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Oberlin College’s Board of Trustees approved late Friday controversial changes to the institution’s bylaws restricting faculty control to academics. For most of its history, Oberlin operated based on a rule, codified in the bylaws, entrusting faculty members “with the management of the internal affairs of the college,” subject to board concurrence. Now the bylaws say that faculty bodies are responsible for the internal affairs of the college regarding curriculum and instruction, faculty appointments and promotions, research, and those areas of student life linked to academics. The changes also reduce faculty input in appointing deans.
Following faculty and student criticism of the revisions, board members voted to add language to the bylaws saying, “In keeping with the tradition of Oberlin College, this delegated authority should not discourage consultation with the faculty on matters outside the authority specifically delegated to the faculty, especially in matters of long-term strategic importance.” Christina Neilson, chair of art history and a vocal opponent of the changes, who helped organize a campus teach-in about them, told Inside Higher Ed after the vote that it’s “shameful for Oberlin's proud history of faculty governance and shortsighted for the institution’s future, which would benefit from more, not less, involvement from faculty for so many reasons.” Oberlin has argued that the changes are necessary to delegate authority and reduce institutional risk.
