Understanding Governing Boards & Academic Freedom

A new episode of our special series Academic Freedom on the Line with the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom focuses on university governing boards and their workings. Raquel Rall, Associate Professor in the School of Education at UC Riverside and Demetri Morgan,  Associate Professor of Education at University of Michigan Marsal School of Education and CDAF fellow, join us to explain the differences between public and private boards, what an “advisory role” actually means, and how to create meaningful communication between board members and academic workers and community members. 

Be sure to visit the website of the Center for Strategic and Inclusive Governance, the Rall’s and Morgan’s new project designed to equip higher education boards and leaders with research-informed tools for mission-centered decision-making. The website includes open access resources and rapid-response guides bridging scholarship and practice. And you can submit suggestions for additional resources or areas of investigation! 

Further Reading for the Board-Curious: 

• Boards Must Fight for Institutional Independence (opinion)| Inside Higher Ed
• Decision-Making for the Public Good: Leveraging Higher Education Governing Boards for Equitable Student Success |Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning  
• Introducing boards to the equity conversation: State-level governing boards and discourses of social justice| Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. 
• New national center supports higher education governance | UCR News