University board members need to know their limits.
“A lot of boards get into trouble when they begin to micromanage the situation,” Lou Bissette, former Chair of the UNC Board of Governors, says in the accompanying video segment from our “Making UNC Governance Work” webinar.
Belle Wheelan, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which accredits colleges and universities in 11 Southern states, says board members need to know the difference between governing as a board member and operating the university as an administrator.
“Our concern is that you’re not trying to do both jobs,” Wheelan says.
“It is appropriate to ask the question: ‘What is our retention rate? How many transfer students do we have? What’s the interest rate we’re earning on our foundation account?’ You ask those questions. But you don’t try to solve the challenges that are created by those.
“That’s the difference between noses in and fingers out.”
Good communication between the board and the President or Chancellor is “paramount,” Wheelan says. If a board member hears a complaint, he or she should convey it to the president.
“Don’t try to solve the problems for them,” she says. “That’s why you pay him or her the big bucks – to be able to solve those problems.”
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