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Historical Document

Governance, 4-A
April 14, 2004

BACKGROUND:
In July 2003, the board of education adopted a “governing by policy” approach and directed the president to develop a system of college governance that appropriately shared responsibility among the stakeholders (identified as students, classified, faculty, and managers) of the college. The board’s direction was a desire for a system in which individuals impacted by decisions would have the timely opportunity to be involved in deliberations and influence the formulation of decisions.

Key parameter concerns were to achieve a governance system that did not create another layer of bureaucracy or impede timely decision making or innovation, but would be guided by principles of good practice in governance, recognize legitimate differentiation of realms of responsibility and competence, establish sound structures and procedures, and ensure collaboration. The system should be clear, explicit, and clearly communicated.

In September, the president established a Governance Task Force to design a new governance system for the college. The Task Force was asked to develop recommendations for review by the college community. The Task Force finalized a charter for their work, developed a set of principles, reviewed the current governance system, and then designed a system of governance for community feedback. The college community had the opportunity to review the proposal for the governance system. Feedback was considered by the Governance Task Force and changes made as appropriate. College legal counsel also reviewed the proposed system and recommendations for change have been incorporated.

RECOMMENDATION:
The board resolves that the proposed system meets the requirements set out in Policy B.025 and authorizes the president to implement the system as proposed.

CONTACT:
Mary Spilde, president, President’s Office, 463-5200

College Governance System

Since we are discussing the College Governance System, what follows focuses on the parts of the system that relate to board policy and the relationship between the board and the administration. This in no way diminishes the significant role of other stakeholders or features of the governance system but unless otherwise directed by the board, these rightly fall in the administrative rather than the policy realm.

A. Principal Features of the Governance System

• Recognizing the formal status of the classified staff, faculty, managers, and students as stakeholders in college governance, as well as the role of administration and the board of education.
• Acknowledging the responsibility of the unions, ASLCC, and Management Council to appoint representatives.
• Establishing six college wide planning and policy making governance councils within specified governance areas. Councils may establish standing committees and task forces.
• Restructuring the role of College Council to serve as the major planning body of the college with responsibility for strategic planning, institutional effectiveness, and coordinating the governance system.
• Clarifying the role of the Executive Team as implementing decision makers and its relationship to the governance councils, the president, and the board.
• Clarifying the role of the Faculty Council in governance.
• Acknowledging and integrating the realms of responsibility of faculty, managers/administration, classified staff, and students.
• Including those with authority in a particular area, representational, position-based and/or expertise-based appointments on councils.
• Outlining the scope of work and decision-making processes through the development of charters.

As the Task Force reviewed the current governance system it became clear that a system organized around the work of the college instead of just around employee groups would be better for the college. This made sense for several reasons:

• It helps keep the focus on the work and its outcomes
• It brings the constituents of the college together to deliberate on issues, share perspectives, and reach conclusions
• It improves coherence by connecting associated issues in one council with standing committees
• It maximizes the early opportunity for all stakeholder groups to be informed of and to influence decisions

B. Design:
The design calls for representational appointments to be made by ASLCC, LCCEF, LCCEA, and Management Council.

• A College Council that will serve as the major planning and policy body of the college and is responsible for strategic planning, policy development, institutional effectiveness and coordinating the governance system and the councils that are part of the system
• Six governance councils organized around specified work areas:
  • Diversity Council
  • Facilities Council
  • Finance Council
  • Learning Council
  • Student Affairs Council
  • Technology Council
• There is ongoing discussion about the need for an organizational development council to focus on college climate and individual and organizational development.
• Faculty Council
  Within the scope of their charters, governance councils are responsible for planning, policy and evaluating effectiveness. The councils will function at a strategic level. While stakeholders will be supported to participate in governance work, it is recognized that they cannot devote substantial parts of their work week to governance activities. Therefore, the nature of the governance work must be at a planning and policy level, not an operational or implementation level. Operations and implementation will continue to be the responsibility of managers and administrators.

Each council will develop appropriate methods for listening, dialogue, and communication with the college community prior to, during, and following its deliberative process. Each council will be responsible for coordinating with the other governance councils and the College Council.

