A trustee identifies five lessons for governing boards based on six months' experience as acting president of Hamilton College (New York): (1) balance the membership of trustee committees; (2) seek, within limits, close encounters with faculty and campus leaders; (3) encourage critical thinking as well as cohesiveness; (4) encourage a systems…

Describes how institutions of higher education are taking a fresh look at socially responsible investing, seeking to grow endowments while taking a stand against unhealthy or unjust corporate practices. (EV)

Suggests that to avoid pitfalls, first-time presidents and their boards should consider enlisting an experienced "mentor" to the new leader for six months to a year. Possible mentors might include the search firm, a former president, and current sitting presidents. A series of quarterly visits is proposed, with the caveat that the mentor's role is…

Discusses how more private college presidents than ever are recruiting former presidents of other colleges to sit on their boards of trustees, hoping that these former campus leaders can provide perspectives that trustees from the business world may lack. Concerns about conflicts of interest exist, however. (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)

Examines the relationships between presidents of elite universities and the boards of publicly held firms in the United States. Describes the proportion of such presidents who sit on corporate boards, types of firms which elected presidents to sit on their boards, the personal financial benefits to presidents, and their time commitments. (EV)

An outpouring of support--in various forms--was all it took to change the mind of Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, president of Bennett College, who had decided on April 27 to resign from the 132-year-old Black college for women. In a prepared statement, Cole described how it felt to see supporters lined up at the president's house when she returned home…

Strategic interactions of subsidies and tuitions in public higher education are described in a differentiated-product setting where legislatures first determine subsidies and then governing boards of universities set tuition. When revenue of the university is important relative to students' welfare in legislative preferences, commitment to the…

Numerous trends today are prompting organizations to formally seek and add new board members at a record pace. In this article, the author discusses what to look for when adding a new board member and lists some top lessons learned. He concludes with a few final thoughts that should be uppermost in the mind in every new board member search.

An academic leader needs to have a basic understanding of the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions, evolving laws, and legal issues affecting higher education and the relationship between legal considerations and academic administration. At the same time, an academic leader must focus on accomplishing the goals, objectives, and…

This book provides potential answers to reduce deviant behavior and crime in colleges and universities. Claiming that the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois shootings were aberrations, the authors have nevertheless uncovered offenses that presage major criminal incidents, such as students' engaging in cheating, plagiarism, binge drinking, date…

Illinois is the Land of Lincoln. In this great state, Lincoln got his start as a lawyer and a politician. In his 1832 Address to the People of Sangamon County, Lincoln outlined his vision for a practical and general education in which "every man may receive at least a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own…

The rhetoric abounds concerning the types of effective, high trust, interactions that should exist for a school governing body. In practise, however, such interactions are often difficult to define, establish, maintain, and sustain. The study reported on in this paper attempted to identify interactions linked to perceptions of high trust via a…

With the implementation of site-based decision-making occurring in schools, an understanding of the views of secondary school principals and of secondary school teachers would provide valuable information. In the study, six principals and six teachers, from either high performing or low performing schools, were purposefully selected for their…

On February 14, a former graduate student at Northern Illinois University (NIU) entered a campus building and shot 21 people, wounding five fatally, before he shot and killed himself. This article presents an interview with Cherilyn G. Murer, the Chair of the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees, on the actions taken by the board and the…