1. Purpose
2. Repository Architecture
3. Standards and Inheritance
4. Ownership and Governance
5. Access and Maintenance

GC-STEM/.github is the authoritative source for default GitHub community standards and templates across Southern New Hampshire University's Global Campus STEM repositories.

It provides:

• Community standards: Conduct, contribution, accessibility, security, and support policies.
• Templates: Default issue, pull request, and discussion templates.
• Organization profile: Public content in profile/README.md.
• Supplemental documentation: Shared STEM guidance in the repository wiki.

Guiding principle: Define shared standards once, maintain them centrally, and preserve course-specific autonomy.

GC-STEM uses five layers with distinct ownership and responsibilities.

GitHub provides supported community documents and templates from this public .github repository to other GC-STEM-owned repositories that do not define their own.

• Community documents: May be stored in .github/, the repository root, or docs/. GitHub checks those locations in that order.
• Issue forms: Store in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/.
• Discussion forms: When provided, store in .github/DISCUSSION_TEMPLATE/.
• Single pull request template: Store in .github/pull_request_template.md.
• Overrides: Repository-specific files take precedence. A repository's own issue templates or issue-template configuration replace the default issue-template set.
• Local copies: GitHub displays inherited defaults without adding them to the receiving repository. They are not included in its clones or downloads.
• CS course templates: crs000 supplies initial course structure and configuration. Later changes do not propagate automatically.
• Wikis: Maintained independently and never inherited automatically.
• Student-owned repositories: GC-STEM defaults do not automatically apply.

The issue forms in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ serve this repository and provide defaults for eligible GC-STEM repositories. Root-level ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ files do not provide default issue forms.

Keep required course materials and approved alternatives in the course repository or official learning environment. Required local guidance must be included explicitly in the course repository.

LICENSE, CODEOWNERS, .gitattributes, .editorconfig, and GitHub Actions workflows are not inherited through this mechanism. Manage required copies separately.

See GitHub's default community health file documentation.

Changes belong in the repository that owns the affected resource:

• STEM-wide community standards: .github
• Shared STEM documentation: .github.wiki
• CS master templates and configuration: crs000
• Shared CS documentation: crs000.wiki
• Course-specific resources: Applicable csXXX repository or wiki
• Student work: Student-owned repositories and development environments

Changes should be proposed through pull requests, reviewed by the appropriate maintainers, and validated before adoption.

Institutionally controlled materials require applicable approvals, including SNHU General Counsel for licensing, Marketing for branding, and designated academic authorities for instructional content.

Shared standards must not silently overwrite course-specific content, approved exceptions, or student work.

The .github repository remains public to support GitHub's organization-wide defaults. Repository write access is controlled by authorized GC-STEM maintainers.

Students access course materials through their course repositories. Their coursework may also be completed and submitted without GitHub, using supported development environments and Brightspace.

Goal: Consistent, accessible, secure, and maintainable repository standards with clear ownership and minimal duplication.