.

Reviewed 05 August 2024

• Print whole topic

Policy last updated

30 September 2022

Security and Emergency Management Division There are multiple contacts for this topic. Refer to the contacts heading at the bottom of the page for details.

• (888) 244-1912
• [email protected]

• Understanding Business Continuity vs BDR: A Guide
• About Invenio IT
• Business Continuity

Business Continuity in Education & Acing Your School’s Disaster Response

• February 10, 2023

Imagine that you’re a school administrator finishing up a busy day of meetings with board members, reviewing curriculum changes, and approving facilities plans. As you start to shut down your computer, a message appears. Your systems have been hacked, exposing the data of thousands of students, faculty, and staff, and the attackers are demanding a staggering ransom. While this scenario might seem farfetched, it’s become reality for many school leaders around the world, and it’s the reason why business continuity in education has never been more important.

To establish a solid system of business continuity, academic institutions must first understand why it’s needed. In this article, we’ll explore the types of threats schools face and explain why a business continuity plan is one of the strongest tools you can employ against them.

Why Education Is a Target for Cyberattacks

Let’s begin with ransomware, which is one of the most dominant threats to every school. Modern cyber-criminals have good reasons for setting their sights on the education sector. Schools have not only a moral obligation but also a legal responsibility to protect student data. With accounting systems, student records, payroll, and financial data all at risk, hackers are willing to bet that schools will be willing to put up a substantial payment to restore their data.

Recent history has shown that schools will indeed pay when they feel it’s necessary. In 2021, a school district in San Antonio, Texas, paid more than half a million dollars to prevent hackers from releasing sensitive data. The district has since faced significant criticism, but it’s far from the first academic institution to make a desperate choice, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

Types of Threats in Education

Ransomware is only one part of the picture.

At a time when everything is stored digitally, data in higher education has become incredibly valuable, and the risks have grown in kind. From community colleges to elite private universities, all schools need to be prepared for a wide variety of adverse situations, including:

• Malware attacks and viruses
• Human errors like accidental file deletion
• Phishing attacks
• Misconfigured data migrations or overwrites
• Hardware failures
• Application crashes

Additionally, there’s the risk of physical damage to infrastructure through events like fires, floods, and tornadoes, which pose a hazard not only to your data but also to students, staff, and visitors.

All of these concerns should inform your institution’s business continuity planning. Weaknesses in any one area could spell disaster for an ill-prepared university.

Why Business Continuity in Education Is Essential

Whether a school experiences a cyber-attack or a natural disaster, the consequences can be far-reaching. Business continuity planning helps protect academic institutions from significant hardships in an increasingly more threatening landscape.

Ransom Attacks

Colleges and schools across the country have experienced a surge in ransomware attacks in recent years. While not every school has agreed to meet the attackers’ demands, many find themselves feeling pressured to pay in order to protect and restore their data.

Consider these alarming statistics from a recent study conducted by Sophos :

• 66% of higher education institutions experienced a ransomware attack in 2021 compared to 44% in 2020.
• 50% of higher education organizations paid ransom demands to restore their data, but only 2% recovered all their data after paying.
• Recovery rates for education are slow, with 9% of organizations saying that their recovery periods ranged between 3 and 6 months.

These statistics represent the real-life experiences of schools throughout the United States that have suffered as a result of ransomware. For instance, in the summer of 2022, the Cedar Rapids school district paid an undisclosed ransom to prevent hackers from releasing stolen data. Public school districts are notoriously underfunded, and ransomware attacks can put a significant burden on their budgets and on local taxpayers.

Ransomware attacks on colleges often operate on a larger scale. In 2021, a massive cyberattack affected hundreds of organizations , including California State University, Stanford University’s School of Medicine, and Yeshiva University in New York City. The hackers in this case stole private information from students, faculty, and staff, and in some cases shared screenshots of private data online. These hacks can cause schools long-lasting reputational damage and put them at risk of regulatory penalties.

Experts warn that college ransomware attacks are on the rise as hackers deploy more targeted attacks in hopes of securing larger ransom payments. In 2022, 44 universities and colleges reported experiencing ransomware attacks, and this number likely only represents a fraction of the actual incidents. Many organizations never report cyber-attacks and attempt to resolve them quietly without the public’s knowledge to avoid damage to their reputation.

Closure Risks

In late 2021, Lincoln College in Illinois received a ransom note stating that school administrators no longer had access to student enrollment, admissions, and fundraising data. The college paid a ransom through its cyber insurance policy, but doing so didn’t grant staff immediate access to their files. Instead, they struggled for months to fully recover. Ultimately, as a result of the attack, they permanently  closed their doors in May 2022 .

