Image: Demetri Morgan, associate professor at Loyola University Chicago, unpacked and laid the groundwork for how to reimagine governance in higher education at his talk on April 28, 2023, Reclaiming and reorienting college and university decision-making through the Equity X Governance Framework. Speaking to McBee Institute faculty, students, and graduates, Dr. Morgan argued for paradigm shifts in how we construct and empower postsecondary governing boards and also in how we study and evaluate them. He outlined the weaknesses in our current frameworks for envisioning board models and current literature around educational boards. Morgan argues that the present economic-based model for the work of boards introduces too many bottlenecks that impede progress and the development of fair and informed governance. He advocated that boards should have a core mission of “dismantling barriers, policies, and structures that moderate opportunities for all stakeholders.” Framing boards as meditators that seek to maximize value for its many collaborators and consumers, he believes that they should represent effective equity X good governance, which he defines as “a philosophical approach to viewing, understanding, and interacting within an organizational transformation process that (re)centers the governing board and seeks to realize equitable opportunities for stakeholder success through instruction/system-level governance processes.” Boards can fulfill their missions within the social contract by running educational institutions well, creating and maintaining spaces for liberation and success, and advancing the broader public good. Morgan acknowledged the many scholars working to expand research on boards and invited greater participation by presenting several further lines of inquiry for future exploration and testing. Dr. Erik Ness welcomed and introduced the speaker. The session was presented as part of the McBee Institute's Educational Policy Seminar, Critical Issues series. More details at: Morgan, D. L., Rall, R. M., & Commodore, F. (2023). "Getting to where we need to be": (Re)Envisioning postsecondary education through the Equity X Governance paradigm. In L. W. Perna (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory & Research (38th ed., pp. 2–62). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94844-3_8-1 Type of News/Audience: General News
