A Look at the Board of One Adventist University

JAE_Summer_swcg 5/21/04 2:54 PM Page 40 A Look at the Board of One Adventist University Each college/uni- hat are the responsibilities of a Sev- versity must care- enth-day Adventist college or university board of trustees? How do fully think through they do their work? Each Seventh- day Adventist university/college who will hold the board of trustees is similar in some unique responsibil- Wrespects and different in others. ity of trusteeship Similarities The board of La Sierra University (LSU) in Riverside, and how it will be California, is similar to those of other Adventist institutions of higher education that are sponsored by union confer- exercised. ences. The union president is our board chair, the members are broadly representative of the conferences in our “territory,” and we try to get trustees who contribute at least two of the following w’s (and hopefully all three): wisdom, work, and wealth. Much of the actual work of the board is done in subcommittees for which the university vice- presidents serve as secretary. These subcommittees include the: • Academic Programs and Personnel Committee (processes all new or modified academic programs, all personnel items, and anything that deals with academics at the university); • Finance, Budget, and Audit Committee (deals with university finances); • Development and Membership Committee (processes all fund-raising initiatives and looks after membership issues relating to the board itself); • Student Life Committee (watches over the co-curricular aspects of the university's programs such as residence hall issues, the student association, clubs, student services, the spiritual life of the campus, etc.); and By Lawrence T. Geraty • Recruitment and Retention Committee (which looks for ways to attract and retain students). Other committees, such as the Investment Committee, the Land Devel- opment Committee, and the Buildings and Grounds Committee, include trustees in their membership, though they are not strictly trustee committees. Differences La Sierra University's board is also different in some respects from other Adventist college and university boards: 40 Journal of Adventist Education SUMMER 2004 JAE_Summer_swcg 5/21/04 2:54 PM Page 41 Much of the actual 1. Our constituency meets every work of the board is and several leading business people. other year on our campus (in alter- Only a third of this group are Ad- nating years, the constituency meets done in subcommit- ventists. The Foundation Board at Pacific Union College in Angwin, serves in an advisory capacity, but its California, the other higher educa- tees for which the directors are increasingly involved in tion institution sponsored by our the university and are beginning to union conference). This has the ad- university vice- provide significant financial support vantage of bringing the union execu- presidents serve as as well. It is the chairman of this tive committee members plus certain group who has just become our 23rd alumni onto campus, where they can secretary. trustee. concentrate on university business Of the 22 trustees who must be uninterrupted by the politics of a ates, many of whom had never set Adventists, only nine are required to union conference session, and where foot in an Adventist church before. be denominationally employed by they can see and “feel” the institu- After his death, some expressed virtue of their office (five are union tion’s progress for themselves. concern about selecting another officers, three are conference presi- 2. Our bylaws require all 23 trustee not of our faith, lest it give the dents, and one is the university presi- trustees to be Christians and 22 of wrong signal to our constituency or dent). All the others are elected to them to be Seventh-day Adventists. possibly undermine the “Adventist- staggered six-year terms. While they Our first trustee not of our faith ness” of the institution. Nevertheless, must be Adventists—and many are was Art Pick, president of the Greater the city’s “Citizen of the Year,” long- alumni—the majority of them cannot Riverside Chambers of Commerce. time businessman and philanthropist be employed by the Seventh-day He served the school extremely well Henry Coil, has just been elected to Adventist Church. This gives the because he saw himself as an ambas- our board. trustees a certain independence from sador for LSU. At least three times a LSU has recently named a 65- being unduly influenced by denomi- day in his meetings downtown, he member Foundation Board whose di- national leadership or swayed by loy- mentioned LSU in a favorable light! rectors represent our very supportive alty to other church institutions. In Having wandered away from his ear- community. They include people practice, of course, all trustees work lier faith, he became very close to his such as the county manager, the together for the good of the univer- Adventist colleagues on the board. Riverside mayor, the publisher of our sity and to enhance its Adventist