During the Ladner scandal last fall, the AU board of trustees came under fire for their actions. Since then, the board has taken major steps towards transparency while reforming.
The decision to reform AU governance began after former President Benjamin Ladner agreed to sever all ties with the university in exchange for a $3.7 million severance package proposed by the board, The Eagle previously reported.
Former Student Government President Kyle Taylor worked closely with the board to enact some of the changes. The board failed to do their job and gave Ladner too big of a severance package, said Taylor, who graduated in May and is now teaching English in China, in an e-mail.
"The board was cooperative when they agreed and impossible to work with when they held an opposing viewpoint," Taylor said. "Information and contact was scarce, and the documents were shared with little time to respond with constructive criticism."
SG President Ashley Mushnick said certain aspects were handled well while other aspects weren't. Mushnick said board criticisms "stemmed from the fact that they go into executive session and no students or staff are allowed in there with them, so we don't know what's going on."
"The student reaction to the scandal was perfectly justified," Mushnick said.
The board finalized implementation of the reform plan by amending the AU bylaws at its June meeting.
In addition to revising the president's contract, the board somewhat revised the role of the president and made the president a non-voting member of the board.
Trustees also decided to include an additional three non-voting trustees - two faculty members and one student - and a recent AU graduate as a voting trustee on the board.
"Hopefully the board will see the value of having student input," Mushnick said. "It's a symbolic thing to vote - important but symbolic."
Some say they think the board did not reform enough of its regulations.
"It went about 75 percent of the way," said Stephen Cohen, a professor in the School of International Service. "To add to the transparency and diversity, I would have liked to see the expanded board of trustees include voting privileges for its faculty and student trustees."
While people would like the student and faculty trustees to have voting power, former Graduate Leadership Council Executive Director Peter Brusoe said a non-voting representative is better than no representation.
"I am going to say a non-voting student trustee is better. One vote against 23 or 24 is nothing - it's a mere symbol. However, we can be just as effective if we help sway the opinions of trustees and make better decisions for AU," Brusoe said.
The SG will interview a select number of applicants this week for the student trustee position, Mushnick said. They will submit three names to the board, which will make the ultimate decision.
The board also revised the university's whistleblower and conflict of interest policies.
The board of trustees adopted a set of governance reforms laid out in a 30-page document drafted by the Governance Committee at its May meeting. They also hired seven new trustees, The Eagle previously reported.
The student body was not given enough time to react to the governance reforms before the meeting, so they were not able to work on aspects of the reforms they didn't like, Mushnick said.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, decided to include AU in an investigation of financial mismanagement at non-profit organizations after hearing about the severance package. Just prior to the adoption of the governance plan, two members of the board received a letter from Grassley in which he threatened to propose legislation to reorganize AU's governance.
Taylor said he thinks the board's governance has improved.
"The bylaws are better, including the multiple added provisions, the new members seem strong and the increased community involvement is great, though still not enough," Taylor said.
Taylor said in the e-mail he thinks the board still could have handled the situation differently.
"They could have fired Ladner with cause, given him no money, avoided the embarrassing U.S. Senate investigation, improved their bylaws and accurately represented the interests of the campus community while performing their fiduciary responsibility," Taylor said.
AU has emerged from the Ladner scandal a stronger, more unified university, said Board of trustees Chair Gary Abramson.
"We are now a much better board," he said. "We've gone through an extensive governance review, and we've made changes to things that weren't even a problem."
The board now takes students' opinions seriously, Mushnick said. She used AU's recent decision of divestment in Darfur as an example.
Mushnick said she's going to continue to monitor the board and offer student opinion.
"I'm going to try to produce as many positive results as possible," she said.
Mushnick said she thinks the board can improve transparency by continuing town hall meetings and continuing to reach out to the campus community by giving progress reports between board meetings.
"It takes a long time to change the administration," she said. Mushnick said she thinks increased board transparency will "make students feel like their opinion is worth as much as their tuition"
