Report calls for Trustees to stand up to boosters, admins, faculty, search firms

Written by former Yale President Benno Schmidt for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, here. Scott Jaschik has a review in InsideHigherEd.com. Among other things, the report argues boards should not rely on search firms for presidential searches.

… The report also urges trustees to be more engaged on issues of athletics — and not simply to promote athletic spending. “Trustees must be willing to withstand pressure to grow athletic programs that are a net drain on resources, and they should ensure that salary contracts for coaches reward academic performance first and athletic success second,” the report says.

While many faculty members might well cheer the idea of trustees questioning athletic spending, many professors will likely object to statements in the report about the faculty.
For example, the report says that there is “evidence that self-interest and personal ideologies can drive departmental directions rather than the interest of the students and preparation of citizens. And studies show that there are fields — such as military history, constitutional history, and diplomatic history — that are fast disappearing from college curricula.”

The report calls for trustee involvement to assure “intellectual diversity” and to protect the academic freedom of students. Such calls in the past have alarmed faculty leaders, who have said that these types of statements are built on unfair characterizations of the faculty as enforcing some kind of ideological test in teaching. Many experts on the professoriate don’t dispute that faculty members lean to the left of the American public, but say that there is no evidence of students being punished for non-liberal views or of conservative ideas being squelched in the academy.

Here’s what the new report says: “To inform themselves, trustees should annually ask for a report from the president or provost outlining disciplinary diversity. This report can include a list of new hires and tenure and promotion decisions in each department (and their disciplines and fields). Does the history department, for example, have expertise and offer coursework on the Founders, the American Revolution, and the Constitution? It is trustees’ duty, in rare but urgent circumstances, to demand action if they believe a department places limitations on the representation of disciplinary fields and academic viewpoints its research and teaching should otherwise encompass. The president and provost must be prepared to explain how they will ensure intellectual and pedagogical diversity going forward.”

The report also criticizes administrators — and the way they report (or don’t) to board members and the public. “As fiduciaries, trustees must make their decisions based on data. Massive ‘data dumps’ of opaque charts and ‘death by powerpoint,’ i.e., show-and-tell presentations from faculty and administration, are not the answer; instead, trustees need to insist on a dashboard of key, carefully defined measures, including: graduation rates by demographic including students who transfer; tuition rates; administrative versus instructional spending; building utilization (both classrooms and laboratories) by time and day of the week; low enrollment majors; general education courses and enrollments; and athletic spending (including student fees and institutional spending).”

And the report questions the use of search firms to pick presidents — which is the norm for how institutions select leaders. “It is time for boards everywhere to consider carefully whether search firms really add value to the process,” the report says. “There is a growing case that their use gives rise to a conflicted, expensive, and inefficient process that undermines college communities and diminishes trust among their constituencies.”

The report urges boards to take charge of searches and to give more consideration to candidates from outside academe. “The trustees alone are the ones who can and must see that the search is done right. They must lead in developing the vision for what they want and articulate the vision to the community. They should consider a wide range of types of candidates, including those outside the academy. The ranks of business and government are full of skilled, public-spirited executives who believe in higher education and would consider serving as college presidents.”