Policy Type: Board-President Relations
Policy Title: Delegation to the President
The president of the college is accountable to the full Board. The Board will establish the broadest Policies, delegating implementation and more detailed policy development to the president.
- Only decisions of the full Board are binding on the president. Decisions or instructions of individual Board members, officers, or committees are not binding on the president, except when the Board has specifically authorized such exercise of authority.
- All Board authority delegated to staff is delegated through the president, so that all authority and accountability of staff- as far as the Board is concerned - ;is considered to be the authority and accountability of the president.
- Goals Policies direct the president to achieve certain results; Executive Limitations Policies constrain the president to act within acceptable boundaries of prudence, legality, and ethics. With respect to Goals and executive means, the president is authorized to establish all operational policies, make all decisions, take all actions, and develop all activities as long as they are consistent with any & reasonable interpretation of the Board’s Policies.
- The Board may change its Goals and Executive Limitations Policies, thereby shifting the boundary between Board and president domains. By so doing, the Board changes the latitude of choice given to the president. But so long as any particular delegation is in place, the Board and its members will respect and support the president’s choices. This does not prevent the Board from obtaining substantive information in the form of monitoring report in the delegated areas, with the exception of legally restricted data.
- Information or assistance may be requested by individual Board members, officers, or Board committees. If, in the president’s judgment, such request requires an excessive amount of staff time or funds or is disruptive and the president refuses the request on this basis, the president shall nevertheless accommodate the request if it is backed by a vote of the majority of the Board members.