AGB Statement on Board Accountability

The "AGB Statement on Board Accountability" (pdf) encourages all governing boards and chief executives to examine the clarity, coherence, and appropriateness of their institutions' governance structures, policies, and practices. The AGB Board of Directors adopted the statement on January 17, 2007, having previously adopted three other statements that discuss important board responsibilities:

• AGB Statement on Institutional Governance (1998)
• AGB Statement on Governing in the Public Trust:External Influences on Colleges and Universities (2001)
• AGB Statement on Board Responsibilities for Intercollegiate Athletics (2004)

This statement was inspired by the work of the AGB Task Force on the State of the Academic Presidency in American Higher Education, the report of which AGB published in September 2006. The task force suggested that higher education governance was subject to increasingly intense public scrutiny and that boards would benefit from a statement of principles. In developing the statement, AGB solicited the views of the association's board of directors, the councils of presidents and board chairs, and scores of presidents and chancellors, trustees and regents, senior administrators, and higher education experts nationwide. In addition, AGB received many comments in response to an "AGB Alert" sent to members.

Special thanks are due to Robert M. O'Neil, former president of the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin and general council of the American Association of University Professors, who wrote several drafts of the statement. Others who provided substantive commentary and suggestions included Robert H. Atwell, former president, American Council on Education; Rita Bornstein, president emerita, Rollins College; Roger Bowen, general secretary, American Association of University Professors; Richard P. Chait, professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education; James J. Duderstadt, former president, University of Michigan; Paul L. Locatelli SJ, president, Santa Clara University; Martin Michaelson, attorney, Hogan & Hartson; William G. Tierney, director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, University of Southern California; Jane V. Wellman, Institute for Higher Education Policy; and E.B. Wilson, former chair, St. Lawrence University. AGB President Richard D. Legon and Vice President Daniel J. Levin coordinated development of the statement.

The "AGB Statement on Board Accountability" is not intended to be prescriptive or to offer legal advice. Rather, it is intended to serve as a template and resource for discussions of good governance, policies, standards, and principles.