Pomona College
PA-3: Governance

Each spring the student body elects representatives to a student Senate as well as to various committees on the College’s Board of Trustees. Certain positions on the student Senate are de-facto members of certain board of trustee committees. For example, the student body Vice President for Finance sits on the Trustee Finance Committee.

There are student-at-large positions on the Board of Trustees committees such as the Facilities and Environment Committee, Finance Committee, Academic Affairs Committee and the Student Affairs Committee. Additionally, every fall, the Board of Trustees holds its annual Student-Trustee retreat where any student who signs up can attend and have access to talk with trustees about important issues at the college.

As previously stated, there are student-at-large positions on the Board of Trustees committees such as the Facilities and Environment Committee, Finance Committee, Academic Affairs Committee and the Student Affairs Committee. Additionally, every fall, the Board of Trustees holds its annual Student-Trustee retreat where any student who signs up can attend and have access to talk with trustees about important issues at the college.

Elections onto Staff Council occur through a nomination process. All staff members, regardless of position, title, or status, are able to be nominated by their peers or any other staff member to represent their departmental division on Staff Council. Nominees are voted onto Staff Council by the entire staff from within their departments.

Four of the ten individuals on the Staff Council in 2014-2015 do not supervise other staff. The election process starts with nominations from staff departments and then an email voting process by department for each of those nominated.

The Staff Council of Pomona College is a vehicle for consultation between staff and responsible administrators in the interest of effective communication among the campus community. Activities include social gatherings, Staff Forums for discussion of concerns and interests regarding practices and procedures affecting staff, and monthly meetings of the Council members. The Council also provides assistance to the administration in terms of selecting staff to serve on College committees.

Voting faculty (only faculty on tenure-track or other continuing appointments) participate in governance bodies including their academic departments, faculty meetings, and numerous elected and appointed committees.

Although there are no faculty on the Board of Trustees itself, faculty representatives serve as voting members of several committees of the Board of Trustees (Advancement, Educational Quality, Facilities and Environment, Finance, Honorary Degrees, and Student Affairs). They are selected by the faculty through the regular committee nomination process of the Faculty Executive Committee.

Faculty play a formal role in decision-making in all of the above areas through faculty meetings, where they both initiate and approve/disapprove a range of policies and practices—this year, for example, they approved a new policy on student course load as well as a revision to the criteria for tenure and promotion--and through service on committees. Those committees include the Faculty Executive Committee, which “pays special attention to the broader policies, especially institutional policies, that are of interest and concern to all of the faculty, bringing proposed changes (and new policies) to the full faculty for approval” and also assesses faculty budget priorities; the Faculty Personnel Committee, which “gives counsel on recommendations which the President may make to the Cabinet on original appointments, reappointments, promotions, and tenure” and on “any other questions raised by the President, members of the committee, officers of the College, or by faculty actions”; and the Cabinet, which advises and consents on reappointment, promotion, and tenure decisions in addition to considering “general questions of College policy” (2013-14 Faculty Handbook, pp. 16, 20). For a full list of faculty bodies and their governance roles, see the Pomona College Faculty Handbook (URL below).