Denison University
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Students can be elected to and/or elect representatives to the Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA). Additionally, student representatives are elected by DCGA to serve on Faculty Campus Governance Committees and to attend Board of Trustee meetings. Every year, a distinguished member of the graduating class is selected to serve as Recent Student Trustee on the Denison Board of Trustees. Denison’s Board consists of thirty-seven members, including two trustee positions reserved for recent graduates who are asked to maintain a connection with and represent the current student body. https://denison.edu/campus/student-development/feature/104762

Like students, staff are elected by their peers to serve on most campus governance committees including University Council that is made up of all stakeholder groups and meets with the President of the college. Support staff also make up the Employee Communications Committee that is run through Human Resources and aims to collaborate with Human Resources on the creation, development and facilitation of initiatives that will support a positive culture and rewarding workplace. Staff does not have regular representation at Board meetings.

All teaching faculty can serve on campus governance committees and all teaching faculty can attend and participate in the general faculty meetings. Some faculty members are elected to serve on Board Level committees based on the governance committees on which they serve.

Denison currently has a standing Construction Communication Committee that is tasked with holding weekly meetings to both communicate about construction related issues to the campus and local community, as well as, to identify and implement practices to mitigate impacts of campus related construction. The Committee has representation from all divisions of the college and includes the Village of Granville Planner. Since its creation in February 2019, the Committee has already held two stakeholder meetings with neighbors who live adjacent to or near new campus construction projects. An email from the President is attached to this STARS submission as proof of this new Committee and procedure. The impetus for forming this Committee was rooted in similar successful planning committees that worked on projects like our A-Quad renovation and our $40 million new performing arts center. In 2008 and again in 2014 Denison had two construction projects where neighbor relations were strained do in part to a lack of communication and opportunities for input. The college changed course to ensure that external stakeholders have opportunities to not only voice concerns, but in some cases, be involved in decision-making regarding projects. In addition to construction related planning committee's, Denison also has representation on the Village of Granville's comprehensive planning process for the whole village. Our VP of Finance sits on a working committee that includes the Village Manager, Village Council, Township Trustees, Fire Chief, Police Chief and the Superintendent of Schools. This group collectively discusses current issues, long-term planning, and other matters of business that effect the community as a whole. Some results of this committee/work have been: Denison agreeing to buy a new ladder truck for the fire department so that it could service new and taller buildings on campus, Denison helping to fund a traffic study that ended up putting in cross walk signals in town - including by one of our campus entrances where a community member was struck and killed by a car, and Denison helping to fund additional bike paths in the community for the benefit of all.

Denison Tree & Landscape Advisory Committee has three seats open for the local community. One of those seats is filled by the Granville Tree & Landscape Commission Chairperson. In addition, a member of the Denison Tree & Landscape Advisory Committee sits on Granville's Tree & Landscape Commission. The Denison Office of Campus Safety collaborates with public safety partners that include the Granville Police Department, the Licking County Sheriff’s Office and the Granville Township Fire Department, who have concurrent jurisdictions within the Village of Granville and Licking County patrol areas. These situations are governed by memoranda of understanding with our public safety partners, which outline the responsibilities and duties of both parties. Our Memorandum of Understanding with the Village specifies that Denison University Office of Campus Safety will investigate traffic accidents, infractions of University rules and regulations, and misdemeanor offenses that occur on campus. The Granville Police Department is contacted in the event of possible felonies. Cooperative arrangements with local officials additionally include multi‐jurisdictional investigations of alleged crimes, special events coordination, and joint training programs. These groups meet regularly to review new policies and new construction, on Denison's campus that may impact their work serving the community. The Denison Fine Arts Advisory Committee (FAAC) works with the Granville Arts Commission and the Licking County Arts to coordinate programming, events, and outreach. Members of each organization serve on the others' Boards. Together this group was instrumental in the creation of the Newark Art Space - A Denison venue in downtown Newark.

Denison maintains an internal password protected website where most of this information resides. Public access web pages have limited information on this topic.