It’s not hard these days to find examples of colleges’ governing boards under fire for what critics regard as bad behavior. In recent years, boards of trustees have been accused of ignoring problems (Penn State), meddling in campus leadership (University of Virginia), and pursuing an ideological agenda (University of Texas).
A commission formed to recommend changes in higher-education governance says actions like those jeopardize not only the institutions but also the public trust in higher education.
Too often, governing bodies get caught up in petty conflicts or ideological squabbles rather than focus on the strategic needs of institutions, says a report issued on Thursday by the National Commission on College and University Board Governance. That 25-member panel was formed in July 2013 by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
“Far too much time and talent, and too many resources, are preoccupied with institutional advantage, the preservation of the status quo, internal disputes over governance roles and authority, and the advancement of political and individual agendas,” says the report.
In addition to dysfunctional and overzealous boards, the challenges faced by governing bodies include high rates of turnover among college presidents, poor accounting mechanisms to measure actual costs of instruction, and a shared-governance model that involves only a shrinking number of full-time, tenure-track faculty members.
Good governance is becoming a necessity for survival, the commission says, because the “time of comfortable annual growth in enrollments and revenues is over for most institutions,” the report says.
It’s clear that the business model of higher education is broken, said Philip N. Bredesen Jr., a former Democratic governor of Tennessee, who led the commission. And because of that, board members should be more engaged than they were in the past, especially regarding an institution’s financial health.
The financial challenges of keeping a college afloat demand trustees’ increased attention, the report says, because the public’s trust in higher education is eroding as the price students pay continues to rise.
Colleges also have not done a good job of increasing their graduation rates, especially for low-income students for whom a college degree is the key to joining the middle class, says the report.
In order to help solve those problems, the commission issued seven recommendations in the report. It urges board members to focus, among other things, on:
- “Addressing changed finances and the imperative to deliver a high-quality education at a lower cost.”
- Paying more attention to relationships between the board and the president and a “reinvigoration” of faculty shared governance.
- Better recruiting and training of board members.
- Reducing the time spent reviewing routine reports.
- “Modeling the same behaviors and performance they expect from others in the institution.”
