Can not-for-profit universities with boards of trustees learn from corporate boards of directors? Are universities essentially unmanageable places, or are there workable strategies for running them well? And should a university fight or welcome a unionized faculty and staff?

These and other pressing issues in higher education will be discussed during "Governance of Higher Education Institutions and Systems," the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI) annual conference on Cornell University's campus June 4 and 5.

The conference will be held in 115 Ives Hall at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Ronald Ehrenberg, CHERI director and the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell, said: "How colleges and universities are governed, and whether they can be reorganized to make things run smoother and save money, are some of the longer-run issues people are looking at in U.S. higher education research. The conference allows us to share the latest findings on governance policies and strategies that work, or need rethinking."

Nine papers will be presented, addressing such subjects as how elected or appointed boards of trustees influence university decisions and whether decentralized budgeting at some state campuses is harmful, helpful or even economically efficient. Presenters' papers will ask if faculty, staff or graduate student unionization adds significant costs to a university's budget or improves the economic position of its members. They also will ask if the governance of private for-profit universities differs from, and influences, the governance of nonprofit and public universities. The authors of the papers and other speakers come from a wide range of public and private higher-education institutions and associations throughout the United States.

Topics to be discussed include: Trustees and the External Governance of State Institutions; Internal Governance and Organizational Issues; Unions and Data on Governance; and Challenges from Nonprofit and Nonlegal Legal Influences. For a full conference schedule and a preview of papers, see the CHERI web site at , under "conferences papers." For more information about the conference, contact Rachel Rizzo at (607) 255-2744.

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