Lincoln College isn’t alone. A total of 48 colleges closed in 2022 , a notable uptick from 35 colleges in 2021. The closures are a result of a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber-attacks, reduced enrollment, and lost funding. Experts anticipate that closures will continue to rise, particularly among small schools that serve specific student populations. These schools, which tend to enroll fewer than 1,000 students, are the most at risk of being shuttered by an unexpected disaster.

A 2020 study by U3 Advisors found that the majority of colleges have increasing debt levels and decreasing revenues, which places them in an especially vulnerable position. The study also revealed that approximately 560 schools in higher education are at serious risk of closure or consolidation within the next several years even without taking into account the impact of COVID-19.

Even a single ransomware attack or extended period of downtime could be enough to force a small college to permanently close its doors, which is why schools of every size need to take continuity planning seriously.

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan for Colleges

Colleges and universities must have detailed plans for preventing, responding to, and recovering from a multitude of disaster scenarios. The foundation of this planning is a  business continuity plan (BCP). A BCP for colleges is much like the kind you would create for any other organization. It’s a comprehensive document that outlines all the systems and protocols for mitigating the impact of a disruption.

Consider Departmental Specifics

At a college, some departments may require their own specific continuity planning. For example, Alabama Crimson Tide’s multimillion-dollar football program may have completely different continuity objectives than its admissions department. However, even when department-specific plans are in place, there should still be a single college-wide BCP that provides a continuity framework for all other units to follow.

Incorporate Key Categories

A BCP is often a lengthy document that encompasses every aspect of disaster prevention and response. While every BCP should be developed according to the specific needs of the institution, these are some of the core categories that should be included in every plan:

• Plan objectives:  Identify what the plan aims to achieve and what its areas of focus are. You may need separate plans for disaster planning and IT-specific concerns.
• Key contacts : Establish who wrote the plan, who maintains it, and which stakeholders to inform first when it’s time to activate your recovery plans.
• Risks : Conduct an assessment of all likely disaster situations that pose a threat to a university’s operations, systems, or people.
• Impact : Analyze how each risk will negatively impact the organization.
• Prevention : Describe implemented systems and protocols for preventing disruptions from occurring.
• Response : Detail immediate steps for mitigating a disaster situation, assessing the damage, and getting people to safety.
• Recovery : List the procedures for fully restoring systems and operations.
• Contingencies : Compile a list of secondary resources, equipment, or locations that staff can utilize if primary means are destroyed or inaccessible.
• Communication : Outline how recovery personnel will remain in contact and communicate important status updates to all affected parties, including students, staff, parents, and visitors.
• Recommendations : Suggest improvements and solutions for weaknesses that your team has identified in the existing continuity planning.
• Plan review schedule : Create a timeline for reviewing the plan and making updates on a regular basis throughout the year.

Each of these categories serves a unique purpose within your BCP and allows you to develop the best possible system for protection and recovery. The risk assessment and impact analysis are arguably the most important components of a business continuity plan. Without them, you’ll never truly know which disaster scenarios to prepare for or how they would disrupt the school. Let’s dig a little deeper into these two categories.

Assess the Risks

It might seem logical to assume that all colleges face the same risks, but it’s critical for each institution to conduct an individual, specific assessment. While many institutions share the same common risk types, such as cyberattacks and power outages, some schools are naturally more prone to experience certain disruptions than others.

For example, schools located along the southeastern U.S. coastline will be more at risk of hurricanes, while universities in southern California will be more at risk of earthquakes. Other types of threats may seem more benign, but they can still cause significant disruptions. Consider large-scale political demonstrations and student sit-ins and how they might affect your school’s ability to operate. Each school will have its own unique risks, which is why it’s important to assess them all individually.

Understand the Impact

An impact analysis helps a higher education institution understand exactly how each threat would negatively affect operations. Negative outcomes can manifest in some ways that are obvious and others that are more unexpected. These are some of the most common impacts that your BCP should address:

• Anticipated length of the outage or interruption
• Cost of downtime, idle staff, and wages
• Cost of recovery and repairs
• Effects on classes, enrollment, and other operations
• Long-term effects on school funding and reputation

A thorough impact analysis will consider all these factors and how they translate into actual monetary costs.

Regardless of whether a university is public, private, for-profit, or non-profit, continuity planning is a matter of survival. Like any organization, schools must focus on continuity and the bottom line. A failure to understand the impact of a major disaster could spell doom, especially for an already struggling college.

How to Reduce Damage from Disasters

Schools may be facing unprecedented threats on multiple fronts, but there are ways to minimize the risks at your institution. Taking some fundamental steps will lower the chance that the effects will be insurmountable when a disaster arrives.

