Winter/Spring
2002
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Winter/Spring
2002
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Governance matters and is a key to what is possible and not possible at colleges and universities, said Presidents Institute panelist Larry Shinn, president of Berea College. He argued in his presentation, entitled "Governance in a New Age: Who Decides What We Are to Become," that "governance will not be a neutral player in CIC colleges and universities; it will either be a vehicle for institutional progress or a brake on it." Shinn asserted that there is a need to identify, discuss, and write about the special circumstances of governance in a liberal arts college, where one misstep can cause a total campus upheaval. Among other examples, he described a case in which a small number of board members of one institution had met without the president’s knowledge to set what they thought should be the college’s priorities. They then persuaded the full board to endorse their priorities, whereupon the president resigned. Shinn stressed the importance of thinking carefully about who should be at the decision-making table and, in particular, about the appropriate role for faculty members in setting institutional priorities. He also stressed the importance of colleges and universities deciding how to adjust their collegial governance systems to meet internal expectations and external realities. Finally, he urged CIC member presidents to ponder what would be the impact on their institutions if these critical questions were not addressed. Independent |
