Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.47
Liaison Cora Kenfield
Submission Date March 4, 2021

STARS v2.2

Vassar College
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.75 / 3.00 Cora Kenfield
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which the following stakeholders can regularly participate in the governance of the institution?:
Yes or No
Students Yes
Academic staff Yes
Non-academic staff Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal participatory or shared governance bodies:

In addition to student government and faculty suffrage, a broad range of committees oversee most aspects of Vassar's operations and include faculty, staff, administrators, students, and in some cases alumnae/alumni and community members (c.f. https://deanofthefaculty.vassar.edu/committees/). Additionally, as part of the collective bargaining agreements, joint union/management committees have been formed to include staff representatives in the decision-making process (for one example, please see section 45 of the collective bargaining agreement with CWA - https://www.vassar.edu/human-resources/assets/documents/policies/CWAcontract.pdf)


Total number of individuals on the institution’s highest governing body:
33

Number of students representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
1

Number of academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
2

Number of non-academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
0

Number of women serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
21

Percentage of official members of the highest governing body that are women:
63.64

Website URL where information about the institution’s highest governing body may be found:
Does the institution host or support one or more formal bodies through which external stakeholders have a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them?:
Yes

A brief description of the campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them:

1) The college holds routine town halls with members of the local community, with at least four in the last year to gather input on major decisions including closing the college to external visitors when classes are in session due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2) Community members and other non-profits sit on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve Committee and the Arboretum Committee. While these are "topical" committees, the vast majority of Vassar's external-facing work involves these spaces.


Number of people from underrepresented groups serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body.:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s governance structure is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.