Better Transparency at Colgate University
In 2005, the U.S. Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education published recommendations to “ensure that America’s system of higher education remains the finest in the world.”
Among the Commission’s recommendations: Board transparency. Independence. Judgment. An expectation for accountability by administration, faculty, staff and students in a way that’s not confrontational, but meets the Board of Trustees’ responsibilities, as identified in the mission of the Board.
Some specific examples:
- An annual posting of a Board “report card,” disclosing board attendance records, names and addresses of all trustees, minutes of Board meetings, and/or a list of significant resolutions.
- Greater autonomy from the president, dean of the faculty and dean of the college with a staff person answerable to the Board, not the president, to make the Board less reliant on the institution for information and funding.
- Recruit trustees among Colgate alumni only. We suggest that Colgate alumni offer credentials, skill sets, insights and motivations that are superior, or at least on par, with any graduate of another university. Is there any legitimate reason for the Board to ratify the nomination of trustees outside the Colgate University community?
- Provide Board training with an emphasis on supervisory responsibilities, approaches to think outside the box, and protocols to challenge the phenomenon of “group-think” on the Board. (With rare exception, the Board has always voted unanimously.)
- Communications from the Chairman of the Board to the Colgate community about the rationale behind spending and pricing decisions and the way these decisions reflect the Trustees’ vision for Colgate University.