4.2.g Board Self-Evaluation
The governing
board defines and regularly evaluates its responsibilities and expectations.
Non-Compliance
The
institution’s governing board is the UL Board of Supervisors (BOS). In 2018, the BOS amended its bylaws to affirm
the intention to conduct self-evaluation every two years and to outline the
factors that would be assessed. The institution also cites an example of board
self-evaluation that occurred prior to the adoption of this policy. The board’s
first self-evaluation under the new policy occurred at its retreat in February
2019. Much of the evidence provided is of the nature of training provided to the
BOS members by a consultant. The institution provides an agenda and a
presentation from the board retreat. However, the information provided does
clarify that the self-evaluation conducted addressed the factors cited in the
bylaws.
The
On-Site Reaffirmation Committee should look for evidence of the instrument used
for the self-evaluation and whether it conformed to the recently approved
evaluation goals in the BOS Bylaws.
The first complete formal self-evaluation with an evaluation instrument was distributed on December 13, 2019. The UL System Board will analyze the results of this evaluation during January 2020 and will conduct a retreat on February 28, 2020 focused on the results of the self-evaluation.
In the Compliance Report, the University included the agenda and the consultant’s PowerPoint from the February 22-23, 2018 Board self-evaluation retreat, but did not include the University of Louisiana System Board’s own presentation, which was the basis of much of the self-evaluation at the retreat. This Presentation offers a far more detailed record of the issues assessed at the retreat. The following table demonstrates that the issues addressed in this presentation and discussed at the retreat (right) correspond to the recently approved evaluation goals (left).
Table 4.2.g — 1: System Evaluation Goals and Retreat Topics
|
Goal of evaluation approved in 2018 |
February 22-23, 2019 Board Evaluation Topics |
|
(a) Board organization, leadership, and committee responsibilities and structure; |
· Slide 18: Modes of Governance, Leadership · Slide 25 & 27: Committees: Purpose and evaluation · Slide 26: Committee structure |
|
(b) Board orientation and ongoing education; |
· Slide 4: Basic Responsibilities of a Governing Board |
|
(c) Board fiduciary oversight of UL System and the ULS institutions; (Slide 4, “Fiduciary Responsibilities”) |
· Slide 4: Fiduciary Responsibility · Slide 18: Fiduciary mode of governance · Slide 19: Fiduciary assessment |
|
(d) Board’s oversight of the President of the System as chief executive officer; and |
· Slide 8: Partnering with the President – Mutual Expectations |
|
(e) Board’s method for identifying and addressing potential conflicts of |
· Slide 15 & 17: Stewardship and Accountability |