Self-Study, Volume I, Chapter II - Institutional Governance

The university's Board of Trustees, with 50 active members and 31 honorary members, is the institution's principal governing body. The trustees select the president, evaluate the president's performance, set major institutional policies, approve the appointment of faculty and key administrators, and grant specific authorization to university officers to make major commitments of funds and to introduce, modify, and eliminate programs. The trustees also are responsible for interpreting, promoting, and supporting the institution. The president serves, ex officio, as a member of the Board of Trustees. No other employee or student of the university serves as a trustee. All board members except the president are elected by the board for three-year terms and are eligible for re-election. Karen N. Horn is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and John C. Morley is Vice Chairman.

In 1986, with the assistance of a team of consultants from McKinsey & Company, the university conducted a review of its governance and management needs. A trustee committee reviewed the structure of the various governing boards'the trustees, the Board of Overseers, and the visiting committees'in order to strengthen the role and effectiveness of the university's volunteer leadership. Among the changes adopted in 1987 were longer, more intensive meetings for the trustees, and the addition of three important committees: Academic Affairs, Finance, and Student Life. Other changes were adopted that affected the visiting committees and the Board of Overseers, discussed later in this chapter.

The full Board of Trustees meets three times each year. The board has ten standing committees: Executive, Academic Affairs, Audit, Development and Alumni Affairs, Facilities and Grounds, Finance, Investment, Management and Compensation, Nominating, and Student Life. The 12-member Executive Committee meets once in July or August and monthly during the academic year when the full Board does not meet. It can act for the full Board in most matters.

The president is the chief executive officer of the university. The provost, who reports to the president, is the university's chief academic officer. Seven vice presidents report directly to the president, with responsibility for the areas of finance and administration, budgets and planning, development and alumni affairs, information services, medical affairs (being modified to health affairs), public affairs, and student affairs. The secretary of the corporation, secretary of the university faculty, assistant for minority affairs, and director of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity also report directly to the president.

The university's administrative structure was modified in 1986 to bring greater unity to the leadership for its academic programs. Separate vice presidencies for academic affairs and for undergraduate and graduate studies were replaced by a single provost. Reporting to the provost are the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the dean of graduate studies and research, and the deans of six of the professional schools (applied social sciences, dentistry, engineering, law, management, and nursing). The dean of medicine currently reports to the interim vice president for medical affairs, and will report to the vice president for health affairs when the new appointee assumes that position. There is a possibility that the reporting line for the deans of dentistry and nursing may be moved to the new vice presidency at a later date. Also reporting directly to the provost are the dean of undergraduate admission, dean of collegiate affairs, the director of financial aid, and the university registrar.

The Constitution of the University Faculty provides the structure for group policy formulation and group procedure delegated to the University Faculty by the Board of Trustees in matters concerning the university's educational, research, and scholarly activities. Through this structure, educational policy is recommended to the president for transmittal to the Board of Trustees.

The University Faculty comprises eight constituent faculties, each responsible for a particular professional or scholarly discipline or group of related disciplines: arts and sciences, engineering, dentistry, law, management, medicine, nursing, and applied social sciences. Each is governed in accordance with by-laws adopted by that faculty and approved by the Faculty Senate.

The Faculty Senate is composed of representatives elected from each constituent faculty in addition to the president, the provost, the secretary of the university faculty, an undergraduate student, a graduate student, and a student from one of the professional schools. Standing committees of the Senate report at regularly scheduled monthly meetings addressing issues related to the university budget, faculty personnel, research, graduate studies, fringe benefits, university libraries, information resources, the status of women faculty, and minority affairs.

The Faculty Senate is empowered to make recommendations to the University Faculty and to make recommendations to the president for consideration and transmittal to the Board of Trustees with respect to policies governing standards of appointment, curricula, facilities for research, admission of students, and awarding of degrees.

The Faculty Handbook addresses policies and procedures especially relevant to regular full-time faculty members, but it also provides information on general university policies and procedures, including sections dealing with topics such as ethics, professional responsibilities, policies on research and scholarship, retirement, grievance procedures, the fringe benefits program, and the university's equal opportunity policy.

The University Undergraduate Faculty (UUF) is responsible for matters involving the interdependence of students, faculty, and academic programs among the constituent faculties involved in undergraduate education (arts and sciences, engineering, management, nursing, and several departments and programs in medicine). The constituent faculties, acting through the UUF, recommend to the Faculty Senate standards of admission for students, academic requirements for students, curricula and content of existing degree programs, standards and facilities for research and scholarship, new degrees, and the discontinuance of existing degrees. UUF committees are: Academic Computing and Information Resources; Academic Standing; Curriculum; Student Life, Services, and Environment; and Undergraduate Admission, all of which report to the Executive Committee. Faculty members are elected or appointed for terms of three years, students for one-year terms.

The Undergraduate Student Government represents all undergraduate students. The USG acts as a liaison between undergraduate students and the faculty, administration, and other groups; grants recognition to undergraduate organizations; and is responsible for allocation of funds from student activity fees to recognized student organizations. Representatives to the USG are elected each fall; officers are elected in the spring.

Students in the School of Graduate Studies are represented by a Graduate Student Senate consisting of one student elected from each department that offers graduate programs. The officers of the senate are elected by the graduate student senators, who also select a graduate student representative to the Faculty Senate and to various senate and campus committees. Students in professional programs have either voluntary or elected governance bodies to represent their interests to the faculty and administration of their schools.

Students play a role in academic governance through the Faculty Senate, the University Undergraduate Faculty, and, in some cases, through the governing bodies of the constituent faculties. An undergraduate student elected by the Undergraduate Student Government, a graduate student elected by the Graduate Student Senate, and a student from one of the professional schools, elected by that school's student government, serve as members of the Faculty Senate each year. Students also serve as members of virtually all search committees organized to fill the presidency, deanships, vice presidencies, and other major administrative positions.

At the time of the last self-study in 1985, the responsibility for reporting to the Board of Trustees on the academic health of the university belonged to the Board of Overseers and its visiting committees, charged with gathering and transmitting information about the various schools and programs. Among the governance changes made by the Board of Trustees in 1987 was the establishment of trustee committees on Academic Affairs and Student Life, with responsibility for overseeing academic and campus life programs. The Board of Overseers was eliminated in favor of direct reports to these trustee committees by the visiting committee chairs, in cooperation with the provost and the deans. At the same time, the chairs and vice chairs of the visiting committees and a group of members-at-large were appointed to the University Council, advisory to the president.

The university's schools and several divisions are represented by 11 visiting committees, and new committees can be formed by action of the Board of Trustees as needed. Current committees are assigned to the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Dentistry, the Case School of Engineering, Information Services, the School of Law, the Weatherhead School of Management, the School of Medicine, the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Physical Education and Athletics, and Student Affairs. Membership, established by the Board of Trustees, averages about 25, including alumni, community leaders, and other experts in these fields.

In July 1994 the Trustees modified the membership of the University Council by removing ex officio seats for the chairs and vice chairs of the 11 visiting committees. The Council is now functionally a visiting committee for the entire university. The Council meets at least twice a year and provides the president a forum for discussion, advice, and counsel about the educational programs, quality of life, and plans and strategies of the university. Twenty-seven members, selected from among alumni and other friends of the university, serve on the Council for four-year terms. The restructured body fulfills the intended purpose of the former Council and allows involvement of a greater number of friends of the university from a wider constituency. Members of the 11 visiting committees are provided with the wider perspective of the university and activities of the other committees instead through deans' reports, newsletters, and joint meetings.

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