Dissertation: Trustees on campus

One thing I found fascinating during my research was how the duties of trustees varied among the three campuses. Unsurprisingly, trustees were expected to attend several annual meetings and serve on one or more committees at each college. Making donations was expected as well, although for at least one college this was new. But at one college, trustees were expected to attend as many on-campus events as possible, including home games in the two big sports on campus. (That this wasn't expected elsewhere was not a function of the trustees' distance from campus.) At another campus, the expectations for trustee giving were much more structured - they should give x and y to the campaign and z annually when they're not in a campaign.

Of course, the work of trustees varies slightly from campus to campus, depending on how large the student body is - not to mention whether it's public or private - and how strong its religious affiliation (if any) is. But within the small, private, denominational sphere, I was expecting more similarity. Trustees can only devote so much time to their role, generally: It was fascinating to see how colleges allocated that time differently.