SPACE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

UC Santa Cruz

Introduction

These Space Management Principles for UC Santa Cruz were recommended by the Space Policy Committee and approved by the Chancellor. These principles were established to provide a comprehensive framework for assignment of space in order to facilitate more effective management of space resources.

The campus must manage its space resources with the utmost care. This is particularly true now, as the campus does not currently have sufficient space (both in terms of quantity and programmatic suitability) to meet the needs of all its academic programs and student and administrative services. For example, for fall 1994 the campus' space for instruction and research programs (about 24% of total campus space) totals only about 85% of the space generated by enrollment workload factors according to California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) guidelines (see Section 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 for more information on CPEC space guidelines). Once the campus begins to grow again, this percentage will drop even lower before new buildings not already funded for construction can be built.

As a result, current space assignments may need to change, and when new buildings are completed, the disposition of space in the new buildings and the released space in existing buildings may change from what was originally planned.

Included in this paper are general criteria for establishing the need for space (Section 1) and guiding planning principles (Section 2), both of which should always be considered when planning space or when assigning or reassigning space. Also included is information on who is responsible for space and how space is assigned and reassigned (Sections 3.1 through 3.3). Because academic offices are particularly in short supply, the next section (3.4) addresses the assignment of academic offices. The last two sections include a description of the four campus space committees (Section 4) and information on the space reassignment process (Section 5).

Purpose of Principles

The purpose of these principles is to establish a comprehensive framework for assignment and management of space in order that campus space be used efficiently and effectively to meet the campus' academic mission.

Within the planning process, space is considered as much a campus resource as faculty, staff, or support dollars. Accordingly, campus space resources should be used in the best possible manner, keeping in mind that the campus, in approving a campus program, pledges itself to commit resources to sustaining that campus program.

1. Criteria for Establishing the Need for Space

• 1.1 Traditional quantitative and technical considerations are used to determine space needs.
  
  • Instruction and Research Space Criteria
    
    1.1.1 Workload factors for instruction and research space are based on the FTE needing space for each activity. These factors include student course enrollments, weekly student contact hours in facilities, and numbers of faculty, graduate students, post-docs, teaching assistants, staff, and other personnel.
    
    1.1.2 The California Postsecondary Education Commissions (CPEC) space standards are used to calculate a broad envelope of space need for instruction and research activities. CPEC standards are intended to be used as overall planning and budgeting tools. They should not be applied to individual programs without a thorough review of the program and necessary adjustments to the standards. Roughly, CPEC standards quantitatively calculate:
    
    (Workload Factors) x (CPEC Standards) = Activity Space Need
    
    Campus practice has been to balance instruction and research space between the divisions when adding new buildings and considering the disposition of associated release space.
    
  • Library Space Criteria
    
    1.1.3 Library space needs are based on numbers of users, collection size, and library staffing.
    
  • Administrative Space Criteria
    
    1.1.4 Office adequacy analysis establishes the numbers of offices and the amount of office space required to house people in all administrative activities across the campus. (When adding new personnel or new programs, associated space needs must be identified by the unit requesting the addition.)
    
• 1.2 Individual program considerations will modify the quantitative techniques for determining space need.
  
  • All Space Criteria
    
    1.2.1 The location, functional layout, and attributes of certain space (especially interim space arrangements) may have a detrimental effect on programs even though the space is quantitatively adequate.
    
    1.2.2 The establishment of new programs may require allocation of space. Existing programs may be disbanded, combined, or reorganized and thus require the reallocation of space.
    
    1.2.3 Codes governing safety, seismic design, handicap accessibility, energy conservation, environmental concerns, etc. can modify space allocation requirements.
    
  • Instruction and Research Space Criteria
    
    1.2.4 Changing instructional methodology and changing curriculum may increase or decrease standards for classrooms and teaching labs.
    
    1.2.5 The level and nature of research activity and the different and changing state-of-the-art for instrumentation required to support research may call for more or less space than specified in the standards.
    
    1.2.6 Unique programs may need special space considerations. For example, the use of some biological and radiological materials results in specific facility requirements.

2. Guiding Planning Principles

The following general space management principles apply to all campus units (e.g., academic units, administrative units, housing, and student services):

• The campus values flexibility and responds to the need for change.
• Campus space can be reassigned.
• The campus analyzes and determines appropriate space assignments and plans for future space projects (e.g., projected future enrollments and room utilization).

