HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op ED: … the university president, who holds multiple and conflicting positions.
He is president of the university, and thus an employee, but he also is an officer and a voting member on the board that employs him. That is, he is the boss of himself. The president not only is responsible for the daily operations of the university, but as a voting member of the board he wields substantial influence over it through a variety of roles and responsibilities.
As the board secretary, he controls the meeting agenda and what issues are discussed (or not discussed) at board meetings. He also controls how board business is reported to the public in the form of issuing the final minutes. In other words, he is gatekeeper for the flow of information from the public to the board, and vice versa.
This concentration of power is dangerous, and it is archaic in modern academia. Among the 12 public universities in the Big Ten, Penn State is alone in seating its president as a voting member on the board of trustees. Moreover, it is alone among the 20 largest public universities in the nation in having its president as a voting board member… (more)
