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In this article, I will introduce how each stakeholder group’s governing body represents its community to the university’s governing board.
At the end of this article, the reader will understand in practical terms how a governing body actually speaks to the board for its respective community and, ultimately what a governing body must do to garner the board’s intervention.
Every student may be able to win the governing board’s support if he understands the two mechanisms by which a stakeholder group’s government communicates itself to the governing board: an official opinion statement and a parliamentary resolution. I say “may” because ultimately how the board responds to is finally up to the board. Advocates cannot control another party. However, if one will understand how the board responds to stakeholder groups’ communication, then he can influence this process to win the board’s support for his cause.
So let us examine the two means by which a stakeholder group’s governing body communicate to the board on its community’s behalf.
The Two Tools
The Opinion Statement
First, one way a governing body represents its community to the board is by an official opinion statement. An opinion statement; 1) states a body’s opinion about an issue, 2) has no intended recipient 3) does not require a response from another university party (such as the university president) and 4) does not contain a call to action and 5) guides the government’s internal policy for the remainder of the school year.
An opinion statement is an important tool of self-expression that communicates the stakeholder group to the outside world and ultimately helps the board relate to the stakeholder group during the school year. An opinion statement has these two uses: it establishes internal government policy and it communicates itself to the outside world. This is the usefulness of the opinion statement to a governing body at the university.
The Resolution
A parliamentary resolution, on the other hand, is different than an opinion statement. It also states a government’s opinion, but it 1) issues a call to action, 2) requires a response 3) has an intended recipient and 4) argues for the action in “whereas” clauses.
The resolution’s usefulness is in more than just stating an opinion, but in actually calling for change, such as to university policy, staffing or other tangible conditions in the university environment. This is the parliamentary resolution.
These two mediums, both the opinion statement and the resolution, are the means of expression that help a governing board understand the stakeholder group’s priorities and intervene on its behalf.
An advocate who knows how to employ both through his governing body will know how to influence the board to support his cause and intervene on his behalf. Let us look at both in action.
The Opinion Statement – Some Examples
First, as we stated above, the opinion statement states a body’s approach to a particular topic, does not have an intended recipient, does not require a response and does not call for action. It guides the government’s internal policy for the remainder of the academic year and lets the outside world know where the current government stands.
For example, let us say the student government of the 2026-2027 school year passes an official opinion statement that says the current government regards pedestrian travel as an important mode of student transportation. As such, it writes that this government will prioritize pedestrian travel during its tenure (until the year’s end).
Then, as an official statement, this position becomes a guide for internal government policy. For instance, the student body president may decide to place pedestrian travel as a standing agenda item in his weekly meetings with the university president as a result, to ensure that pedestrian travel is a regular talking point with administration. Perhaps the student president would appoint an ad-hoc (temporary) committee to regularly discuss and review areas of campus improvement for pedestrian travel, and perhaps as a result of the statement, senators would prioritize legislation that calls or new or improved pedestrian travel on-campus, such as the clearing of campus walkways near construction sites or of installing new sidewalks in well-traveled areas.
These are some examples of how an opinion statement could guide internal government policy for the remainder of the year.
However, opinion statements affect a stakeholder group’s external life, too. For instance, by stating the group’s priority for pedestrian travel, this position helps the surrounding community understand the constituency’s priorities and experience. In layman’s terms, it helps the broader community know where the constituency experience and its commitments within the campus context.
In this case, the board would read the opinion statement about pedestrian travel, as would its subordinates (the university president, the dead of student affairs, the campus police chief and others) and respond to the statement accordingly in its own way.
For instance, the president, in response to reading the statement, may direct the chief business officer to allocate more funds to back-logged pedestrian sidewalk projects in light of this insight about student priorities. Or, in another way, the director for campus safety may agree with the student government’s position on pedestrian travel and increase his advocacy for new sidewalk construction, and cite student priorities as a compelling reason.
All in all, student government’s contribution to the campus discussion through an opinion statement might shift decision-makers’ agendas in such a way as to increase student satisfaction and so act on their own without student government compelling them to do so through direct advocacy. Overall, the opinion statement is a helpful tool for a governing body to influence both its internal and external worlds. Now, let us examine the resolution.
Resolution – Some Examples
A parliamentary resolution is similar to an opinion statement in that it also expresses the body’s point of view on an issue. However, unlike the opinion statement, a resolution calls for action, has an intended recipient, argues for the action with “whereas” causes and requires a response. These characteristics define a resolution.
In practice, the resolution has the usefulness of applying direct pressure upon a party to influence it to change. Where the opinion statement might apply indirect pressure, or influence an entity indirectly, this tool of a parliament resolution applies pressure directly upon the party.
For instance, say faculty senate wants the administration to raise the minimum GPA admission standard to 3.0. So for this effort, it writes and passes a resolution.
In the resolution, faculty senate calls for the provost (intended recipient) to raise the minimum GPA requirement to 3.0 (call to action) and argues for the action with compelling reasons in “whereas” clauses. Let us say that faculty collectively believe that with the university’s scarce financial aid resources and first priority to educate, the minimum GPA standard should be 3.0.
