Reports of budget, program, and personnel cuts at institutions of higher education almost invariably refer–directly or indirectly–to the issue of shared governance.
When faculty leaders address a perceived lack of transparency from the administration, it’s an issue of shared governance. When administrators point out missed opportunities for dialogue about where and when cuts will be implemented, it’s an issue of shared governance. When trustees voice support for embattled administrations in the face of faculty and/or staff complaints, it’s an issue of shared governance.
In all of these cases, what’s clear is the oppositional nature of these exchanges. All that’s shared here appears to be conflict about who’s in charge.
But what if we thought of shared governance as “shared responsibility”–not about who’s in charge, but who’s responsible and what those responsibilities entail.
And what if we reframed the process of “shared governance” to focus on a desired outcome– “sustainable decision-making.”
It’s no surprise that using the same-old language usually gets us the same-old results. New language encourages new ways of thinking and–if we do it right–different and better results.
It’s time to re-imagine how we think and talk about the thing we call “higher education.”