Higher education operates within one of the most complex legal and governance environments of any institutional sector. Colleges and universities are simultaneously governed by boards, shaped by faculty senates, regulated by state and federal agencies, subject to constitutional requirements, bound by accreditation standards, and answerable to multiple stakeholder groups. ED6574 develops the legal literacy and governance understanding that higher education leaders need to navigate this complexity effectively.
Shared governance in higher education
The unique governance model that defines colleges and universities
- The shared governance tradition: ED6574 examines the distinctive governance model of American higher education, in which authority for institutional decision-making is shared among governing boards (which hold ultimate fiduciary and legal authority), administrators (who manage day-to-day operations and implement board policy), and faculty (who hold primary authority over academic matters including curriculum, academic standards, degree requirements, and faculty status). This model, articulated in the AAUP's 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, differs fundamentally from corporate governance (where the board and CEO have clear hierarchical authority) and requires leaders who can navigate collaborative decision-making processes
- Board governance: The course covers the roles and responsibilities of governing boards (boards of trustees, regents, or governors) including fiduciary duties, presidential selection and evaluation, strategic direction setting, policy approval, and the boundary between board governance (setting direction) and administration (implementing direction). The course also covers board composition, effectiveness, and the legal duties of board members (duty of care, duty of loyalty, duty of obedience)
- Faculty governance structures: ED6574 examines faculty governance bodies (academic senates, faculty councils, curriculum committees, tenure and promotion committees), the scope of faculty authority in shared governance, and the tensions that arise when administrative decisions appear to encroach on areas traditionally under faculty authority — tensions that have intensified in an era of declining tenure, growing use of contingent faculty, and increasing administrative authority over academic programs
The legal system and higher education
ED6574 develops the legal literacy that higher education leaders need — not to function as lawyers, but to recognize legal issues when they arise, understand the legal frameworks that govern institutional operations, and work effectively with institutional counsel. The course covers constitutional law (First Amendment issues including academic freedom, free speech on campus, and religious expression; Fourteenth Amendment equal protection and due process requirements; Fourth Amendment search and seizure issues in residence halls and technology), statutory law (Title IX sex discrimination, Title VI and Title VII race discrimination, Title III disability accommodation under the ADA, FERPA student privacy, the Clery Act campus safety reporting, Title IV financial aid compliance, immigration law affecting international students and faculty), and common law (contract law governing student-institution relationships, tort liability for campus injuries, employment law governing faculty and staff), and regulatory law (state higher education agency requirements, accreditation standards, and the growing body of federal regulations governing institutional operations).
Leadership roles in addressing legal matters
ED6574 develops the specific leadership competencies needed to address legal matters in higher education settings. The course covers risk management (identifying, assessing, and mitigating institutional legal risks before they become legal problems), policy development (creating institutional policies that comply with legal requirements while serving institutional goals — including policies on academic integrity, student conduct, harassment and discrimination, employment, and institutional compliance), crisis management (leading institutional responses to legal crises including investigations, litigation, regulatory actions, and public relations challenges), and the working relationship between institutional leaders and legal counsel (when to seek legal advice, how to frame legal questions effectively, how to weigh legal advice against other institutional considerations, and the distinction between legal compliance as a minimum standard and ethical institutional practice as an aspiration). The course also examines case studies of higher education legal controversies — examining how institutional leaders' decisions either effectively managed or exacerbated legal challenges — to develop practical judgment about legal decision-making.
Technology and the law in higher education
ED6574 addresses the rapidly evolving legal considerations surrounding technology use in higher education. The course covers intellectual property issues (copyright ownership of online course materials, the work-for-hire doctrine applied to faculty course development, open educational resources licensing, fair use in digital environments), data privacy and security (FERPA compliance in learning management systems and educational technology tools, state data breach notification requirements, the EU's GDPR as it affects international student data, institutional obligations to protect student records in cloud-based systems), accessibility requirements (Section 508, WCAG 2.1, and ADA requirements for institutional websites, digital learning materials, and online courses — an area of rapidly increasing legal enforcement), and emerging technology legal issues (artificial intelligence in admissions and academic assessment, biometric data collection, social media monitoring, and the legal implications of surveillance technologies on campus). The course develops the capacity to create institutional technology policies that balance innovation, compliance, accessibility, and privacy — recognizing that technology decisions in higher education are inseparable from legal obligations.
ED6574 assignments include governance analyses, legal case studies, policy development projects, and technology compliance audits
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Frequently asked questions
Shared governance is the distinctive decision-making model used in American colleges and universities in which authority for institutional decisions is distributed among three key groups: the governing board, the administration, and the faculty. This model is fundamentally different from the governance structures in virtually every other type of organization. In a corporation, the board of directors sets strategic direction and the CEO and management team implement it — there is a clear hierarchy of authority. In a government agency, authority flows from elected officials through appointed administrators to career staff — again, a hierarchical model. In higher education, the faculty hold substantial autonomous authority over academic matters — curriculum design, degree requirements, academic standards, research directions, faculty hiring and promotion — that cannot simply be overridden by administrative or board decisions without violating deeply held norms (and sometimes legal requirements) of academic freedom and professional expertise. The historical basis for shared governance is the recognition that faculty possess specialized expertise in their academic disciplines that administrators and board members typically do not. A university president or board member is not qualified to determine what should be included in a physics curriculum or whether a scholar's research meets the standards of their discipline — those are judgments that require disciplinary expertise. At the same time, faculty are not typically responsible for (or necessarily expert in) institutional finance, facilities management, enrollment strategy, or regulatory compliance — those are administrative functions. Shared governance allocates decision-making authority to the group best positioned to exercise it: faculty govern academic matters, administrators govern operational matters, and the board provides fiduciary oversight and strategic direction. In practice, shared governance is frequently contested — particularly when financial pressures lead administrators to make decisions about academic programs (closures, reorganizations, changes to faculty staffing) that faculty view as encroachments on their governance authority. ED6574 develops the skills to navigate these tensions effectively, building the collaborative relationships and communication practices that make shared governance work as a practical decision-making model rather than an abstract ideal.