So, the resolution would read something like this:
“Whereas, development of academic talent is public education’s first priority; and whereas, the university has limited resources for financial aid; be it therefore resolved: that the UT-Tyler provost should raise the minimum GPA admission requirement to 3.0 GPA.”
Notice how the text contains all of the tell-tale traits of a resolution: a call to action (change the standard to 3.0 minimum GPA), intended recipient (the provost) and “whereas” clauses. These are the definitive traits of a parliamentary resolution.
Resolutions & Their Response
However, among all of these traits, a resolution also requires a response. In the case of our example, the university president will review the faculty’s resolution and respond, usually always with a written statement (a formal letter).
The university president would write a letter to the faculty senate president. In it, he would speak for the provost and state the administration’s position on the proposal. In this statement, he would also state how the administration intends to respond. So let us take a look at how this might look in practice.
For example, the president may write something in response like: , “Dear [Faculty Senate] President Williams, Thank you for conveying to me Faculty Senate Resolution #27: Calling on UT-Tyler to Raise Minimum GPA Admission Standards. The University values all applicants and takes seriously its responsibility to educate our state’s best and brightest. After consultation with Provost John Smith, The Board of Regents has agreed to raise the University’s minimum GPA admission standard to 3.0 starting in the 2025-2026 academic school year.” (Something like this.)
This is a short example of a presidential response to a resolution.
First, note the president may mention that when he speaks, he speaks or acts on the Board of Regent’s behalf, as he did in our example. This is because—and a reminder to readers—that as president, he is the governing board’s local representative to the university community. So when he speaks and in official communication, it is important to remember him as such—as speaking with the board’s authority (at least, when he invokes the board).
Administrative Response
Though the university adopted faculty’s resolution in our example, it is important to realize that administrations may not always respond with full adoption of the resolution.
Administrations may respond to resolutions in one of three ways: by 1) enacting the resolution in full, 2) rejecting the resolution in full, or by 3) enacting with modifications the resolution and its recommendations.
For instance, the administration may accept the 3.0 minimum GPA standard hike starting immediately (the next school year), or it may leave the minimum GPA as it is or it may accept the GPA hike, but gradually over the next few years. These are three possible ways an administration may respond to resolutions and examples of each.
This is a short overview of the resolution acknowledgement and response process. Chain of Review
However, before the university issues a response, it important to know what happens behind the scenes before the university issues a response. (Hang on! We’re almost through!)
For this part, to be clear, this part happens before the university president responds, but after the governing body publishes a resolution.
We will call this the process The “Chain of Review” process.
Let us go back a few steps to the part in the process right after the governing body passes the resolution. Once a governing body officially passes a resolution, it goes through a number of reviews before the board (or the president) responds.
So according to the process, the governing body first passes the resolution, but then, before the president responds, the resolution travels up the chain of authority so that everyone who oversees the respective stakeholder community who published the resolution can see it and review it, too.
For instance, in our GPA example, the resolution goes first to the provost, then to the university president, then to the university system vice-chancellor, then to the chancellor and then finally to the governing board. Once the board reviews the resolution, and had an opportunity to deliberate on its response, it authorizes its local representative, the university president, to respond to the respective body.
As we mentioned above, the university president may write that his response is on the board’s behalf. So this is how the board responds.
The board may also issue its own statement from the board itself. This is less likely given that it typically prefers to work through its appointed representatives. However, it is not unheard of. The board is responsive and accessible to these governing bodies. It also recognizes and supports local collaboration when it is necessary, such as in our example.
When the resolution travels up the chain of command, the response comes “back down” as one that has had all of the board’s responsible officers’ review.
The president then issues a written response. (This catches us back up with where we left off.)
This completes our discussion about The Chain of Review.
The Resolution Response & Shared Governance
As we stated in previous articles, shared governance is an ongoing process of conversation and sharing ideas and feedback to the governing board among the other university communities. If these entities in our example wished to continue (both the faculty senate and the university administration), then they could continue the conversation by faculty senate passing more resolutions and by the university president issuing more official responses. So the discussion would continue.
This illustrates the process by which the shared governance model may continue to facilitate local decision-making even after the passage of one resolution.
This concludes our discussion of the resolution.
Summary
In either case, both the opinion statement and resolution are two means by which a governing body can influence a governing board to intervene on its behalf or concern itself with its respective issues. The opinion statement expresses a body’s perspective and communicates itself to the outside world. It shapes the government’s internal policy and externally helps the governing board know how to relate to the group during the year. It applies indirect pressure to the environment and can influence university decision-makers to act on their own for concerns they share with respective stakeholder groups.
On the other hand, a resolution applies direction pressure with its explicit call for action and intended recipient. It requires a response and precedes a lengthy review process that gains the governing board’s attention and garners a written response from the university president. A resolution applies direct pressure upon the governing board.
A student who understands that these official acts wield the community’s authority will work for resolutions and opinion statements from his governing body that intervene for students and support his cause. Ultimately, he can influence the governing board to intervene on his behalf.
Feature Image: Via Flickr. (Source unknown!)
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