He asked me to preside at his mar- local newspaper, a local judge, a re- identity and mission. riage, and his funeral was held at the cently retired county supervisor, a 3. Whenever the board meets, LSU church, attended by several former state assemblyman, the presi- “Open Forum” time is set aside when hundred friends and business associ- dent of the Chambers of Commerce, anyone can address the board for up La Sierra University (LSU) President Lawrence T. Geraty (left) and board chair Thomas Mostert at the March 18, 2004, LSU board of trustees meeting. Behind them in the board room are a few of the many biblical artifacts from the university’s collection. Dr. Geraty is holding up a CD given to the trustees by Elsie Chan, a retiring board member. Journal of Adventist Education SUMMER 2004 41 JAE_Summer_swcg 5/21/04 2:54 PM Page 42 Officers of the university student association share students’ concerns with the LSU trustees. to three minutes on a topic of his or her choice. We have had students, faculty, and alumni take advantage of this opportunity. This plan undercuts the notion that the board is somehow shielded from the “truth” about campus issues. 4. Frequency of meetings is always an issue. Our bylaws call for the board to meet at least three times per year; with one meeting each academic quarter, plus an annual board retreat early in the school year. We have no executive committee, since all trustees wish to be involved in decision-mak- ing. While the chair of the board is always the union conference president, the vice chair is a layperson. They take turns chairing meetings of the trustees. 5. The board attempts to in-service itself on boardsmanship and pro- University President Lawrence T. Geraty thanks Elsie Chan for her service on the LSU board fessional development by devoting of trustees during the final meeting of her six-year term of membership. some time at each meeting to these issues. Often, a consultant is invited booklets and videos for this purpose. on the university’s web site: http:// to speak on a specific issue con- 6. The work of the trustees is www.lasierra.edu/trusteehandbook. fronting the board. Each year, the guided by the LSU Trustee Handbook, This handbook contains 10 chapters, board holds a weekend retreat at authored largely by trustee Jerry each dealing with a different responsi- which such issues are presented and Wiley who, until his untimely death, bility of a trustee: discussed, often with the assistance of was vice dean of the law school at the I. How the Board of Trustees the Association of Governing Boards, University of Southern California. A Functions (Governance, Policy, Ad- an organization that produces useful very useful document, it may be found ministration, Reservation of Control, 42 Journal of Adventist Education SUMMER 2004 JAE_Summer_swcg 5/21/04 2:54 PM Page 43 Our bylaws require all 23 trustees to be Christians and 22 of them to be Seventh- day Adventists. Delegation, Limitations, Interim De- cisions, Board Committees); II. Trustee Responsibility for Eval- uation; III. Trustee Responsibility for De- velopment (General, Responsible Groups, Trustee Activities); IV. Trustee Responsibility for Re- search Endeavors (Obligations, Di- rections, Control, Duty); V. Trustee Responsibility for Fi- nancial Integrity (Authorization, Bud- get Preparation and Financial Admin- istration, Investments, Information, Richard Osborn, president of the Pacific Union’s sister college, Pacific Union College (PUC), Evaluation); updates the La Sierra University board of trustees on cooperative efforts between the two in- VI. Trustee Legal Rights and Re- stitutions. Jim Wilson, LSU professor of biology and chair of the university’s faculty senate, addresses the board of trustees. Journal of Adventist Education SUMMER 2004 43 JAE_Summer_swcg 5/21/04 2:55 PM Page 44 and Harvard universities, and teaching at the LSU has recently Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, named a 65-member Dr. Geraty served as President of Atlantic Union College for eight years. He has been Foundation Board President of La Sierra University for 11 years. He also serves as President of the pro- whose directors repre- fessional organization for American archaeol- ogists working in the Middle East, the Amer- sent our very sup- ican Schools of Oriental Research. portive community. sponsibilities (Basis, Rights and Re- sponsibilities, Legal Standard of Duty, Indemnification, Limitations); VII. Trustee Moral Responsibility (Support, Dissent, Confidentiality); Ted Benedict shares his perspectives on the VIII. Trustee Relationships (The university’s future during the final meeting AVLN Conference President, the Faculties and Academic of his term on the LSU board of trustees. June 30 - July 2, 2004, Freedom, Communications With Fac- at Pacific Union College, ulty, the Constituency, the Church ductive board is usually one that has and the Community); periodically taken that time to Angwin, California IX.

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