The efficacy of academic policies intended to promote student and institutional success is a function of the effort invested to evaluate their merit and feasibility. Policy owners are not ignorant of such implications when proposing changes, but being so closely connected with a policy tends to diminish objectivity. Thankfully, the typically flexible and broadly defined nature of the registrar's role is tailor-made to address these deficiencies. Students, faculty, and staff are better served by an institution that empowers the registrar to engage with academic policy in the dual roles of cultivator and curator. The policy cultivator assiduously vets and prepares newly proposed policies, and the policy curator dutifully examines the ongoing relevance and effectiveness of existing policies. The registrar can establish these policy caretaking roles as an integral part of academic policy governance through a collaborative review both before and after implementation.