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Governance
St. Lawrence has a tripartite governance system wherein faculty, students and trustees collaborate in strategic planning and policy recommendation. The faculty have an annually elected Faculty Council and a newly revised committee system to assure inclusion. Students annually elect officers to the Thelomathesian Society, the student government organization, which has about 40 representatives of the student body serving as senators. Faculty Council and the Thelomathesian Society assure faculty and student representation on campus-wide committees and to Board of Trustees Committees. Administrative staff are appointed to campus-wide committees by the President.

The Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees consists of 40 members, of whom one is the President of the University, 35 are designated term trustees and four are young alumni who have graduated within two and 10 years at the time of their election to the Board. Term trustees are elected for six-year terms, and young alumni trustees for fouryear terms. The Board has a mandatory retirement age of 70 years. Emeriti Board members may attend Board meetings and participate fully in discussions, but may not vote.

The Board of Trustees fulfills its responsibilities through in-depth committee discussions and by at least three discussions as a whole at every Board meeting. Current Bylaws call for five standing committees and nine committees of the corporation; two ad hoc committees are extant. Visiting campus in the fall, winter and spring, with a summer planning retreat and a December Executive Committee conference call, brings the Board members in touch with one another and the University regularly.

The culture at St. Lawrence is one of collaboration, and the Board of Trustees enjoys a strong and cherished partnership with administration, students and faculty. In practice, this collaboration can be witnessed with a policy consistent with the tripartite governance system, the Board welcomes non-voting delegates to its committee and full Board meetings: two faculty, two students and one alumna/alumnus (the president of the Alumni Executive Council). Most Trustee Committees have faculty and student representatives who attend meetings and are invited to make remarks and participate in discussions. Informally, Board members and members of the University community enjoy dialog in many ways, from trustee-faculty dinners focused on strategic issues and the annual Senior Dinner, at which imminent new graduates share experiences and make career connections with trustees, to casual discussions over coffee at Brewer Bookstore. Trustees are accessible and welcoming of all perspectives as they respect the lines of responsibility for policy and administration.

St. Lawrence trustees travel from across the nation to attend three official meetings per year and a fourth meeting that serves as a strategic planning retreat. Attendance at trustee meetings averages close to 80% per meeting. Those who join the Board experience an orientation session at the first fall meeting of their tenure. The session provides trustees with an introduction to the most critical strategic issues facing the University and works to ensure that they understand the distinctive features of University culture and operations and what constitutes best practices in University trusteeship. For accountability and satisfaction, trustees themselves engage in a regular self-evaluation process.

Trustee dedication can be measured in so many ways, as talent, time and treasure are equally valuable assets that every trustee brings to the duties of governance. The measurement of philanthropy is illustrative of St. Lawrence trustee dedication. In the current comprehensive campaign, trustees have donated $61.4 million of the $132.6 million raised as of March 31, 2008; that trustee total already exceeds the trustee goal of $50 million determined at the start of the campaign.

The Board and the President
The relationship of the St. Lawrence Board of Trustees and the University President has been characterized by mutual full disclosures and frequent, deep, and strategic communication. The Board’s most important work involves a focus on strategic issues, not day-to-day management. The key to success has been the careful planning of Board meeting schedules. Trustees truly chair and lead all meetings; agendas are planned for strategic issues discussions, with essential background analysis done and circulated well in advance. The Association for Governing Boards’ experience is that the more the full Board meets together, and where the executive committee has very limited functions, the more strategic overall Board performance will be and the more informed all trustees will be. All significant decisions, including the discussion in preparation for them, therefore, are made by the full Board.

The Board is responsible for ensuring that management and the executive functions are successful. It does that best through a thorough, thoughtfully conceived, inclusive, annual performance evaluation of the president that assesses presidential performance against annual and multi-year goals and objectives defined by the president and agreed to by the Board, aided by the president’s own self-evaluation. In this evaluation all trustees and emeritus trustees are consulted, as are key faculty, student, and sometimes community and alumni leaders who have observed the president in some area of performance. The results of the evaluation are conveyed in confidence to the president. Because of the special role faculty and students have in shared governance, the president and the Board chair have developed honored protocols and regular communications with these partners. Faculty and student leaders inform the president in advance of their Board report topics and of private meetings with trustees and what the agenda will be, and trustees who find themselves in conversations with faculty report their content to the Board chair who, in turn, shares it with the president.