The situation may actually be worse than it appears. First, higher education was in a significantly weakened state before the Covid-19 crisis. Second, despite nine consecutive years of enrollment decline and large numbers of mergers and closures, the leadership of most colleges has failed to enact necessary foundational change. Third, and perhaps most important, institutional boards are ill-equipped structurally, behaviorally, and culturally to effectively exercise their governance responsibilities during a period of volatility.
Looking closely, in fact, it is clear that the failures of the past 10 years are in large part leadership failures of boards of trustees. If an institution is in decline over a period of time, it is the board of trustees that is ultimately to blame, because the board has final accountability for an institution’s finances and viability. Our research found that critical issues such as declining enrollments and revenue, liquidity problems, deficit spending, and deferred maintenance were repeatedly discussed in board meetings without the boards asserting their governance obligations, often until it was too late.
From the Chronicle of Higher Education the role of college governing boards and college declines is reviewed in this Chronicle of Higher Education article. This easy to read comprehensive article on the failure of college governing boards to do their jobs goes a long way toward providing an analysis of why colleges will likely be even more worse off post the pandemic. But the challenges are not singularly unique to colleges. Boards "do" this type of stuff with nonprofits big and small. In this case, colleges will of course suffer the consequences and in-turn, students, but do not doubt that the boards failed their duties and their colleges. But nonprofit boards too, perhaps not as in dire circumstances for all but for many will be wakening, if they have not already (really?). It's time to face the music/results of their inaction and failure to fulfill their fiduciary duties.