Both President ad interim Aram Chobanian and new Board of Trustees Chairman Alan Leventhal called the board’s governance changes Thursday a “milestone” for the university, and that may just be what they are.
The reformation of the board, coming almost five and a half months after an embarrassing episode that ended in a $1.8 million payout to former President-elect Daniel Goldin, ensures that the board will have a fresh face and start the road toward separating itself from previous controversies. Experts have said that was what BU needed to do to have any hope of attracting a top-flight presidential candidate from outside the university community.
But the changes will also allow the most influential Trustees to remain on board for limited amounts of time, allowing for some continuity. That is important because the board should not just throw away President emeritus John Silber’s legacy.
“None of this means that people would be kicked off,” Chobanian said in an interview with The Daily Free Press Sunday. “They can come back to be chairs of committees or go on to be chairs of other committees. In addition, they can come back onto the board after a two-year hiatus.”
Returning to the board after some time off will allow new trustees to get in and help reform the board, while keeping trustees that have stature both within the board and with peers in their respective professions. Currently, the board is made up of eight lawyers, five “retired executives” and nine “current executives,” according to the report released Thursday by the board’s ad hoc committee on governance.
The new face to the board will be completed within a year, as 20 to 25 percent of current board members should “conclude their service” by October and another 10 to 15 percent should step down by 2005, according to the report. The board should also expect an average 5 to 10 percent turnover per year, the report continues.
Turnover on the board will bring new financial connections to the university, helping to increase the ever-questioned endowment. In essence, the guidelines make fundraising a major part of the Trustees’ duties.
And the governance committee’s recommendations confirm that, saying “50 to 70 percent of board members should be major donors to the university, and all trustees should be donors.”
With the endowment hovering at just over $700 million – down from $1 billion a few years ago – and student tuition, room and board costs closing in on $40,000, focusing on fundraising – both internally on the board and through board members – seems like something worth concentrating on.
Discussing gifts and their impact on the endowment, Chobanian said, “Some of the gifts will come from trustees, so you want to ensure that there are enough trustees on the board who have both connections and financial commitments of their own.”
Another major step for the board, showing how much it is now taking into consideration the faculty and students, was the addition of the Faculty Council chair as a trustee. Chobanian even cited how important students and faculty are by calling them the “primary constituency” at the university.
“To me, the university is built on the shoulders of the faculty and the students, not on the buildings themselves,” Chobanian said, a statement echoed by the changes the board made.
Leventhal said the changes should be taken as a “national model,” a step toward pushing the university into the top tier. Only time will tell, but the first indications show that they are a big leap in the healing process Chobanian started five months ago.