Shared Governance in Community Colleges

INTRODUCTION Shared governance is one of the most widely discussed and misunderstood topics in postsecondary education today. Lacking precise definition and often interpreted in ways that support special interests, it can have different meanings for different audiences. Some view it as a system of self-government in which policies, procedures and decision-making involve the entire organization. Others see it as a process that defines the roles trustees, administrators, instructors and students should play in " shared responsibility " and " cooperative action " for operating institutions. And still others interpret it as a mandate for institutions to offer all personnel a seat at the decision-making table. In one state, mandated shared governance has replaced participatory governance as the mode for decisionmaking. All constituencies have a right to collaborate in making decisions, in contrast to participatory systems in which constituencies have a right to comment, but not to vote. Governance can be defined as the act of decisionmaking. In its simplest form, shared governance can be defined as " collegial decision-making " or the process for distributing authority, power and influence for academic decisions among campus constituencies. Campus constituencies may include, but are not limited to, the board of trustees, faculty, students, staff, administrators , the faculty senate and unions. Three themes in this definition guide its application in community colleges: • Current and historical approaches to organization and the impact of these approaches on decisionmaking. • Differential involvement in decision-making among staff, depending on their position in the institution. • A prevailing concern about the distribution of power and authority for decisionmaking among different parties. These themes will be used to examine the policy implications of shared governance on community college campuses. Shared governance is an important issue for policymakers because it is one of several factors shaping how community colleges respond to state and local needs. Institutions can respond quickly or slowly depending on how they are organized to make decisions. Those that are committed to shared governance may not be able to respond as rapidly as those which are not because of the expectation for extensive consultation and shared responsibility that comes with collective decisionmaking. The issue is not one of responsiveness — all colleges will eventually respond to identified needs — but rather one of speed and flexibility. How quickly will they respond?