Boards of trustees are enduring rough waters, churned by scandals at prominent public universities. In the wake of cases of institutional turmoil, board members at U.S. public universities are navigating myriad challenges facing higher education, including funding shortages, technological changes that are reshaping the way teaching and learning happens, and widespread concern about the affordability and value of higher education. The primary role of a board member at a U.S. public university remains to maintain "ultimate responsibility for the fiscal integrity of the institution and to oversee its operations by hiring the best possible people as president and provost and allow them to make day-to-day decisions," says Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities and former president of the University of Iowa and Cornell University in New York. However, the methods in which many boards are approaching their role are changing as institutions face new challenges. Thus, university trustees are becoming more active in wake of these new challenges.