Inside Higher Ed
December 9, 2015
Trustees of comprehensive public universities don’t feel as though they have an adequate understanding of the finances at the institutions they lead, and many of them are concerned the boards they serve on merely rubber-stamp the proposals presented to them by administrators.
These are two findings of a report from Public Agenda that surveyed trustees and presidents on the roles of public university and university system governing boards, and the challenges facing them.
The report found that trustees often feel stifled by open-meetings laws and the public nature of their positions. It also highlighted tensions between trustees and university administrators, namely presidents. Some presidents reported feeling as though trustees don’t understand their universities’ missions, while some trustees said administrators are reluctant to lose control over big decisions.
“I worry that we’re just too much of a rubber stamp, that we’re not informed enough and we’re not active enough,” one trustee told Public Agenda.