During their regular meeting on Oct. 9–10, the Board of Trustees revised their Trustee Statement of Responsibilities to provide greater emphasis and clarity regarding the trustees’ role in engaging with members of the College community and those outside the institution. In particular, the changes introduce new language specifying expectations related to handling of confidential or non-public information at meetings.
“It’s important to revise the statement of trustee responsibilities to emphasize the ambassadorial responsibility,” Board Chair Chuck Birenbaum, OC ’79, said. “Understanding that trustees are not all trained in this … the revised statement provides some understanding of the responsibilities and the guardrails in view of trustee ethical and legal obligations when they move among the community and speak about the College. We revised the statement of responsibilities to address those obligations.”
The revision adds language to the statement of responsibilities, specifically describing the role of a trustee as that of “an ambassador on behalf of Oberlin to internal and external communities, subject to provisions regarding confidentiality.” The change also further clarified when trustees are and are not allowed to speak for the Board. Previously, the language only said that trustees should direct inquiries by media to the Chair of the Board or Director of Communications. The added language concerns any conversations between parties within and outside of the College.
“If contacted by a member of the College community or an external constituent to request confidential or non-public information and the trustee is unsure of how to respond, the trustee is encouraged to contact the Secretary,” the new statement reads. “If contacted to lobby for a particular decision, the trustee should contact the Secretary.”
Birenbaum said the revisions are the product of an ad-hoc committee that is currently studying possible reforms to the role of the Board. The changes were first approved by the Nominations and Governance Committee and then presented to the Board, which passed them unanimously.
“Board engagement is much more necessary in higher ed today than it has been in the past,” Birenbaum said. “People want to see the Board and they want to know what it thinks.”
The adoption of the revised statement comes after the Oberlin chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America submitted a petition calling for greater transparency, although Birenbaum said that the revisions to the statement of responsibility were not in response to this campaign. The petition, which was signed by over 700 students, calls for more information to be made available to students, faculty, and staff, including pre-agenda minutes a week before the meeting and detailed minute records taken by a non-Board member and verified unanimously by members of the Board. The petition also calls for easier access to archived material from past meetings and for the Board to publish reports on how they are following through with resolved meeting agenda items.
“I would say transparency is important because I think a lot of students don’t realize the stake they hold in this institution,” College third-year and Oberlin Democratic Socialists Chair Dylan Kim said. “They pay a decent amount of money to the school every year and the school should then be using that money to make better choices that benefit students. I think that with transparency that will help us move more in that direction.”
Kim said that he began meeting with Dean of Student Thom Julian and former General Counsel Matt Lahey last semester. He said the organization was currently involved in conversations with administration members about how to develop an internal file sharing system which would allow the College to share documents from the Board with students, faculty and staff.
President Ambar’s Chief of Staff David Hertz has promised to meet with the Oberlin Democratic Socialists after the Board meeting to answer questions about the Board’s proceedings.
“I think as the YDSA gets its work going and has these conversations, we will be able to talk about more opportunities for there to be Board engagement and connection,” President Carmen Twillie Ambar said. “Does that look like what a public institution does, where people get a chance to go and observe the Board and weigh in on their perspective? I don’t think that’s what it’s going to look like at Oberlin. But I do think there are ways to have deeper and richer conversations with each other, ensuring we’re having good communication about what the Board is thinking and what actions they’re taking.”
President Ambar said that the College is engaged in an ongoing effort to foster engagement between the Board and the Oberlin community including faculty, staff, students, and alumni. She noted that during her tenure, they have introduced media sessions that offer chances for the Review and other campus news outlets to ask questions after each Board meeting, as well as increased opportunities for Student Senate to engage with Board members at meetings.
She also highlighted the role of class trustees as a means for the Board to engage with the current student body. Three class trustees are elected by recently graduating classes to serve as full members of the Board for three-year terms.
In addition to discussing and passing the new statement of responsibilities, Birenbaum said a large portion of the meeting was dedicated to orienting new members. This year, the Board introduced nine new members and spent time familiarizing these new trustees with the functioning of the College and the long-term challenges the institution seeks to tackle. Engagement events included conversations with students in the new Music Theater department, an athletic event, and a trip by a subset of trustees to see the Park Arts facility in Cleveland, which will house Oberlin’s new double-degree B.A./B.F.A. programs after construction is completed in 2027.
“There’s probably no other group on campus that’s charged in the same way the Board is charged to think about Oberlin’s future in multiple decades and in centuries,” President Ambar said. “We absolutely need the Board to think in the very long term, because there are some things we need to do in the present moment to get the institution ready for 50 years or 60 years or 70 years from now.”
