ERIC Number: ED674093
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jun
Pages: 42
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Portraying Governance: Demographic Misalignment in University Board Representation. EdWorkingPaper No. 25-1212
Isabel McMullen
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Higher education governing boards are important bodies with far-reaching powers over the institutions they oversee. Yet little is known about individual board members, how the composition of boards varies across institutions, or whether boards are at all representative of their institutional populations. In this paper, I introduce a novel dataset that includes individual-level details about members on public 4-year higher education boards nationwide. Using this dataset and the text of bylaws of boards, I show that while boards focus attention on faculty and students in their formal documents, the composition of many boards is not representative of these groups. Using multivariate analyses, I show that the partisanship of the state legislature relates to whether a board aligns well with its target populations. I describe the implications of these findings for future research on higher education boards, and our understanding of the relationship between partisanship, politics, and higher education governance.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Governance, Governing Boards, Individual Characteristics, Race, Sex, Political Influences, Public Colleges
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305B200026
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: N/A