Reforms in Governance

In the wake of student unrest, a key issue on U.S. campuses this fall is how the universities can achieve more effective democratic "governance." Last week two of the nation's leading universities announced plans for reform.

> At Harvard, on the recommendation of the Board of Overseers, President Nathan Pusey established a new 35-member Committee on Governance that will include eleven students and 18 faculty members. Asserting that it was essential to re-establish "the high sense of mutual trust and confidence that formerly prevailed at Harvard," the overseers charged the reform panel with the responsibility of re-examining the university's decision-making process, which presently rests in a vague, tradition-bound combination of administrators, faculty and trustees--but no students. Among the alternatives proposed by the overseers for consideration: a new university body composed of students as well as faculty to work with the trustees.

>At Stanford, on the recommendation of a trustee committee headed by John W. Gardner, the board of trustees unanimously decided to seek broader viewpoints by filling two current vacancies in its ranks with faculty members from other universities. The trustees also approved a nine-man expansion of the 23-member board, including four Stanford graduates aged 35 or under, and agreed to give students and faculty voting membership on most trustee committees. If Stanford gains court approval for the required change in its founding grant, the first election of new board members will be held this year.

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