Today's trustees have the central role of choosing university presidents, and often provide valued advice on management of the institutional fisc. But according to the now accepted gospel of "shared governance," when it comes to the heart of academic practice, curriculum, and scholarship, theirs, despite theoretic power, is mainly a task of self-denial. In this article, the author argues that trustees' real-world experience as citizens in a free society gives them a significant, if measured, claim to academic oversight.