AGB Releases Updated Statement on Board Responsibility for Institutional Governance

The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) today released an updated board of directors' "Statement on Board Responsibility for Institutional Governance." The statement contains eight principles, which are intended to guide boards in the governance of colleges, universities, and systems, inform them of their roles and responsibilities, and clarify their relationships with presidents, administration, faculty, and others involved in the governance process. The statement is a revision to AGB's "Statement on Institutional Governance" released originally in 1998. This new revision defines the respective roles of governing boards, administration, and faculty, protecting academic freedom and the professional responsibilities of the faculty.

The principles range from the most fundamental ("The ultimate responsibility for governance of the institution [or system] rests in its governing board" and "The board should establish effective ways to govern while respecting the culture of decision making in the academy") to more broad-based recommendations ("Boards of both public and independent colleges and universities should play an important role in relating their institutions to the communities they serve" and "Boards should ensure open communication with campus constituencies"). 

"College and university oversight has grown more daunting and challenging, and the environment in which we currently are being asked to serve a broad public purpose is more difficult," said AGB President Richard Legon. "It's always been clear that boards have ultimate responsibility for oversight of institutions, but today how that gets done is almost as important as the decisions themselves."

As higher education faces unprecedented changes in the economic, political, and social environment, it is more important than ever that AGB's work remains firmly rooted in the traditions of board responsibility and accountability, shared governance, and faculty professionalism.

In deference to that new reality, the statement is a revision of AGB's 1998 "Statement on Institutional Governance," which was inspired by the work of the Commission on the Academic Presidency, whose report and recommendations AGB published in 1996.

"AGB's revision to its groundbreaking 1998 statement emphasizes board responsibility, the need for collaborative, shared governance and the fostering of a positive process of decision making among institutional chief executive officers, faculty and governing bodies," said Legon. "This statement contributes to what we refer to as integral leadership."
 
In 2006, AGB's Task Force on the State of the Presidency in American Higher Education urged presidents and governing boards to embrace integral leadership and a new spirit of collaboration in governance in which governing boards and presidents lead as partners, with the faculty fully engaged. This led to AGB's 2007 "Statement on Board Accountability," a call to boards as the guardians of the great traditions of American higher education: educational quality and fiscal integrity, autonomy and self-regulation, due process and academic freedom, and transparency. This latest Statement on Board Responsibility for Institutional Governance further defines the responsibilities of the parties to shared governance.

The full text of the statement can be found at www.agb.org/statement-board-responsibility-institutional-governance.