For college and university trustee board members, there’s typically no easy path to ensure effective governance and oversight of postsecondary institutions. In the first of a webinar series presented by the Pepper Hamilton law firm and Freeh Group International Solutions, expert panelists on Wednesday offered practical advice on how college trustee boards as well as individual trustee board members should conduct themselves.
In the webinar titled “Higher Education Oversight and Governance: Role of a College Board of Trustees,” former University of Kentucky president David Roselle said board members should largely devote themselves to the conventional wisdom of the phrase “noses in, fingers out,” an admonition “that [members] should be alert and they should sniff around, but they should not be getting their fingers in and meddle [with] things.”
“Management is responsible for day-to-day affairs; the board is responsible for provision planning and holding management accountable,” explained Roselle.
During the webinar, Roselle was joined by Barbara W. Mather, partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP and a former chair of the Swarthmore College Board of Managers, and Matthew Dolan, managing director of Freeh Group International Solutions (FGIS) and a former general counsel of the United States Naval Academy.
The Freeh Group International Solutions, an independent global risk management firm, was founded by Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and former federal judge. Last summer, Freeh and his law firm, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP, issued the independent report on Penn State University and the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse cases.
Roselle, who also served as president of the University of Delaware, noted that it’s up to board chairpersons to effectively manage the boards on which they serve. “Another responsibility of the board … is [that it] needs to be evaluated …. The chairman of the board really has a big role in knowing who he has on the board,” he said.
Dolan told the webinar audience that boards have to be prepared to deal with crises and that requires plans on how to handle campus emergencies. “It could range from a natural disaster all the way to safety and security on campus. Many times though these crises in higher education we’ve seen are created by administration non-response to issues, such as sexual assault or NCAA violations or student misconduct,” Dolan said.