ACTA in the NewsTrusteeship
UT Dallas closes new ‘support’ office to comply with DEI ban
The University of Texas at Dallas just closed a new office to comply with a state ban on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming after opening it...
The January-February 2011 issue details the reformation of the Corporation (“The Corporation’s 360-Year Tune Up,” page 43). While the changes are newsworthy, aren’t the Fellows missing something?
Governance is about more than assigning committees and adding trustees. Boards are fiduciaries of the financial and academic health of their institutions. They ultimately ensure the academic excellence that will empower students—and make alumni proud. But many alumni are concerned that undergraduate education at Harvard can be improved and that the Corporation isn’t paying adequate attention.
The new plan, which expands the Corporation’s alumni affairs and development roles, underscores a common but misguided view that the trustees’ job is to raise money, spend money, and get out of the way.
The new Corporation intends to address academics as a committee of the whole and to defer to the visiting committees of the Overseers. In other words, it intends to do in the future for education what it’s done in the past. According to the article, the new Corporation will offer the opportunity for trustees in different stages of their careers. Perhaps, too, it might offer the opportunity for a different kind of trustee: one who would raise urgent matters concerning the education and lives of Harvard College students—a coherent core, renewed emphasis on teaching and learning, promotion of free speech, and formal recognition of ROTC.
Anne D. Neal, ’77, J.D. ’80
The University of Texas at Dallas just closed a new office to comply with a state ban on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming after opening it...
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin made the right decision when he vetoed Senate Bill 506. However, both the title and text of...
On April 8, 2024, Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed Senate Bill 506, legislation that attempted to circumvent the taxpayers of Virginia by allowing higher education governing boards to be beholden to the narrow interests of the institutions they serve.
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