Perform Frequent Data Backups

When it comes to protecting your school’s data, backups have a vital role to play. Without them, institutions leave themselves open to the risk of prolonged downtime when data loss inevitably happens. Data loss and downtime are costly , often to the tune of millions of dollars, and higher education organizations have a lot at stake.

Consider the impact of a ransomware attack that blocks access to all student applications and records within an admissions department or the loss of financial aid applications and award statuses. Even a single accounting spreadsheet that somebody accidentally deletes can derail an entire department for days.

A recent study found that education institutions lost $3.56 billion to downtime caused by ransomware in 2021. The longer this downtime lasts, the more expensive it becomes. Using a reliable data backup solution  helps ensure that you can restore your data and get systems back up and running as quickly as possible. With high-quality data backup services, schools can also back up their files every few minutes to prevent gaps in their data restoration.

Prepare for Natural Disasters

Natural disasters pose a risk to both people and IT systems.

In preparation for a hurricane or blizzard, schools often cancel classes and close administrative offices. While this itself is an operational disruption, it’s also smart planning. Closing campuses leading up to a weather event ensures the safety of staff and students by allowing them to stay home or evacuate.

Behind the scenes, schools also take other precautions. In the event of a hurricane, for example, colleges face the risk of severe flooding and the potential for damage to IT infrastructure. They can keep their critical data secure by storing backups off-site, away from the physical threat of the storm, and using hybrid cloud backups . These backups store data in two locations: on campus for the fastest possible recovery speeds and in the cloud for added protection against on-site events.

Plan for Degraded Service in Addition to Full Recovery

Keep in mind that instant recovery from a major disaster is an unrealistic goal for any school, no matter how prepared. Your continuity planning needs to outline how critical functions should continue at a degraded service level.

First, identify which operations are most vital. In other words, determine which functions cannot be disrupted under any circumstances. Then identify what’s needed to keep those operations running at a minimum level, such as technology, equipment, personnel, and electricity.

Each operation, and indeed each unit of the college, will have its own requirements. To make full recovery a reality, you must have proper planning to keep these essential functions active while your systems are impaired.

Quickly Initiate Emergency Responses

The moments immediately following a disaster will almost always dictate the speed and success of the recovery. If steps aren’t taken quickly to assess the situation and mitigate the damage, then recovery efforts will stretch out longer. Schools with solid business continuity planning can activate disaster-response protocols right away, which substantially increases the odds of a full recovery.

Effectively responding to various types of disasters is challenging without a detailed emergency response plan. Designated recovery teams should know exactly what to do after a disruption, whether it’s people-focused (i.e. seeking safety for students) or IT-related (i.e. restoring a backup after data loss).

Take Advantage of Business Continuity Resources and Tools

Schools play a central role in students’ academic and social development, and business continuity is just one piece of a complex puzzle that ensures students receive the best possible experience in a safe environment free of disruptions or delays. If your school needs to implement strong continuity planning and systems, the experts at Invenio IT are happy to help.

Looking for a better data backup solution to protect student and staff information?  Request a free demo  of advanced data backup solutions that can protect against data loss, ransomware, and downtime. Or reach out to our business continuity team to learn more about disaster recovery and creating a BCP that works best for your school.

Join 23,000+ readers in the Data Protection Forum

Related articles.

Do you know what makes Datto Encryption So Secure?

The Truth about All Datto SIRIS Models for BCDR

Where’s My Data? 411 on Datto Locations around the Globe

2023 Guide to Datto SaaS Protection for M365 and Google Workspace

5 Datto Competitors to Compare (Plus Some Free Alternatives)

Cybersecurity.

© 2023 InvenioIT. All rights reserved.

Millions of student-loan borrowers are getting new details on qualifying for Biden's broader debt cancellation plan coming this fall

• The Education Department is moving forward with its broader student-loan forgiveness plan.
• It released new details on qualifying for the relief, set to be implemented this fall.
• It also sent emails to borrowers last week informing them of the August 30 deadline to opt out.

The Education Department is getting closer to delivering student-loan forgiveness to millions of borrowers.

Last week, the department announced it would be sending emails to all student-loan borrowers with at least one outstanding federal loan to update them on President Joe Biden's plan to cancel student debt using the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Expected to benefit more than 30 million borrowers, the plan would cancel some or all student debt for:

• Borrowers who owed more than they did when they first entered repayment
• Borrowers who entered repayment at least 20 years ago
• Borrowers who would be eligible for forgiveness through programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment but haven't yet applied
• And borrowers who attended schools that left them with too much debt compared to post-graduation earnings.

