Background

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) articulates expectations of member institutions with respect to institutional accreditation in its Handbook of Accreditation, Third Edition. 
Criterion 1—Core Component 1d states:

The organization’s governance and administrative structures promote effective leadership and support collaborative processes that enable the organization to fulfill its mission.

The handbook lists the following examples of evidence supporting an institution’s compliance with this core component.

• Board policies and practices document the board’s focus on the organization’s mission.
• The board enables the organization’s chief administrative personnel to exercise effective leadership.
• The distribution of responsibilities as defined in governance structures, processes, and activities is understood and is implemented through delegated authority.
• People within the governance and administrative structures are committed to the mission and appropriately qualified to carry out their defined responsibilities.
• Faculty and other academic leaders share responsibility for the coherence of the curriculum and the integrity of academic processes.
• Effective communication facilitates governance processes and activities.
• The organization evaluates its structures and processes regularly and strengthens them as needed.

In its Report of a Comprehensive Visit to Missouri Southern State University, the 2008 HLC peer-review team made the following comments.

• The previous president had a 25-year tenure which exceeds the institutional memory of most faculty, staff and Board members. As the new president and the campus constituencies strive to develop a culture of shared governance and open communication, it is likely that some members will struggle with change. It will be important for the Board to support change without becoming intrusive.
• Under the previous administration, shared governance was not a part of the culture of the institution. Conversations with faculty and staff, including a focused meeting with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, provided evidence that faculty had not helped determine the priorities for the institution, and so were less invested in a number of initiatives such as the First Year Experience Project than would be expected. This was verified in a number of site visit meetings including one-on-one conversations with several of the academic deans.

Although the team recommended that the MSSU be granted a 10-year continued-accreditation status with HLC, it also required that a focused visit be conducted in spring 2011 to review the status of the institution’s system of shared governance.

During the spring of 2009, Dr. Bruce Speck, MSSU President, appointed a Shared Governance Taskforce to review and make recommendations for improving MSSU’s shared governance framework, policies, and procedures.