Expectations of trustees have undergone a dramatic change in the wake of the Enron debacle, the new strictures of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and several new state policies, laws, and executive actions. Additionally, well-publicized examples of inadequate trustee oversight have affected the public's and policymakers' perceptions of higher education.…

In this article, the author claims that the steady corporatization of American higher education has threatened to relegate faculty governance, never strong, to the historical archive. In public institutions, faculty disempowerment has been codified by law--legislatures, the governor or county executive or their staff, or state boards of higher…

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) is a major component in the general design of the governance of Indiana's state colleges. This paper examines the CHE's history, discusses its relationship with Indiana's state colleges, and notes that CHE decisions affecting public higher education are often influenced more by politics, economics,…

Problems in the impending transfer of British polytechnics away from local control and toward centralization are discussed. Political and practical considerations in the decision to centralize are examined. (MSE)

The 1990s will not be easy for public college faculty, administrators, and governing boards, who will be expected to do more with less money and fewer resources, but bear criticism for cutting back. Simultaneously, society will make greater demands for preparation of the next generation of professionals. The educational establishment must…

Every state in the union has "sunshine" laws that apply to public higher education, and the leaders of public institutions deal directly or indirectly with these laws almost daily. Sunshine statutes go to the very heart of institutional functioning, influencing presidential searches and selection, board deliberations, research and…

This document reports on the governance of the Texas system of public higher education. The first section of the report describes the Texas public higher education system as it exists today. This section discusses the history of Texas education, its structure of governance, facilities, academic and research programs, health-realted institutions,…

The move by the University of Wisconsin to adopt conduct codes prohibiting discriminatory harassment on campus is reviewed, and the arguments governing boards are likely to hear in any similar initiative are discussed. (MSE)

This paper discusses how to design useful research and scholarship on higher education governance, trusteeship, and the academic presidency, proposing radically altered decision making mechanisms and several research approaches derived from the humanities and social sciences. The paper describes the world into which today's graduates are moving,…

The recommendations made in a recent report, "The Guardians: Boards of Trustees of American Colleges and Universities," address governing board membership, structure, operations, role, and responsibilities. Emphasis is on the public board. (MSE)

It is argued that the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act builds on the accessibility requirements and efforts of the last decade and therefore may be less overwhelming to comply with than colleges and universities think. Specific implications for public institutions, private institutions, and employment practices are outlined. (Author/MSE)

Replacement of Australia's binary system, which separates the roles of colleges and universities, is discussed in this seminar report. In addition to seven seminar papers, information is provided on the Australian higher education system, including access, the curriculum, research, fiscal accountability, and program relevance and quality. In the…

Five public higher-education officials, including a former lawmaker, discuss how "citizen boards" of public colleges and universities deal with the inherent conflicts and ambiguities between the interests and ambitions of their institution and the financial, strategic, and public-policy demands of their state. They describe how they…

Four papers address the changing roles of system administrators in multicampus public higher education systems such as the State University of New York (SUNY). In the first paper, by Joseph C. Burke, "Unity and Diversity: SUNY's Challenge Not Its Choice," the role of a public university system is defined as doing for its campuses only…

This article argues that the debate over the public's right to know versus a public college or university's need to make some decisions in private often generates more heat than light, and that the most important interactions put at risk by open-meeting acts and sunshine laws involve board dynamics. Some suggestions are made for minimizing this…