In late February, Jeffrey S. Barber, a 1995 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences, was elected chair of the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees, a position he will assume in July. The Board of Trustees is the University’s chief governing body, responsible for advancing its mission and goals in the long term.
It is the Board that is responsible for voting for and periodically evaluating the University’s president. It is the Board that sets tuition for academic programs and votes on tenure.
It was the Board that was consulted during the pandemic to implement and then reverse fiscal mitigation measures including the suspension of employee retirement contributions and hiring restrictions. It was the Board that created the Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee, which makes decisions on the University’s endowment and financial investments.
Yet, despite the Board’s immense power, there is little transparency with the public about how exactly it is advancing the University’s mission.
Currently, the activities page of the Board’s website has not been updated since the 2022–23 academic year, leaving all of us to wonder what exactly they have achieved since then — if anything at all. Even the sparse updates that have been posted from 2013 to 2023 consist of a meager three to six bullet points, with more descriptions of the concepts discussed rather than actual progress made.
This is not the norm. At peer institutions, like Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania, several page-long meeting summaries have been posted within a week of Board meetings, clearly articulating actions taken and major topics discussed. Following Board meetings at Brown University, the president sends a detailed email to the community, summarizing the Board’s activities and discussion.
The News-Letter reached out to the Board of Trustees on Nov. 4, 2024, inquiring about when the website would be updated with new information. We received a response the following day, on Nov. 5, that the Board’s staff was aware and working on getting it updated.
Now, over four months later in March 2025, the website still has not been updated. With the amount of power that the Board yields, it is unacceptable that this is the level of transparency (or lack thereof) provided to students, staff and the public. The decisions of the Board impact all of us in the Hopkins community; by leaving us entirely in the dark on their work, how can we trust that they are advancing our interests?
Furthermore, the website’s FAQ page has been quietly discontinued, and there is not even a list of which committees each of the 35 trustees and ex officio serve on. At peer institutions, including New York University, Yale University and Duke, the website for the Board clearly states which members serve on which committees.
In 2011, the Board also removed their young trustee position, which was created in 1971 to allow one recent graduate to serve a four-year, nonrenewable term with the same powers and responsibilities as other trustees, including full voting power. For four decades, the young trustee position provided young alumni with a voice at the highest level of University governance.
The Board’s justification for eliminating the young trustee position was that the young trustees were almost always selected from graduating seniors from Homewood, leaving out students from the University’s other divisions. Based on the Board’s concern, it seems that it would be wise to expand the number of young trustee positions and create a standing committee of diverse students with whom the Board consults.
Instead, the Board made the baffling decision to eliminate the young trustees position altogether and create the Student Life Committee, which they claimed would include a diverse group of current students.
Key word: claimed.
In reality, no students sit on the Student Life Committee, in voting or non-voting positions, as stated in a 2023 resolution by the Student Government Association (SGA). The committee instead consults undergraduate students on a limited basis and generally only consults SGA ahead of a single committee meeting in the spring.
The Student Life Committee page on the website has zero updates on what work the committee has recently done and no descriptions of meetings with student organizations or students. From having a young trustee, with full voting power, to now having a Student Life Committee that has strayed from its mandate to include diverse current students and is only composed of nameless trustees, the Board has taken a major step backwards in listening to students.
Ultimately, the Board of Trustees is out of touch with Hopkins students and operates with little to no transparency of how it is using its power. As the Board transitions to new leadership, it must take steps to increase its transparency and restore confidence. It is unacceptable for any group, much less one as influential as the Board of Trustees, to wield their power shrouded in secrecy.
The Editorial Board calls on the trustees to take action immediately to update their website with the activities of the Board during the 2023–24 and 2024–25 academic years as well as continue to post updates within a month of their four annual meetings. The makeup of each of the Board’s committees must also be publicized and also regularly updated with descriptions of topics discussed and actions taken.
Peer institutions also have meetings of the Board that are open to the public. UPenn’s regular Board of Trustees meetings are open to the public, whereas there is not even information on when or where the Hopkins Board of Trustees meets.
The Board must take initiative to solicit student feedback and input through more standardized and accessible channels than selecting student leaders or SGA to hear from on an irregular basis, such as through an email or form. Moreover, the Board of Trustees should reinstate the young trustee position, allowing young alumni who are more connected to Hopkins, to share in governance. Several peer institutions — including Brown, Cornell University and Duke, have young alumni trustee positions, where students that have recently graduated can participate and vote in Board proceedings.
At times when higher education is seemingly under attack, it is critical that the Hopkins community is able to have faith in the Board that runs this University and knowledge of their actions.