Councils are also responsible for coordinating standing committees that have charters within the councils’ scope of work. Many existing committees will be incorporated into the new system. Councils, in consultation with College Council, may charter standing committees that are assigned a specific area of responsibility.

It must be recognized that ultimately the board holds the president and the administration accountable and responsible for performance of the college. Within this framework, the goal is to produce a process in which timely decisions and the reasons for them are guided by involvement and action from stakeholder groups, and are transparent to the rest of the community.

C. Board, President, and Executive Team Roles

Role of the Board
The governance system recognizes the role and authority of the board as
responsible to the public and being legally vested with final decision making in all matters of college policies, programs, facilities, budget and personnel. The board is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the college. The board’s responsibility is to prescribe policies regarding the effective operation of the college. These policies will guide the president of the college, who is responsible for establishing effective operations to carry out such policies. The board delegates to the president the responsibility and authority to operate the college in compliance with policies and executive directions.

Role of the President
The governance system recognizes the role and authority of the president of the college as being directly accountable and responsible to the board of education for the educational leadership and effective management of the college’s human, physical and fiscal resources. The president’s role includes but is not limited to:

• Articulation of the vision, mission, core values, and learning principles for the college within which its educational objectives are developed and implemented.
• Formulation of strategic long- and short-range plans for the college
• Provision of leadership, direction and guidance to the administration of the college including holding administration accountable for completed work
• Responsibility for recommending a balanced budget and strategies that lead to fiscal stability to the board of education
• Representation of and primary spokesperson for the college to various external organizations
• Development and maintenance of a climate in the college conducive to productive learning and effective teaching

Role of the Executive Team
The members of the Executive Team have individual accountability and responsibility for and to their assigned areas and are collectively accountable and responsible for viewing the college as a whole and making or recommending decisions that align the best interests of their units with the best interests of the college.

It is recognized that the role of the Executive Team as a body is to manage and direct college operations and to implement strategies at the administrative level. Members of the Executive Team as individuals are accountable for particular branches of the college and as such are active participants in the governance system. The governance system provides a framework for the actions of the Executive Team and the individuals who comprise the Executive Team.

The board and the president rely on the Executive Team as a body to provide expert advice that views the college as an entire system rather than individual disconnected parts.

D. Membership
Council membership incorporates: administrators (or their designees) who have authority for areas of work centrally impacted by councils; faculty, classified staff, managers and student representatives; and ex-officio members whose central function and authority, and whose expertise is necessary for the work of the councilor expertise is central to a council's work.

Responsible administrators not serving as members of a council, but with override authority for council work identified in the decision matrix, will communicate with the council about upcoming work early in the decision making process. Such communication should be direct, when feasible, and via other administration representatives serving on the council, when direct communication is not possible.

E. Timelines
The board, college president or the administrator with authority for areas of work, in consultation with councils, will establish a timeline for council decisions/recommendations as early as possible in the deliberation process, preferably at the outset. Timelines may not be arbitrary but should be based on factors such as:

• External deadlines (e.g. budget deadlines, accreditation visits)
• Internal deadlines (e.g. academic calendar, board requirements)
• Exigencies of a particular situation

F. Decision-making model
In general, the intention is for as much agreement as possible to be reached “at the table.” Councils will strive to reach consensus. In the event that consensus cannot be achieved within timelines identified for council decisions, councils will present majority and minority positions to the College Council or designated administrator as identified in the council's decision matrix process. Recipients of majority and minority positions will consider them, and either returns the deliberations to the council with advice on resolving the issues, or, as called for in the governance system charters and decision matrices, resolve the issue and provide the rationale to the council.

Administrators with override authority designated by decision matrices should do so rarely. Whenever feasible, overridden decisions should be returned to councils for further work with full explanation of the rationale for the veto. When not feasible (e.g. due to time constraints), the overriding administrator will make the decision and provide the rationale to the council.

Failure to reach a consensus decision or majority and minority reports results in moving the decision to the College Council or the administrator with authority and accountability for that area of the college.

G. College support
It is the intention of the college to provide adequate support for full participation of the stakeholders.