When managing space resources, the following planning principles should be considered (the first three principles listed are mainly applicable to campus academic space planning):

• 2.1 When possible, if units desire to consolidate their space assignments for reasons of academic interaction and administrative efficiency, contiguous spaces should be provided.
• 2.2 Clustering of cross-disciplinary groups with common research or teaching interests should be facilitated. Interdisciplinary activity is much valued and space throughout the campus should be provided that nurtures such intellectual propinquity.
• 2.3 Where possible, space should be provided for innovative undergraduate teaching programs being developed by the colleges.
• 2.4 The original purpose and funding of a building and any formal process resulting in a change to the original purpose (e.g., renovations funded from a different source) that has occurred over the years should be a consideration.

3. Responsibility for and Assignment of Space

• 3.1 Responsibility for Space Resources
  
  Space is owned by the University. The Chancellor has overall responsibility for the equitable and optimum use of space resources, with the final authority over all space allocations and assignments. The Chancellor delegates authority to the following campus officers (representing all campus units, including academic units, administrative units, housing, and student services):
  • The Executive Vice Chancellor is responsible for space to support all instruction and research, organized research, academic support, and academic administration.
  • The Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs is responsible for space to support housing and student life services and student administrative services.
  • The Vice Chancellor of Business and Administrative Services is responsible for space to support institutional services.
  • The Assistant Chancellor for Human Resources is responsible for space to support human resources, affirmative action, and Title IX.
  • The Assistant Chancellor for University Advancement is responsible for space to support development and alumni services.
  • The Chancellor's Executive Assistant is responsible for space to support the Public Information Office, the Ombudsman, and Governmental Relations Office.
    
    Due to the shortage of space, campus space should not be assigned to non-campus organizations for other than fee-based temporary or occasional use.

Appendix A is a chart of Space Assignments and Reassignments responsibilities.

Appendix B includes tables showing space assignments in each campus building. The first table lists space by building and indicates the campus officers listed above to whom space in each building is currently assigned (fall 1994). Additional tables provide further breakdowns of the space assignments. These tables will be updated annually based on the official fall facilities inventory.

• 3.2 Assignment and Reassignment of Space
  
  Assignment of Space
  
  Campus officers may allocate space under their jurisdiction to units reporting to them, and units may allocate space to subunits (see Definition of Terms for definition of officers, units, and subunits). For example, the Executive Vice Chancellor allocates space to the four deans of the divisions, and they, in turn, allocate space to the boards of studies.
  
  Reassignment of Space
  
  Using the guiding planning principles listed in Section 2 above, the campus space planning philosophy assumes a flexible allocation of space, with the capability to increase or decrease the resources available to any campus unit (including academic units, administrative units, housing, or student services) as needs change. Recognizing that needs change, the Chancellor may reassign space. An officer, a unit, a subunit, or an individual may also initiate a reassignment of space. See Appendix C for three examples of space reassignments, summarized as follows:
  
  • Example 1 - Reassignment of space from one officer to another officer:
    • requires Space Policy Committee or Working Subcommittee review and recommendation to the Chancellor, and
    • requires Chancellor's approval.

An example would be Business and Administration Services space reassigned to the Executive Vice Chancellor.

• Example 2 - Reassignment of space from one unit to another unit (reporting to the same officer):
  • does not require Space Policy Committee or Working Subcommittee review (unless disputed or recommendation of Space Policy Committee or Working Subcommittee is requested), and
  • requires Chancellor's approval.

An example would be space from one division reassigned to another division.

• Example 3 - Reassignment of space within one unit:
  • does not require Space Policy Committee or Working Subcommittee review,
  • does not require Chancellor's approval, and
  • reassignment reported to Capital Planning and Space Management through annual FDX update process.

An example would be space from one board reassigned to another board within the same division.

Records of all reassignments will be kept by Capital Planning and Space Management.

When space is planned for reassignment in a college (e.g., one division or board to another division or board), the college provost should be kept informed.

For more information on the campus space committees, see Section 4 below and Appendix D. Appendix E Space Reassignment Flow Chart graphically illustrates the process for space reassignments.

• Reassignment of Released Space
  
  When a new building is planned, space in existing buildings will generally be released for other programs. The Campus Space Plan (shown in Changes in Assignable Area By Year tables) includes the disposition of this space. As part of the justification for additional campus space, plans for the disposition of released space is identified in somewhat broad terms and included in documents (e.g., a Project Planning Guide) which are submitted to the Office of the President and to the State.
  