The emails sent last week also specified an August 30 deadline for borrowers to opt out of the relief by contacting their servicers. They may choose to opt out for a number of reasons, including avoiding potential state tax liabilities.

Along with the emails, the department recently updated its guidance on Federal Student Aid with more information on qualifying for this relief. Specifically, the department says that only borrowers who have "entered repayment on at least one of their loans when the debt relief is applied" would be "eligible for forgiveness on the loan(s) in repayment."

Related stories

This means that borrowers with federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans are considered to have entered into repayment once their grace period ends, typically six months after they finish school. Borrowers with PLUS loans are considered to have entered repayment when their loans are fully disbursed.

Once the department finalizes its rules, it's set to begin implementing the relief in the fall, and unless a borrower wishes to opt out, they don't need to take any action to qualify.

For borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan at the time of the relief, if they earn less than $120,000 a year individually or $240,000 as a married couple filing jointly, the amount of their current balance that is greater than their original balance would be forgiven under the proposed rule.

Borrowers not enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan would qualify for $20,000 in relief or the amount of their current balance that's greater than what they originally borrowed, whichever is smaller.

While the department is continuing to move forward with the finalization, the relief will probably run into legal challenges that could halt or block the plan.

Are you hoping to benefit from Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan? Will it influence your vote in the election? Share your story with this reporter at [email protected] om .

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

• Main content

Enter a Search Term

Business Continuity Planning

Departmental business continuity plan template.

Departmental Business Continuity Plan Template (DOCX)

Introduction

Plan structure and operation, crisis communication plan, critical operations, determining your critical operations, risk assessment of threats.

• Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

Policy and Objectives

Review and maintenance.

The safety and security of students, faculty, staff and the entire Pace Community is a top priority of the University’s leadership, and is an integral part of our commitment to excellence. Recognizing the increased risks of the world today, Pace University has enhanced its preparedness to respond to emergencies of all hazards by upgrading and integrating the various emergency response and disaster recovery plans that have been in place for the University’s critical operations, and by developing a comprehensive pre- through post-emergency response plan covering all campuses and operations of the University.

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a collection of resources, actions, procedures, and information that is developed, tested, and held in readiness for use in the event of a disaster or major disruption of operations. The objective of the Business Continuity Plan is to establish policies, procedures, and coordinate recovery of critical University functions. This plan will increase the University’s ability to respond to and recover from emergencies that may threaten the health and safety of the Pace Community or inhibit the University’s ability to continue its operations.

A comprehensive business continuity plan will help you maintain your central business activities while limiting the economic impact and allowing you to return to normal operations as quickly as possible. Each division and/or department responsible for performing one or more critical functions will develop a departmental business continuity plan and establish a structure to administer, update, and implement the plan. The intent is to minimize the amount of disruption any future emergency may cause to the department’s critical functions. This is accomplished by:

• Establishing an administrative structure within the department to deal with future emergencies.
• Investigating and preplanning appropriate responses to various types of potential emergencies.
• Identifying and implementing changes to current operating procedures that will reduce the department’s susceptibility to disruption from certain types of emergencies.
• Coordinating the department’s Business Continuity Plan with the plans of other departments that either provide services to or require services from the department.
• Formalizing the department’s Business Continuity Plan in written form.
• Maintaining a high level of knowledge and preparedness within the department’s plans for continuing operations during emergencies.

Back To Top

The mission and priorities of the University are protection of life, stabilization of the event, protection of the University environment, protection of University property, and restoration of critical services, including education and research programs.

The mission of every department is different. In order to accomplish their mission, each department must ensure operations can be performed with minimal disruptions during an emergency incident. The Business Continuity Plan ensures that the department has the capabilities to execute the mission’s essential functions as well as implement emergency support functions.

The overall goal is to ensure that all departments and business units of the University are prepared to rapidly restore critical functions in the aftermath of any emergency or disaster. Critical functions are those required to enable, support, and implement the safekeeping of our students, staff, and visitors and facilitate the resumption of academic, research, and administrative programs at Pace after an incident.

Departmental BCP Goals:

• Prepare the department for recovery
• Determine your critical functions
• Facilitate communications at all levels
• Identify your resource and personnel needs for normal operations
• Reduce vulnerabilities

Each department's Business Continuity Plan has three main components, each of which deals with separate but inter-related aspects of any emergency situation. These components are:

• Business Continuity Policy and Procedure | Activities, including substantial pre-planning and recovery efforts, aimed primarily at assuring that all critical functions and operations continue to be performed during and after any emergency situation.
• Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis | Assessments based on worst-case scenarios to determine impacts of critical functions caused by disaster situations.
• Testing and Review | Instructing all personnel on plan basics (communication, meeting place, priorities, etc), and evaluating competencies through tabletop exercises, drills, and simulations as part of campus testing initiatives.

