From March 5–6, the Oberlin College Board of Trustees convened for its regular meeting, during which members discussed the structure and function of the Board and voted to approve minor revisions to the bylaws.

The changes follow a multi-year review led by an ad hoc Board Planning Committee. According to Board Chair Chuck Birenbaum, OC ’79, the committee was first proposed at a retreat in New York City in January 2024 and has spent the past two years examining nearly every aspect of the Board’s operations. The group periodically invited President Carmen Twillie Ambar to offer input and worked with higher education consultant Julie Peterson.

Among the changes Birenbaum described were updates to how Board committees organize their work. Committees will now develop annual work plans in conjunction with the administration outlining major goals and strategies.

“We looked at the role of the executive committee and whether they needed to be changed, grown, shrunk, or sharpened,” Birenbaum said. “We looked at the Board’s scope and composition and discussed whether we needed to add representatives with certain experience, add people from different backgrounds or life experiences, industries, and so on, and how that would improve the Board and Board’s performance.”

The committee also examined whether the Board should be expanded. President Ambar emphasized the importance of bringing diverse expertise and perspectives to Board membership.

“What boards typically do is they’re looking for expertise in particular areas,” Ambar wrote in an email to the Review. “Oftentimes on boards, you’ll create a grid of people who have a certain type of academic background, certain type of career path, even down sometimes to people’s way of thinking.”

Birenbaum said the revisions are intended to clarify responsibilities and support the Board’s oversight of the College’s financial, operational, and strategic planning processes.

“We were concerned about what we were observing in the markets, the demographic cliff, [and the trend of] fewer people graduating from high school,” he said. “We determined at that time that we needed to examine the Board as an organization to see if there were ways we could strengthen it for the future.”

After reviewing these and other questions about governance, the ad hoc Board Planning Committee produced a report outlining its findings and recommendations. President Ambar said the governance review comes at a time when higher education institutions across the U.S. are facing significant external pressures.

“The political climate has become more complicated,” Ambar said. “The financial framework for all institutions is more challenging. We saw Harvard has indicated that it has laid off a significant number of people, so an institution that has a $50 billion-plus endowment is [also] facing pressures. It is clear that the financial climate is challenging as well.”

These pressures, she said, require governing boards to reconsider how they operate.

“I used to jokingly say that there [are] no more placid waters; we’re all in the rapids,” Ambar said.

Birenbaum emphasized that the changes are intended to strengthen the Board’s long-term effectiveness rather than produce immediate structural shifts.

“I don’t think any one particular reform that passed is going to be some major thunderclap that will result in a giant outcome downstream,” he said. “But what I think we accomplished is that the Board is in alignment behind strengthening itself, implementing best practices, recruiting new Trustees who will make a difference, and supporting [President Ambar] and the administration in the search for transformative opportunities for Oberlin, among other things she has to do.”

In addition to broader governance reforms, Trustees approved four specific bylaw revisions in March 2026. The changes increase the maximum number of board members from 37 to 40, modify the name and responsibilities of the Risk Management & Audit Committee, establish a Capital Planning Subcommittee within the Budget & Finance Committee, and rename the Executive Review & Compensation Subcommittee.