DePaul University has grown in size and stature in the last decade. Chicago's "little school under the El," as DePaul was once known, is now the nation's largest Catholic university and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. DePaul University restructured its board, enabling it to play an important role in the…

Board orientation provides a unique forum for an institution to help new board members understand the roles and responsibilities expected of them. It is a chance, too, to share essential information that the college or university thinks new trustees need to know. Moreover, it is an opportunity for the institution to bring new members up to date…

Today's college and university boards find themselves faced with ever-increasing challenges as they attempt to meet the financial needs of their institutions while complying with a myriad of fiduciary responsibilities. How can boards best meet the financial needs of their institutions? Representatives of Ball State University Foundation describe…

Many boards will find themselves hiring a new president in the near future, as higher education faces unprecedented turnover in its top leaders. Not only must they manage the transition of a new president into the institution, but they must also manage the transition of the current president out. Best practices for the transition are discussed in…

A college and university board of trustees typically comprises people possessing great experience, wisdom, records of achievement, and a strong desire to meaningfully contribute to the institution. Such an asset is enormously valuable. Yet too often institutional leaders feel they are unable to tap all its benefits. For their part, board members…

The author of this article asserts that a board without bylaws is like an invertebrate animal, lacking a backbone. A college or university's bylaws should be reviewed as least annually, because legal and other mandates for institutions are multiplying continually. It is wise to avoid any and all bylaws that are not imperative in favor of more…

While boards have to delegate the daily administration of athletics programs to their presidents, they must be aware of the issues and involve themselves in policy considerations that properly belong to them and can ultimately have a major impact on the institution's financial welfare and reputation. The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate…

Governing board members bear major and ultimate responsibilities as fiduciaries of the college or university they serve. Calls for increased accountability and developments such as financial volatility, transformational technology, internationalization, and increased regulation of governance have led to mounting attention to the quality of…

Most American colleges and universities honor alumni, donors, and others through not only degrees, but also named buildings, chairs, and other forms of recognition. Recent controversies, however, suggest that boards should think twice before bestowing such honors. Trustees should establish transparent and consistent standards for the process by…

The stately collegiate gothic buildings that define the iconic West Campus at Duke University evoke a strong sense of stability and the status quo. Like all institutions of higher learning, Duke faces many potential challenges to campus equilibrium--some of which could prove devastating to the university. Risk is inherent in academe, yet colleges…

Every year, almost all boards have an action item on their agenda to approve their institution's tuition and fees for the next year. Yet few of them are involved in discussions about the values and policies embedded in what they are being asked to approve or how the institution decides what to charge different students. That could very well change…

Higher education is facing a series of tough questions: (1) Is its business model broken beyond repair?; (2) How can costs that are fast outpacing median family income be reined in?; (3) How can higher education demonstrate that students are getting the quality education they expect and deserve?; and (4) Is higher education competing in ways that…

In today's world, managing a campus crisis poses special challenges for an institution's governing board, which may operate some distance removed from the immediate events giving rise to the crisis. In its most challenging form, a campus crisis--a shooting, a natural disaster, a fraternity hazing death, the arrest of a prominent campus…

In the late 1940s and throughout the decade of the '50s, Catholic colleges began to shift governance control from members of the sponsoring religious community to lay men and women. Typically, a "one-third plus one" rule addressed the required presence of representatives of the religious community on the board, a measure intended to…

The changing landscape in higher education is increasingly forcing institutions to examine their long-standing business models and to start making changes. Leading those changes and overcoming internal resistance to them will require strong oversight from governing boards. What might an institution's review of its business model actually look…