Hope College
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

Shared governance at Hope College engages the Board of Trustees, college administration, faculty, staff, and students. The Board of Trustees has direct responsibility for selecting a president, long range planning, ensuring the financial resources and facilities needed for the educational program of the college, establishing faculty personnel policies, deciding the broad aims of the college, reviewing and endorsing policies, and fiduciary responsibility. The Board of Trustees Bylaws direct trustees to “govern the College in accordance with the purposes stated in the Articles of the Incorporation, the provisions of the Bylaws, and in accordance with policies and regulations adopted by the Board."

Our 2020 Board of Trustees committee restructure, resulted in three standing committees where planning originates within their specific charters: the Living the Mission Committee, Sustaining the Mission Committee, and Protecting the Mission Committee. Each committee’s membership engages internal constituencies by including a minimum of seven trustees and “up to eight additional non-voting participants comprised of Administrative Council members, faculty, staff and/or students as recommended by the Committee and selected by the President with input from faculty or students under the direction of the Office of Student Affairs." College administrators who are members of each standing committee provide regular updates and information to inform their planning.

Evidence of engaging internal constituencies in planning, policy making, and procedures is also found within the Board of Trustees minutes and they regularly bring in student leaders to provide input on policies and other board actions being considered.

The Board of Trustees (through its Bylaws) delegates responsibility to the administration, faculty, and student body to determine and administer the specific policies of the academic, cultural, social, and religious programs of the college.

Agendas and minutes from governance committee meeting are submitted to the Archives and shared with all members of the campus community on the Hope College Minutes and Agendas website with links in Hope Daily, our daily newsletter for faculty and staff. Meeting minutes, including planning, policies, and procedure decisions, dating back to the 1990s are available for reference to all internal constituents on the Minutes and Agendas website.

Faculty, staff, and student policies, processes, and procedures that are implemented within governance processes are made available in position-specific handbooks. The Faculty Handbook is updated twice each year. The Student Handbook is updated annually. The Administrative and Staff Handbooks are maintained and periodically updated by the Office of Human Resources.
-Faculty Handbook
-Exempt Administrative Staff Handbook
-Hourly Full-time Staff Handbook
-Hourly Part-time Staff Handbook
-Student Handbook.

Hope has a highly engaged representative student governance structure that holds weekly open meetings. Our Student Congress represents and promotes the welfare of the student body and initiates policy in areas of student concern, including academics, administrative relations, the quality of student life, and allocating budgets for student organizations. Student Congress is the official liaison between the student body and the administration. Student Congress leadership and members also serve on each college board and committee to provide student voices in their operations.

In 2022 we reactivated our Staff Advisory Group. While this group is not a part of governance, it does engage staff in planning, policies, and procedures. The 12-member Staff Advisory Group creates a pipeline of listening and dialogue between administration, Human Resources, and staff members; provides input around issues and decisions that impact employee experience and culture; and provides feedback on behalf of the staff.

The college leadership also regularly engages with staff and faculty members in Town Hall meetings. These are opportunities to provide updates on college activities and also for employees to ask questions/contribute feedback to ongoing planning, policy, and procedure development.

https://hope.edu/about/administration.html

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Faculty, staff and students can also participate in various aspects of campus governance through service on boards and standing committees. https://hope.edu/offices/provost/campus-governance.html

Provost's Office Boards and Standing Committees
https://hope.edu/offices/provost/files/internal/boardcomm22-23.pdf
An examples is our ACADEMIC AFFAIRS BOARD
1. Ex officio, Provost
2. Ex officio, Associate Provost
3. Arts:
4. Arts:
5. Humanities:
6. Humanities:
7. Natural Sciences:
8. Natural Sciences:
9. Social Sciences:
10. Social Sciences:
11. Library Representative
Four students:

Other committee/board examples include the following. Most of these have faculty/staff and student representation.
Curriculum Committee
Cultural Affairs Committee
International Education Committee
Library Committee
Teacher Education Council
Assessment Committee
Academic Computing Committee
CAMPUS LIFE BOARD
Co-Curricular Activities Committee
Religious Life Committee
GREEK JUDICIAL BOARD
Student Media Committee
Residential Life Committee
JUDICIAL BOARD

ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS BOARD
Committee on Admissions & Financial Aid
Athletic Committee
Student Standing & Appeals Committee
Committee on Diversity and Inclusion
Status Committee
PRESIDENT’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL RESOURCES
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS COMMITTEE
OFF-CAMPUS PROGRAMS ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE
A. J. MUSTE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE
Campus Art Committee and Museum Advisory Council
ANIMAL CARE & USE COMMITTEE
HUMAN SUBJECTS REVIEW BOARD
HEALTH PROFESSIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
APPEALS AND GRIEVANCES PANEL
General Education Council
Human Diversities
GLCA ACADEMIC COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES

Details about Academic Leadership can be found at: https://hope.edu/offices/provost/academic-leadership.html

There are two annual "City-College" meetings which include representatives from the City government (Mayor, City Manager, City Council members) and Hope administrators (President, CFO, Student Development, Phys Plant, and Public Affairs & Marketing).

Hope College and the City maintain an excellent town-gown relationship, "After over 150 years together, Hope and Holland still have a place for everyone."

https://hope.edu/community/index.html

The president attends faculty meetings, Student Congress meetings, and Staff Town Hall meetings where faculty, staff and students have a voice on topics concerning them. He also meets with community groups on an annual basis (Hope Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP), Chamber of Commerce, Freedom Village, etc) where community members have a voice. Hope College also hosts the Hope/Holland Community Day every year and this is a great community-building and friendship strengthening event (this has been postponed due to Covid the last few years).

It is important to note that in 2022 all members of the Board of Trustees all received Cultural Intelligence Training. CQ, is a globally recognized way of assessing and improving effectiveness in culturally diverse situations. It’s rooted in rigorous, academic research conducted across more than 100 countries. At Hope, CQ helps us better live into our Christian aspirations of being faithful, welcoming and transformational. It’s another way of contributing to our mission of educating students for global citizenship. https://hope.edu/offices/culture-inclusion/cultural-intelligence/index.html

https://hope.edu/news/2022/campus-life/hope-board-of-trustees-appoints-new-chair-secretary-and-members.html

https://hope.edu/offices/president/leadership.html
http://www.hope.edu/offices/president/
http://www.hope.edu/about/administration.html
http://www.hope.edu/offices/president/strategic-plan/index.html
http://www.hope.edu/offices/president/campus-master-plan/index.html
https://hope.edu/offices/student-life/student-congress/index.html
https://hope.edu/offices/provost/academic-leadership.html
https://hope.edu/community/index.html