The following objective of this plan are to:

• Undertake risk management assessment
• Identify and prioritize critical business functions
• Detail immediate response to critical incident
• Detail strategies and actions to be taken to ensure the continuance of operations

The Department of Emergency Management works with other University departments to ensure that the right people are notified at the right time in times of emergencies, disasters, and crises. The internal crisis communication plan should provide procedures for the coordination of communications within the department and among other University partners, while the external crisis communications plan should provide procedures for the coordination of communications with media and other outside organizations (including vendors) in the event of an emergency or other critical event

Internal Communication Plan

Describe how your department’s faculty, staff, student workers, and other workers will communicate with one another in the event of a disaster. Methods used include a ‘phone tree’ (include information or link to file with details); email; instant messaging; web pages; telephones; among others. All faculty and staff should update their personal information (address, phone numbers, etc.) on Pace Directory .

External Communication Plan

Describe how your department’s faculty and staff will communicate with external stakeholders (students, customers, parents, state officials, contractors, etc.) in the event of a disaster. Methods used include; email; instant messaging; web pages; telephones; among others. Please remember that all contact with the media will be coordinated by the Public Affairs office within University Relations.

Critical operations of each department can be severely impacted during emergency incidences. In order to become resilient, the risk management planning section outlines threats that may affect the overall operations of the department. The identification and analysis of the risks that may have an adverse effect on departmental functions are important to reduce or eliminate potential hazards.

The Business Continuity Plan outlines what the department believes are critical functions, how impaired functions can impact the department and in what ways, and lists preventive and contingency plans for each.

A major part of business continuity planning is identifying functions that define your operations. These are called critical operations . Critical operations are those services, programs, or activities that are necessary to on-going business of your department and would directly affect the success of your department if they were to stop for an extended period of time. The success of your department and the support you provide to the University rely on these functions. Stopping them for an extended period of time would cause an unacceptable disruption to your operations and possibly other departments or units as well.

Your essential operations will serve as your guide for how to restart your operations following a disaster or major disruption. They help answer the question “What is the minimum level of service or activity my department must offer to still be in business?” By identifying and prioritizing your essential functions, you can determine which personnel, facilities, equipment, and materials are absolutely necessary to keep your department functioning following a disaster or major disruption. One way to determine your essential operations is to look at your department table of organization. This should help your identify the general functions that you preform.

Asking each staff member to make a list of their essential duties and responsibilities is another way to determine your essential operations. In general you should be able to organize your functions into four to six essential operations, more if you are a highly complex department or unit. If your list of functions is long, consider grouping similar activities into a single function. Example: General Office Management can include all administrative tasks. Manage ITS can include all IT tasks such as updating your website and troubleshooting computer issues.

Priority Rating: Critical Importance: Operation directly impacts the life, health, safety, or security of the Pace community and stopping would have significant consequences. Max. Allowed Recovery Time: < 4 hours

Priority Rating: High Importance: Operation must continue at normal or increased level. Pausing for more than 24 hours may cause significant consequences or serious harm to business operations, upstream and downstream dependent organizations or units, revenue and finances, reputation, or other core mission services Max. Allowed Recovery Time: < 24 hours

Priority Rating: Medium Importance: Operation must be continued if at all possible, perhaps in reduced mode. Stopping for more than one week may cause major disruption to business operations, upstream and downstream dependent organizations or units, revenue and finances, or other core mission services. Max. Allowed Recovery Time: < 1 week

Priority Rating: Low Importance: Operation could be suspended for up to one month without causing significant disruption to business operations, upstream and downstream dependent organizations or units, revenue and finances, or other core mission services Max. Allowed Recovery Time: < 1 month

Priority Rating: Deferable Importance: Operation may pause and resume when conditions permit. Deferring this function for more than one month may cause slight disruption to business operations, upstream and downstream dependent organizations or units, revenue and finances, or other core mission services Max. Allowed Recovery Time: > 1 month

Critical Operations General Examples:

• Academic Records/Transcripts
• Registration
• Athletic Game Operations
• Course Instruction
• Dining Operations
• Housekeeping and Utilities
• Critical Research

Business Impact Analysis

Business impact analysis (BIA) assist management in identifying critical functions that are essential to the survival of the department. BIA evaluates how quickly a department can return to full operation following a disaster situation. BIA also looks at the type of resources required to resume business.

BIA assumes the worst-case scenario such as infrastructure damage, destruction of records and equipment, absenteeism of essential employees, the inaccessibility of the site for weeks or months. The objective of the BIA is to help departments estimate financial impacts, intangible operational impact, and estimates the recovery time frame.

Risk assessment of threats involves evaluating hazards relating to man-made and natural disasters and recognizing their potential effects. This can assist the department in taking measures necessary to ensure the continuity of business.

Four overall risks to address:

• Loss of infrastructure including power and communications
• Loss of a building
• Loss of personnel
• Loss of location – you can’t access a portion of, or the entire campus

The purpose of the each department's policy and procedure is to formalize a plan that establishes policies, procedures, and an organizational structure for response to emergencies. The plan identifies clear strategies and roles and responsibilities of various staff members during the initial response and throughout the emergency. Nothing in this plan shall be construed in a manner that limits the use of good judgment and common sense in matters not foreseen or covered by the elements of the plan. The plan and organization shall be subordinate to State and Federal plans during a disaster declaration by those authorities.

Maintenance is always required to ensure plans work. It is suggested that you do the following tasks to make sure your department's BCP is always current:

• Update communication lists quarterly
• Update overall plan annually
• Update BCP after a test (drill, tabletop, etc.) or emergency
• Update BCP when external or internal factors change

Departments should train all personnel on plan basics, such as communication plans, meeting places, priorities, etc. Different ways to train employees include meetings, tabletops, drills, seminars, workshops, and simulations. These trainings should all be recorded in the department's BCP.

Seminar A seminar is an informal discussion, designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures (e.g., a seminar to review a new emergency communication procedure).

Workshop A workshop resembles a seminar, but is employed to build specific products, such as a draft plan or policy (e.g., a Training and Exercise Plan Workshop is used to develop a Multi-year Training and Exercise Plan).

Tabletop A tabletop exercise involves key personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting. TTXs can be used to assess plans, policies, and procedures.

Drill A drill is a coordinated, supervised activity usually employed to test a single, specific operation or function within a single entity (e.g., a fire department conducts a decontamination drill).

Simulation A simulation is a practice activity that places participants in a simulated situation requiring them to function in the capacity expected of them in a real event

How the Education Department Wants to Police Online Education

The department says it needs more data about online education to hold those programs accountable. Institutions say the agency is overcorrecting.

By  Katherine Knott

You have / 5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in.

More than half of U.S. students took at least one online class in the 2022–23 academic year. The Education Department is proposing a number of changes to gather more data about how students fare in those courses.

Alena Butusava/Getty Images

The Education Department wants to collect much more information about distance education courses and the students enrolled in them as part of a broader effort to increase oversight of online programs.

The department’s proposal would require colleges and universities to take attendance in distance education classes, which include those offered online or via correspondence. Institutions also would have to provide more information to the agency about those classes’ enrollment. Additionally, the department proposes to end any asynchronous options for students in online clock-hour programs, which are typically workforce training programs that lead to a certificate.

The proposed changes worry some higher education groups, which say they could hamper innovation, unfairly target online classes and limit access for students who could benefit from the flexibility that online education provides. The department and advocates say the new regulations are needed to ensure oversight of online education—which increased during and following the pandemic—and track the outcomes of students in those programs. In the 2022–23 academic year, about 53 percent of U.S. students enrolled in at least one online course.

Edward Conroy, a senior policy manager at New America, a left-leaning think tank, said the additional data will shed light on whether the programs are effective—and for which students.

“Schools should want this information, because if it’s not proving to be effective, then we need to find ways to improve it,” he said. “I don’t think online education is going away, and so if it’s going to be part of our lives, then we need to make it good.”

The proposals are part of a package of draft regulations that also include provisions to open up a federal college-prep program to undocumented students. The regulations were posted on the Federal Register last week and are open for public comments until Aug. 23. If they are finalized and issued before Nov. 1, they would take effect by July 1 of next year.

With this package and other regulatory changes still in the works , the Biden administration is aiming to better protect students and give them greater control over how their financial aid is used, while increasing oversight regarding colleges. Critics say the changes reflect the Education Department’s growing skepticism of the quality of online education and whether these programs pay off for students.

Jordan DiMaggio, vice president of policy and digital strategy at UPCEA, the online and professional education association, said that the department’s goals are laudable, but this proposal and other actions raise questions about the agency’s motivations.

“There’s questions on whether the department is truly focused on protecting students’ outcomes and taxpayer dollars,” he said. “Or do they kind of reveal an antiquated bias against online education that’s framed by some suspicion and distrust of the field as a whole?”

He added that the department’s rationale for some of the changes seems to be rooted in the assumption that online education is bad—and is drawing from data from the early days of the pandemic, when universities quickly switched to remote instruction.

