Drawing from Indiana University's experience with coach Bob Knight, asserts that trustees are responsible for ensuring that the athletics department, like any enterprise in the university, reflects the values of the institution. Describes steps trustees should take to ensure that the athletics system is firmly anchored within these values. (EV)

Discusses the role of the board of trustees and the incumbent president in managing the transition to a new college president. Stresses the importance of good communication and ground rules, and offers specific questions for discussion to ensure a smooth transition. (EV)

Discusses the potential for former trustees to be ongoing valuable resources to higher education institutions and the importance of clear policies on how each should be treated, including titles and relationship with the active board. (EV)

Highlights areas on university's financial statements that warrant careful review by trustees and suggests ways they can check to see whether an institution's financial statements are clear and valid indicators of its financial status. (EV)

Offers a 25-question checklist for assessing whether an independent college or university governing board is adhering to best practices. The questions fall in the categories of "raise the bar," committee and board meetings, committee structure, and other initiatives. (EV)

Discusses how a presidential advisory board can function as a farm system for prospective college trustees. Describes how an advisory board created at Roanoke College in Virginia had the added benefit of providing a pool of younger candidates with specialized expertise from which to recruit trustees. (EV)

Discusses the appropriate role of the board of trustees in campus construction projects, including the need to be involved at the start and to understand hidden costs, and how to conserve trustee time. (EV)

Discusses why current economic pressures intensify the long-standing need for active orientation and education programs for incoming investment committee members. Describes knowledge necessary for such members. (EV)

Governing boards should ask seven questions when a plan fails: where did the plan break down? who was responsible for the plan? were adequate resources available? were goals clear and specific? was the solution appropriate and adequate? were barriers allowed to derail the plan? were key players involved in planning? (MSE)

Seeks to place the post-9/11 risk agenda for colleges and universities in historical perspective by offering a refresher on some of the most serious perennial risks for U.S. higher education. Offers an eight-point road map of how to enhance boards' risk management efforts. (EV)

Discusses indicators to help boards assess the vitality of their institution: (1) total financial resources per FTE student; (2) expendable financial resources to debt; (3) expendable financial resources to operations; (4) average peak debt-service coverage; (5) applicants to admits; (6) tuition rate changes; (7) enrollment levels; (8) retention…

Discusses conflicts of interest in higher education, offering rules of thumb for judging individual situations, tools to help board members address such conflicts, and possible standards to apply when considering conflicts of interest. Also touches on the need to be realistic and the importance of collegiality and trust. (EV)

Discusses factors that help or hinder progress in institutional change and the important role of governing boards in managing change. The advice is based on work by the American Council on Education with a diverse group of 23 colleges and universities on a range of large-scale institutional change initiatives as part of the Project on Leadership…

Discusses how to deal with the pressures to defer maintenance on campus buildings, including the issue of accelerated cycles of obsolescence, which "stranded" costs to avoid and to accept, and specific strategies to gain control of the physical asset portfolio. (EV)

Discusses how governing boards can help their institutions weather the "double-whammy" of doing more with less: identify the institution's short-term and long-term challenges; refocus the institution's mission, planning, and programming; assess and integrate the institution's tuition, aid, and outreach strategies; redouble the…