  However, during the approximately five to seven years it takes to plan and complete a new building and release space in existing buildings, the programmatic needs and space requirements of the campus can change. Continual review must occur and detailed plans for disposition of individual rooms should be done closer to the time the space will be released.
• 3.3 Temporary Reassignment of Space
  
  Space can be transferred temporarily without review by the Space Policy Committee or Working Subcommittee or the Chancellor's approval. The terms of the agreement of the transfer, including the purpose, the time period, and any funds that will spent on alterations, shall be in writing and submitted to Capital Planning and Space Management (which functions as the "title office" for such campus agreements).
  
  If a temporary reassignment is in dispute and a resolution cannot be reached, it should be submitted to the appropriate Space Committee, which will make a recommendation to the Chancellor.
  
  Official space inventory reports show space assigned to the current primary user. Secondary records will be kept by Capital Planning and Space Management for the temporary reassignment of space and the terms of the reassignment agreement.
• 3.4 Assignment of Office Space
  
  Campus office space is reviewed periodically through office adequacy analyses prepared by Capital Planning and Space Management and distributed to Space Policy Committee and Working Subcommittee members. Academic offices comprise approximately 7% of campus space, excluding residential spaces, and approximately 30% of all campus office space.
  • 3.4.1 Assignment of Academic Offices
    
    There will always be insufficient academic offices to meet the needs of the divisions' instruction and research programs and the colleges' core courses and special programs. Thus, this section will provide additional principles on the assignment of academic offices.
    • 3.4.1.1 Individuals should not be assigned more than one academic office.
    • 3.4.1.2 Although academic (instruction and research) space is assigned to divisions, academic office space should be provided to the colleges to support their core and college-sponsored courses.
      
      Divisional deans and college provosts should meet to discuss academic program plans and needs on a regular basis (a minimum of once a year). Included in this discussion should be any future college programs, core courses, divisional academic plans (including any need for consolidation in a discipline and future faculty and graduate student growth), and associated space needs. A summary or "memo of understanding" should be written and signed by all parties involved after these discussions in order to provide continuity for new provosts and deans. A copy should be provided to Capital Planning and Space Management.
      
      A formula to determine the allocation for each college will be based on a percentage of college instructional load to the total campus instructional load and applied to the number of offices available overall. As core courses are taught in most colleges only during fall quarter, reciprocal agreements for the three quarters may be made between the colleges and divisions.
    • 3.4.1.3 Academic offices are allocated by a unit director according to the needs of the unit. In many circumstances, the following guidelines for priorities are used to assign academic offices:
      1. Ladder-rank faculty
      2. Full-time teaching faculty (including security-of-employment lecturers and recalled VERIP faculty and emeriti)
      3. Temporary quarter assignments of teaching visitors (e.g. teaching fellows, associates, or lecturers)
      4. Post-docs
      5. Teaching Assistants
      6. Visiting scholars (if visiting scholars bring funding to the campus, they receive a higher priority)

4. Space Committees

The main committee that deals with campus space is the Space Policy Committee, with two committees reporting to it: the Space Policy Working Subcommittee and Classroom Subcommittee.

• 4.1 Space Policy Committee
  
  Advises and makes recommendations to the Chancellor on matters of capital planning and space issues, including overall space policy, principles, goals, space plans, and capital improvement programs.
• 4.2 Space Policy Working Subcommittee
  
  Reports to the Space Policy Committee and both irons out operational problems, including space reassignments and disputes, and distills major policy questions on matters of capital planning and space management.
  • 4.2.1 Space Evaluation Team
    
    Reports to the Space Policy Working Subcommittee. Evaluates and makes recommendations on space assignment disputes, and on space that may not be fully or properly utilized. The team has a panel of members convened on an on-call basis. A team member will be excluded when there is a conflict of interest.
  • 4.3 Classroom Subcommittee
    
    Reports to the Space Policy Working Subcommittee on classroom utilization, design, and other classroom space issues.

Appendix D is a diagram of the functions and reporting relationships of these committees.

5. Space Reassignment Process

A Space Reassignment Flow Chart (Appendix E) is attached to illustrate graphically the process for requesting space reassignments.