“It sort of feels like using last month’s weather forecast to plan today’s outfit,” he said. “We’re looking at the worst of the worst in a time when [some] institutions had no idea how to teach online … We’re in a vastly different place.”

What the Department Wants to Change

The department says it’s simply trying to ensure that students are getting what they pay for with distance education programs. The various changes will help the department “better measure and account for student outcomes, improve oversight over distance education and ensure students are receiving effective education,” according to the proposed regulations. One big change: Colleges would be required to create a virtual location to house all their programs that are offered entirely online or through correspondence, which would not have to be approved by accreditors or state officials. ( Note: This paragraph originally stated that accreditors and state officials have to approve new virtual locations, and has been corrected to reflect that they do not. )

In 2022–23, a little over 3,700 institutions of higher education offered at least one distance education course. But current federal reporting requirements don’t distinguish between on-campus programs and those offered online or in a hybrid format. The department also can’t tell how much federal financial aid is going specifically to distance education programs. To address that information gap, the department is proposing new reporting requirements related to distance education enrollment along with the virtual location.

The reporting requirements would require colleges to break down whether students enrolled in a distance education course are fully online or hybrid, though the specific details have yet to be determined.

Editors’ Picks

• AAUP Ends Two-Decade Opposition to Academic Boycotts
• Under New Florida Law, Eight Adjunct Unions Are Dissolved
• Inside an HBCU’s Big Endowment Push

Next, all distance education courses will have to take attendance as part of a proposal to more accurately determine when a student withdraws from a program, except for doctoral dissertation research courses. That withdrawal date is key to calculating how much federal financial aid should be returned to the government by either the institution or the student. The department says the proposal will help students better pay down any balance owed after they withdraw while simplifying the calculation for institutions.

DiMaggio and others said that implementing the attendance requirement will be complicated and likely require more systematic changes to institutions’ learning management systems and other software. The department is underestimating the difficulty institutions will face in complying, they say.

The department expects an institution to spend about 10 hours to initially implement the attendance requirement and then about 10 minutes a day to capture the necessary information for their records. The agency estimates that about half of the institutions offering distance education courses are already taking attendance.

“Institutions can often easily determine when students stop attending because a school’s systems can often identify when students submit assignments or interact with instructors and students during lectures and course discussions,” officials wrote.

DiMaggio said he doesn’t think that’s the case. “And many of our institutions have indicated to us that that’s not the case,” he added.

Another key change in this package rolls back a 2020 rule change that allowed asynchronous learning activities—such as watching a prerecorded video—to count toward the required number of clock hours in a distance education course. Clock-hour programs tend to be shorter term and career focused, requiring hands-on instruction to prepare students for employment in a certain field.

The 2020 change “puts students and taxpayers at risk,” officials wrote in the proposed rule, citing its oversight and compliance activities. Officials added that “asynchronous learning in clock-hour programs has often consisted of playing videos, reading assignments or scrolling through pages,” which results in a “substandard education” for students. Additionally, students have told the agency that a lack of direct engagement with instructors “hampered their ability to obtain the skills necessary to pass certification exams or obtain a job in their field.”

The department believes that “very few institutions” would be affected, though it doesn’t have data about how many programs include asynchronous elements.

Conroy of New America said that the changes to the distance education regulations reflect the “huge shift in how people go through higher education.” That includes more students enrolling in a mix of in-person and online classes.

“If that’s going to be a big part of how higher education is delivered, we need to know what’s happening with it, and we need to be able to provide students who enroll solely online with similar or the same protections if something goes sideways, as we do for students who enroll in person,” he said.

‘Needs to Be a Better Solution’

Critics of the proposal say that the department is making unnecessary and sweeping decisions in response to some bad practices, particularly when it comes to the changes to asynchronous learning activities in clock-hour programs.

“They’re right that there’s some really bad practices out there, but they’ve also said themselves that there are institutions that have spent a lot of money and spent a lot of time and effort in order to make sure that they’re right,” said Russell Poulin, executive director of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s Cooperative for Educational Technologies, or WCET. “There needs to be a better solution than this one.”

Poulin and others at WCET say the proposed changes will make it more complicated for institutions to offer distance education rather than simplifying processes. For example, complying with the attendance requirement is more complicated than just “counting noses.” For distance education, it’s not just a question of whether a student showed up or logged in but also whether they participated in the class. That would have to be determined by the faculty member reviewing a student’s file, they said, and measures of academic engagement could vary depending on how the class is structured.

“There are loads of little processes that get put into this that’s far from simplification,” Poulin said.

Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education, said that eliminating asynchronous instruction in the clock-hour programs could hinder students considered nontraditional, such as parents.

