The board chair has a similarly special role in demonstrating a governing board’s commitment to shared governance. Establishing meaningful opportunities to include faculty in substantive discussions with the board on cross-cutting issues is one way the board chair can facilitate engagement. With the president’s support, board leaders can also be ambassadors to faculty governing bodies, and a periodic meeting of the chair, board officers, or a group of board members with members of the faculty governance body can be rewarding in multiple ways. In all such engagements, the board chair and president need to be aligned on the purpose of the discussion. While inviting faculty to dinner or other social events can encourage collegiality and respect between the groups, social engagement is not the same as shared governance. Those who conflate the two risk greater disengagement—shared governance is not about sharing space but rather about sharing ideas. The true test of any system of engagement is how well it works during a period of urgency or even crisis. Fiscal exigency, campus climate incidents, and other current realities might, in the heat of the pressure to act, cause even the most transparent and collaborative leaders to lose sight of the need for inclusion. Leaders must be deliberate and intentional about how best to engage others based on the situation. Even then, there will be times when swift action is required and there is little or no time for consultation and deliberation. Good faith efforts to share information in real time—while acknowledging circumstantial challenges—build trust, a necessary feature of shared governance. While it is appropriate and necessary for a governing board to keep some discussions confidential, important board decisions should be delivered promptly, with evidence of the board’s thoughtfulness. Increasingly, constituencies beyond the full-time faculty and senior administration (such as staff, students, part-time faculty, and alumni) have an understandable expectation of being both informed and consulted on important board decisions. One special note for governing boards of public institutions and systems: These governing boards bear another responsibility in their commitment to shared governance. This country’s higher education system is unique, due in part to the ability of each institution to establish its own mission and academic programs, with accreditor approval. Shared governance is only effective when internal discussion and debate lead to outcomes—about academic programs, budgets, and tenure policies, for example. However, policy leaders in some states are now making decisions about the same matters for public institutions
8
Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease