College of the Atlantic
PA-3: Participatory Governance

COA’s governance system is designed as a direct democracy, rather than a representative democracy, and encourages student participation at all levels of the college. In the college's operating model, the All College Meeting (ACM) is designated as the primary decision-making body for the college, and all students, faculty, and staff are full voting members. The ACM meets weekly to discuss issues and make decisions on matters of importance to the college. The ACM agenda includes issues such as feedback on faculty job candidates, goal setting, and strategic planning. All standing committees and subcommittees report to the ACM, and students serve on nearly all committees including faculty review committees, Academic Affairs Committee, Admission Committee, the Committee for Campus Sustainability, and the Campus Planning and Building Committee. One of the subcommittees is Student Meeting, which is one medium to coordinate communication between students and other COA decision-making bodies, such as ACM, the committees of ACM, the President, the Board of Trustees, and trustee committees. Students are also welcome to sit in on all meetings and committee meetings of the Board of Trustees, though there are no student members of the board. This decision was made by students, who felt that a "representative" role, where one student would have to speak for the full student body in a representative capacity, was not in keeping with the college's principles of direct participation and openness. While the Board of Trustees is technically the college's highest governing body, it defers to the All College Meeting in matters of college policy and governance, and the ACM is seen as the way for students, faculty, and staff to participate in governing the college.

In addition to participation in the All College Meeting and committees, as described above, there is a Staff Meeting where staff members participate in issues directly related to staff. As part of involvement in the ACM and college committee structure, staff members are involved in governance on all levels, based on their interests. For instance, a library staff member may serve on the college's Personnel Committee, or an IT staff member may serve on the Campus Planning and Building Committee, or the Steering Committee which develops the agendas for the ACM. All committees except Student Meeting and Faculty Development Group/Faculty Meeting are open to staff participation. Trustee meetings and trustee committee meetings are open to all staff, but there is no staff elected representative to the Board of Trustees.

As described above, in COA’s system of participatory decision making, all faculty have direct participation as voting members in the All College Meeting. There are also two committees specifically for faculty: Faculty Meeting, and the Faculty Development Group (which deals with personnel-related matters and policies). In addition, all faculty may serve on any committees of the ACM/college, with the exception of the Student Meeting and the Staff Meeting. As with students and staff, faculty members are welcome to sit in on Trustee meetings and their committees, but faculty do not have an elected representative on the Board of Trustees.

College policies are routinely administered by the standing committees of the ACM, their subcommittees, and their members. Unless indicated otherwise in their charters, committee chairpersons are appointed by the President, and are responsible for administrative actions between meetings. Administrative actions are typically not considered final until reported to and approved by ACM, usually in the form of meeting minutes. Any decision made or action taken by a committee, unless specifically delegated to the committee as part of its autonomous purview by ACM through the committee’s charter, may be challenged by any ACM member. Committees or administrators desiring to change the policies that they administer must submit proposals to ACM to that effect. The operating model of the All College Meeting can be found here: https://www.coa.edu/policies/