“Because they can do it at their own pace,” he said. “They’re working two or three jobs. They’re trying to support their families in whatever ways, and they don’t have the luxury to have a carved-out time every week to go sit in the classroom with their peers and learn. What you’re doing is you are limiting the ability of these students to access postsecondary education by using student aid funding, and this could have a huge impact on low-income students.”

Guillory added that the other changes, from the attendance requirement to the virtual location, will likely mean that colleges—some of which are already underresourced—will have to expend more resources and manpower to comply.

“It just adds more stress and burden upon the men and women on our campuses that are really trying to best produce quality academic programming, ensure teaching and learning on campuses, and it’s just more red tape that they have to deal with,” he said.

The Crisis of Disclosure on Our Campuses

As students reveal upsetting personal information to us, we must help them transform it in ways that become meaningfu

Share This Article

More from government.

‘A New Low’: Civil Rights Chief Calls Out Discrimination on Campuses

Catherine Lhamon said Thursday that the handling of discrimination on college campuses has hit “a new low” and that p

How Biden’s Title IX Reform Became a Legal Morass

Conservatives have partly stymied the administration’s efforts to overhaul Title IX, getting the new regulations

The Rise of ‘Anti-OPMs’

Online program managers have long been criticized for their decades-long contracts and revenue-sharing models.

• Become a Member
• Sign up for Newsletters
• Learning & Assessment
• Diversity & Equity
• Career Development
• Labor & Unionization
• Shared Governance
• Academic Freedom
• Books & Publishing
• Financial Aid
• Residential Life
• Free Speech
• Physical & Mental Health
• Race & Ethnicity
• Sex & Gender
• Socioeconomics
• Traditional-Age
• Adult & Post-Traditional
• Teaching & Learning
• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Publishing
• Data Analytics
• Administrative Tech
• Alternative Credentials
• Financial Health
• Cost-Cutting
• Revenue Strategies
• Academic Programs
• Physical Campuses
• Mergers & Collaboration
• Fundraising
• Research Universities
• Regional Public Universities
• Community Colleges
• Private Nonprofit Colleges
• Minority-Serving Institutions
• Religious Colleges
• Women's Colleges
• Specialized Colleges
• For-Profit Colleges
• Executive Leadership
• Trustees & Regents
• State Oversight
• Accreditation
• Politics & Elections
• Supreme Court
• Student Aid Policy
• Science & Research Policy
• State Policy
• Colleges & Localities
• Employee Satisfaction
• Remote & Flexible Work
• Staff Issues
• Study Abroad
• International Students in U.S.
• U.S. Colleges in the World
• Intellectual Affairs
• Seeking a Faculty Job
• Advancing in the Faculty
• Seeking an Administrative Job
• Advancing as an Administrator
• Beyond Transfer
• Call to Action
• Confessions of a Community College Dean
• Higher Ed Gamma
• Higher Ed Policy
• Just Explain It to Me!
• Just Visiting
• Law, Policy—and IT?
• Leadership & StratEDgy
• Leadership in Higher Education
• Learning Innovation
• Online: Trending Now
• Resident Scholar
• University of Venus
• Student Voice
• Academic Life
• Health & Wellness
• The College Experience
• Life After College
• Academic Minute
• Weekly Wisdom
• Reports & Data
• Quick Takes
• Advertising & Marketing
• Consulting Services
• Data & Insights
• Hiring & Jobs
• Event Partnerships

4 /5 Articles remaining this month.

Sign up for a free account or log in.

• Sign Up, It’s FREE

Advertisement

Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues

As governor of Minnesota, he has enacted policies to secure abortion protections, provide free meals for schoolchildren, allow recreational marijuana and set renewable energy goals.

• Share full article

By Maggie Astor

• Aug. 6, 2024

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the newly announced running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, has worked with his state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to enact an ambitious agenda of liberal policies: free college tuition for low-income students, free meals for schoolchildren, legal recreational marijuana and protections for transgender people.

“You don’t win elections to bank political capital,” Mr. Walz wrote last year about his approach to governing. “You win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”

Republicans have slammed these policies as big-government liberalism and accused Mr. Walz of taking a hard left turn since he represented a politically divided district in Congress years ago.

Here is an overview of where Mr. Walz stands on some key issues.

Mr. Walz signed a bill last year that guaranteed Minnesotans a “fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about reproductive health care on issues such as abortion, contraception and fertility treatments.

Abortion was already protected by a Minnesota Supreme Court decision, but the new law guarded against a future court reversing that precedent as the U.S. Supreme Court did with Roe v. Wade, and Mr. Walz said this year that he was also open to an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would codify abortion rights.

Another bill he signed legally shields patients, and their medical providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state where abortion is banned.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .