The many levels of hierarchy in higher education are a kaleidoscope of power struggles and egos. The responsibilities of each level can be unclear, leading to administrative chaos. Above all, trustees who overstep their authority and neglect to direct policy can weaken an institution's mission and diminish its educational product. In 2008, as the…

Frequently drawn from elite corporate backgrounds and, for public institutions, from pools of politically connected people, trustees usually have to be educated about shared governance. Corporate or political ties are scarcely reliable indices of the wisdom necessary to oversee institutions of higher learning, and some trustees, sadly, prove…

College and university governance works best when every constituency within the institution has a clear understanding of its role with respect to the other constituencies. It works best when communication among the governing board, the administration, and the faculty (not to mention the staff and students) is regular, open, and honest. Too often…

During the 2011-12 academic year, a group of faculty and student researchers at the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI) gathered information on which public and private institutions had faculty members on boards of trustees and obtained the names of the faculty members serving in these roles. In April and May 2012, the authors…

Academic Leadership 2.0 means making an administrative partnership with the faculty the cornerstone of an institution's culture. Administrators have to stop thinking of themselves as operating on a different level from the faculty. The fear many administrators have is that if they demonstrate their willingness to advocate for the faculty, the…

The question, "Who will bankroll poetry?", succinctly embodies what is now a widespread recognition that the humanities may have more to lose in the current budget wars than either the sciences or a number of technical fields. The only budget war that can unite individuals, rather than divide them, is one arguing that too much is being…

During the 2010-11 academic year, Cabrini College began an evaluation of a faculty governance structure that had been implemented in fall 2007. The processes involved might serve as a roadmap for faculty members and administrators at other institutions who seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their governance model and improve shared…

The nationwide recession has exacerbated what was already a long-term trend in public higher education--declining state support has meant shifting the revenue stream from state appropriations to more burdensome student tuition rates. Seduced by the lure of rapid profits, some institutions have made matters worse by opting for high-risk…

This article presents the annual report on the economic status of the profession. This year's report covers three main issues--all perennial problems, but with new analysis based on the latest data--in addition to summarizing the current results from the annual American Association of University Professors (AAUP) survey of full-time faculty…

Big or small, established or fledgling, an AAUP chapter on a campus can accomplish a surprising number of things that even the most committed faculty member can't do alone. In this article, the author discusses how an AAUP chapter can transform a campus.

This article discusses the short- and long-term challenges of academic librarians in an increasingly hostile environment, and the ways in which these challenges reflect the broader struggles of faculty and professionals. What they are experiencing across the country--in the context of corporatization, the elimination of collective bargaining, and…

When the news broke in the "New York Times" in August 2009 that Yale University Press had decided to remove twelve Danish cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed from "The Cartoons That Shook the World," a forthcoming book by Brandeis political scientist Jytte Klausen, the author felt that the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)…

An academic plan is a business plan disguised in the regalia donned for significant public ceremonies--black cap and gown, colorful hood, and, of course, gold tassel. Several years ago, the University of Connecticut started to plan for the economic disaster that was at the time so obviously in the future of higher education institutions. A formal…

On September 15, 2009, faculty members from four of the five community colleges in San Antonio delivered an overwhelming vote of no confidence in Chancellor Bruce H. Leslie to the Alamo Community College District's board of trustees. (One college, Northeast Lakeview, didn't participate in the vote because the college is not yet accredited.)…

The relationship between faculty members and the press is complicated. Judging by surface similarities, one might think reporters and academics would get along well. Both groups care about words and ideas, and in both careers, people can make their names by challenging conventional wisdom and framing issues in new ways. Critics of both groups…