Shimer College - Governance

Governance

Shimer College is a not-for-profit corporation with a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees responsible for the affairs and the assets of the college. The board delegates authority to the president of the college, who acts as the chief executive administrator, and to the dean of the college and the faculty regarding academic affairs. As of December 2009, the board had 36 members (including three students and two faculty), with a target membership of 40, and was chaired by Christopher B. Nelson, president of St. John's College.

"As a function of its mission to promote active citizenship", Shimer states that it is "devoted to internal self-governance to an extent that is rare among institutions of higher education." Since 1977, Shimer has been governed internally by a deliberative body called the Assembly. Students and faculty are elected by the community at large to serve on all administrative bodies, including the Board of Trustees, such that "all the top-down bureaucracy of traditional colleges and universities has been replaced by participatory democracy committed to dialogue." The Assembly has no legal authority, but governs, Shimer states, "by virtue of the moral suasion established by communal deliberation". Begun informally in the years immediately prior to the move to Waukegan, the Assembly was formalized by a constitution in 1980. Voting members include all students, faculty, administrators, staff and trustees. Alumni are also members but do not vote. The Assembly advises the administration and conducts the business of the college through a system of committees with purview over administration, academic planning, budgeting, admissions, grievances, financial aid, and quality of life. Committees are composed of faculty, staff, and students elected by the Assembly as a whole.

Shimer students are also represented on, and free to participate in, the IIT Student Government Association (SGA), which acts as a liaison to the university administration and a forum for express student opinion.