Roles and Responsibilities of the Board of Trustees

The fundamental responsibilities of the Board of Trustees are identified in the following:

To appoint, support, and assess the performance of the President.
To clarify the mission.
To approve long-range plans.
To approve the educational program.
To ensure the well being of faculty, students, and staff.
To ensure strong financial management.
To ensure adequate financial resources.
To preserve institutional autonomy.
To interpret the campus to the community.
To interpret the needs of society to the campus.
To serve as a court of appeal.
To assess their own performance.

Discussion Issues

Are there any surprises here? Do these sound to trustees like the responsibilities they signed on for? Which responsibilities, if any, are unexpected or different from what they expected?
Which of these responsibilities seem most difficult for the Board to carry out? Easiest? Which responsibilities do individual trustees feel will be easiest or most difficult for them personally?
How can a Board encourage an environment that allows the President to do his or her job well?
How should the President's performance be assessed? How has the Board done this in the past?
"Boards constantly must ask questions like: Why does our college or university exist? What is its purpose…its mission?" How would our college or university answer these questions today? When did we last ask ourselves these questions? How has the mission of our institution changed over time?
Does our institution have a long-range plan? How does our Board participate in long-range planning?
What difficult or unpopular decisions has our Board made recently?
How can a Board ensure strong financial management? What information is needed? Who interprets this information?
Has the autonomy of our institution ever been threatened? What actions did our Board take?
How can a Board best facilitate communication between campus and community? Who are the Board's external constituents? Internal shareholders?
If the Board is a court of last appeal, what kind of appeals should the Board hear? From whom and when should the Board hear appeals?
How does our Board evaluate its work?

Board-President Relationship

The critical nature of the relationship between the President and the Board is explored. The importance of the Board backing the President or removing the President is stressed. Some questions that may facilitate discussion of this section include the following:

How can a Board and chief executive build mutual trust?
How can a Board best support the President? How can a President support the Board?
What should a Board and President do to resolve differences with one another?
What should a trustee do with information, complaints, or concerns from a faculty member or student?
If the relationship between the Board and President is not one of employer and employee, what is it?

Relationships Within the Board

Board orientation, trustee mentoring, committee membership, the role of the executive committee, and the "social life" of the Board are all discussed in this section. Some questions that facilitate discussion include the following:

How are our new Board members selected?
What information should be given to potential trustees? What information should be given to new trustees?
Who is responsible for Board orientation and development? What should be included?
Do Board members ever feel they speak for a specific constituency? What are the positive and negative aspects of constituent representation?
When should or does our executive committee act rather than the full Board?
What kind of committee system does our Board have? How do committees interact with the full Board?

Organizing the Board's Activities

The importance of not getting sidetracked on insignificant issues, of resisting the temptation to micromanage the organization, and of focusing on policies and priorities is emphasized. Board evaluation also is discussed. The experts suggest various approaches to Board evaluation, including a formal process for self-evaluation of individual members, a Board committee to evaluate the performance of all Board members, performance evaluations of the Board as a whole, informal evaluations after each Board meeting, annual evaluations at a Board retreat, the use of evaluation survey instruments, evaluation of Board performance based on goals the Board has set for itself, solicitation of evaluative comments from senior staff members with whom the Board works, and bringing in an outside consultant to help the Board assess its performance. Questions that facilitate discussion include the following:

How does our Board set its agenda? What does the Board spend most of its time discussing?
What are examples of trustee meddling or micromanaging? How does a Board oversee management without itself managing?
Why does a Board get sidetracked or get overly involved in discussing such tings as the tarpaulin for the football field? When and how does our Board sometimes get sidetracked?
One expert said it is difficult for Boards to stop, to question priorities, and to change direction. Has our Board recently looked at its priorities and changed direction?
How should or does our Board evaluate itself? Are individual Board members evaluated? Are outside consultants used?

Communication

The type, format, and frequency of information required by the Board are discussed. Whether the data sent to the Board should be summarized, analyzed, or filtered is questioned by various experts. The nature of communication between trustees and students, faculty, and staff members, as well as the relationship between the Board and individual trustees and the media also are questioned. Some questions that facilitate discussion include the following:

What information does our Board need to do a good gob, and how is it obtained? What form should this information take?
Who, if anyone, should analyze or filter the data that goes to the Board?
Should Board members obtain information directly through contacts with students and faculty member? What contacts with students and faculty members do our trustees have?
How should or does our Board communicate with the media? What should an individual trustee do when contacted directly by the media?
What should a Board member do when criticized for a Board decision he or she opposed? What should a Board member do when criticized for a decision made by the administration?

Fund-raising Responsibilities

The Board's responsibility in ensuring adequate institutional resources is a priority. Trustees' responsibility for both giving and soliciting are discussed. The importance of full Board participation is emphasized. Some questions that facilitate discussion include the following:

What responsibilities do members of our Board have for fund-raising and giving?
Do you agree that 100-percent Board participation in annual giving and capital campaign is important?
How do trustees solicit gifts?
How can trustees help the institution obtain grants from foundations?
Some trustees are in a better position to give or solicit gifts than others. What if a trustee has little money to give or has few contacts with potential donors?