Raymond’s plan for TWU September 20, 2006
Posted by mwj as governance, politics, twu. trackback. I went to my first Undergraduate Academic Council yesterday, and heard Dr. Jonathan Raymond’s unveil some of his new ideas for TWU. The highlights? If all goes as planned at the board meeting in October, Student Life as we know it will no longer exist at Trinity. The focus of both the Board and the President’s Cabinet over the next year will be almost entirely on policy, based on the Carver model. And by next Fall we should have a framework from which to focus on academics and become Canada’s premier Christian university.
This is the Carver model. It has been implemented before by Raymond, during his time at Booth College. The model defines policy for how the board governs itself (upper-left quadrant) and how the board interacts with the president (lower-left). These areas are the jurisdiction of the Chief Governing Officer, also known as the Chairman of the Board. The model also defines the limits that will be placed on executive power (i.e. the president and his posse), and the final ends towards which the university is striving (vision, mission, etc.). These fall under this jurisdiction of the Chief Executive Officer, aka the Prez.
The net effect of all of this is summed up nicely in the first issue of Mars’ Hill:
It shifts from a university that operates on 10 000 approvals, to a pre-approval system,” [Raymond] said, adding that the change is similar to the difference between tethering a horse to a stake and allowing the horse to roam free in a pasture.
Goodbye Student Life, hello Policy, Planning and Research
At the UAC meeting, Raymond also mentioned some of the restructuring he was doing at the cabinet level to start implementing policy. He drew a diagram that looked a lot like this one:
Essentially this diagram represents two things: 1) the expansion of the cabinet to include associate vice president’s and 2) the creation of a sub-committee called the “University Policy Council” which is responsible for interpreting broad board policy and creating a “nested authority” structure like the one in the diagram below.
Here is a quick list of all the positions represented in this diagram:
- CPO: The Chief Programs Officer (also known as the Provost) is a new position which will be occupied by Dr. Dennis Jameson. The Provost is responsible for all programs that the university offer, which at this institution basically means academics and student life.
- CERO: The Chief External Relations Officer is a position that already exists and is occupied by Ron Kuehl. He is reponsible for ensuring the university is marketed correctly to ensure that new students come and old students come back.
- COO: The Chief Operating Officer was a position occupied until recently, by Dr. Guy Saffold. It is currently vacant and will probably remain so for awhile, but the COO is reponsible for the operating side of the university (buildings, staff, food, long term campus plans, etc.)
- CKO: The Chief Knowledge Officer will be coordinating the University Policy Council in the interpretation of board policy and the creation of executive policy. Dr. Ken Kush will be stepping into this role if the board approves it in October. This position is also known as the VP of Policy, Planning and Research.
- CFO: The Chief Finance Officer may or may not be a part of the University Policy Council. This position is currently occupied by Jim Poulsen.
- AAVP: The Associate Academic VP will report to the Provost and will continue to assist in overseeing academics probably in an increased capacity. Dr. Bob Wood is currently the AAVP.
- AVPSL: The Associate VP of Student Life, currently Allan Kotanen, will also report to the Provost.
- AVPEM: The Associate VP of Enrolment Management, which may be synonymous with the Registrar, will also be a part of the cabinet. I believe that the AVPEM will also report to the Provost.
As you can see, the board is expected to articulate the broadest policy possible for the executive, and always in the form of limits on their power. An example of this policy could be “The president shall not fail to ensure the university is run in a fiscally responsible fashion.” The University Policy Council will then formulate an interpretation of these policies which will provide another level of direction. Within this policy framework, then, the individual departments are free to act as they wish, so long as their actions are “reasonable interpretations of the policy.”
This is a fascinating new direction for the university, and it probably raises as many questions as it answers. Some questions that I have are as follows:
- Will Student Life remain as ubiquitous as it is now under the current model? What will happen to the programs it currently offers?
- How long will the University Policy Council be around for? Will there be an end to new policy, or will there just keep on being more fences built around the pasture?
- Will there be a creation of an academic senate that is truly able to govern itself without interference from angry fathers who happen to be friends of the President and want a certain book pulled from the syllabus?
- What role will students have in the formation of the broadest level of policy? Whatever happened to our student on the board governance committee? Specifically, why was a student with no governmental or policy-based experience at all chosen over two incoming members of the TWUSA executive?
- Since TWUSA is essentially an arm of Student Life in the current model, what will happen to it in the new model?
- Why was Dr. Kush chosen to oversee policy, planning and research when at least one “policy project” that he has been in control of, the Student Media Operational Guidelines, is almost a complete failure in the opinion of a significant number of both TWUSA and Mars’ Hill staff?
I leave the floor open.
Comments»
Great post.
The CKO appears closer to the President in your diagrams than the CERO or CPO.
Concerning the analogy of the horse, stake and pasture:
Tether a horse to a stake, the horse will know the point that it is in relation to. Put a horse in a pasture, the horse will have to keep an eye out for fences.
In some ways, I’d prefer to be tethered. Like Prometheus bound to the rock, he clearly knew his situation. Satan, as that anti-hero in Paradise Lost, operates in the sulphorous pastures of Hell where little to his knowledge the boundaries are continuously shrinking.
You can defend and negotiate a point, but it is a little more difficult to negotiate the placement of a fence which is based on many points - enough to be hard to keep track of.
Either way, at the end of the day, you will be wrestling over the size of the pasture the same as you would wrestle over the length of the rope - perhaps only a little harder.
This leads into my question concerning this notion of nested authority. Drawn up, the notion creates distinct “territories” (my word) - one for program policies, another for operating policies. One for Academics, one for Student Life. But these areas are interrelated, integrated, they share spheres of influence, they share tasks, their influence on each other is bi-directional - aspects more keen to be drawn without boundary lines. How does this nested notion account for these aspects?
Any more talk on getting a student representative on to the board?
I like what Christo said. I also very much like the questions that Matt posed too.
I am excited for TWU now. Darnit why couldnt this happen earlier.
Christo: An partial answer to your question:
The Nested model allows for more productive communication and cooperation between departments than now exists at the university - at least in the area of Student Life and Academics - because SL and Academics will both be under the same VP, not (as they are now) under different VPs with their own, occasionally competing, interests. So, for example, The Pillar, the Reel, and Mars Hill can work closely with the communications faculty, because they are both under the CPO.
this model will provide faculty the necessary support and that they have longed for….excellent article…the implications are very large indeed.
So I hear you may not be posting anymore? Truth or lie?
very informative matt. I am so impressed. Hope all goes well. God bless.