Case Studies

The University System of Maryland comprises twelve universities representing, in many ways, the broad range of American higher education institutions—from large research universities to smaller comprehensive institutions to HBCUs. While the diversity of the system—and the spectrum of opportunities that …

Taylor University is a relatively small (approximately 1,890 students), non-denominational faith-based institution in Upland, Indiana. The university is distinctive for—among other things—its “Life Together Covenant,” which “identifies the expectations for living in community as we seek to fulfill our mission.”1 …

The State University of New York (SUNY) is the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States, comprising 64 campuses with nearly six hundred thousand students and over ninety- thousand employees (roughly thirty-four thousand faculty and almost …

Since April 2015, Stockton University has been engaged in an ongoing, intensive discussion of institutional governance involving all of the university’s stakeholders. The immediate catalyst for this discussion was a crisis in early 2015 that not only deeply troubled trustees, …

In 2013, a vote of no confidence in the then-president was the result of a series of decisions made by the president and approved by the board of Rollins College, chief among them the top-down creation of a College of …

Shared governance at Duke University is a healthy tradition both in terms of formal structure and policy and in terms of institutional culture and practice. Central to the faculty’s role in shared governance is a policy known as the Christie …

Dr. Timothy P. White became chancellor of the California State University (CSU) system in December of 2012. The CSU system is the largest four-year system of higher education in the country, with twenty- three campuses, nearly half a million students, …

In the past decade, Rhodes College, under the leadership of President William E. Troutt, has been impressively attentive to issues of governance and decision making. President Troutt had inherited a board structure and practice that were, to say the least, …

In 2013, a broad range of issues coalesced to create a situation that—if left unaddressed—had the potential to undermine the long-term health and vitality of Augsburg College. An adversarial relationship had developed between the president and the leadership of the …

Higher education institutions with a religious affiliation and a sponsoring congregation often have a two- tiered governance structure comprised of the normal governing board and a group of representatives of the religious sponsors who have specified “reserved powers” intended to …