def METHOD_NAME(cls, course):
    """
    Returns the grading policy hash for the given course.
    """
    ordered_policy = json.dumps(
        course.grading_policy,
        separators=(',', ':'),  # Remove spaces from separators for more compact representation
        sort_keys=True,
    )
    return b64encode(sha1(ordered_policy.encode('utf-8')).digest()).decode('utf-8')