Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.08
Liaison Andrew Horning
Submission Date June 25, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Michigan
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.25 / 3.00 Andrew Horning
Managing Director
Graham Sustainability Institute
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1

Do the institution’s students have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a student council)? :
Yes

Do the institution’s students have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which students are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
All students have the opportunity to participate in Central Student Government (CSG). The CSG has a very similar structure to the United States federal government. There are three distinct branches, each serving a unique purpose. The Executive Branch is made up of the Executive Committee and approximately 20 Executive Commissions, which each advocate and work on behalf of specific issue and identity-based causes. The Legislative Branch is composed of two houses: the Student Assembly and the University Council. The Student Assembly is made up of representatives who are elected at-large to represent their specific schools and colleges within the University. The University Council is a group of delegates from the various school and college-level governments, e.g. LSA Student Government and the University of Michigan Engineering Council. Finally, the Judicial Branch is composed of the Central Student Judiciary, which is a judiciary of nine justices.

Do the institution’s staff members have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a staff council)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s non-supervisory staff members have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which staff are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
Staff are able to participate in a governing body through Voices of the staff. VOICES of the Staff is a volunteer-based program offering University of Michigan staff members an opportunity to share ideas and define the campus community issues that matter most to you. The members of the VOICES network groups are chosen from the overall pool of applicants to represent a microcosm of the U-M staff community (demographics including work areas, gender, ethnicity and union representation). Staff members can apply to serve on the Core Team.

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a faculty senate)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body? :
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which teaching and research faculty are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
The University Senate, Senate Assembly, and Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA). The University of Michigan Senate Assembly consists of 74 elected faculty members from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses, each serving a three-year term. The Senate Assembly meets monthly during the academic year and is charged by Section 4 of the Regents' Bylaws to represent the interests and concerns of faculty throughout the University of Michigan system. Membership of the Faculty Senate consists of all members of the professorial staff, the executive officers of the university, the dean of each school or college, such members of the research and library staff as may be designated in accordance with standards and procedures approved by the Senate Assembly, and such other major officers as may be designated by the Board of Regents from time to time. There are also many committees faculty can serve on.

Part 2

Does the institution have written policies and procedures to identify and engage external stakeholders (i.e. local residents) in land use planning, capital investment projects, and other institutional decisions that affect the community?:
Yes

A copy of the written policies and procedures:
UMAA-FY19-Capital-Outlay-and-Project-Request.pdf

The policies and procedures:
The five year master plan states that U-M "will continue to work with our community partners for long-term planning." The university will often hold open public forums to discuss proposed projects and answer questions from the community and receive feedback. All U-M Regents Meetings include a public comment period where anyone is welcome to voice opinions on up coming projects.

Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which community members representing the interests of the following stakeholder groups can regularly participate in institutional governance?:
Yes or No
Local government and/or educational organizations Yes
Private sector organizations Yes
Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) Yes

If yes to one or more of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which external stakeholders are engaged in institutional governance (including information about each stakeholder group selected above):
The University is governed by the Board of Regents, which consists of eight members elected at large in biennial state-wide elections. The president of the University serves as an ex officio member of the board. Anyone is eligible to run for Board of Regent. The current board includes members with interest in the private sector and NPOs: Michael Behm, president and owner of the law firm of Behm & Behm. Mark Berstein, president and managing partner of The Sam Bernstein Law Firm Shauna Diggs, an MD, she has served on the boards of many non-profit organizations such as the Detroit Institute of Arts (Governance and Nominating Committee and Education Committee), the Detroit Zoological Society (Science Committee), and Forgotten Harvest, a non-profit member of the national Feeding America network. While there is not currently any members of local government on the board, anyone is eligible to serve. The Regents serve without compensation for overlapping terms of eight years. According to the Michigan Constitution of 1963, the Regents have “general supervision” of the institution and “the control and direction of all expenditures from the institution’s funds.”

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
http://regents.umich.edu/

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.