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Governing boards function better when the ethical standards for trustee behavior are clear. ACCT recommends that boards explore and adopt a set of standards, often called a "code of ethics" or "standards for good practice." In fact some regional accrediting commissions for community colleges require that boards have a code of ethics or similar statement.

ACCT has developed the following model code. Boards of trustees are encouraged to use it as a starting point for discussion in developing a code or policy. It is important for trustees to explore together expectations for their own behavior.

As a governing board member, I am responsible to:

1. devote time, thought and study to the duties and responsibilities of a community college board member, so that I may render effective and creditable service;

2. work with my fellow board members in a spirit of harmony and cooperation in spite of differences of opinion that arise during vigorous debates of points of issue;

3. base my personal decision upon all available facts in each situation; vote my honest conviction in every case, unswayed by partisan bias of any kind; and abide by and uphold the final majority decision to the board;

4. remember at all times that as an individual I have no legal authority outside the meetings of the board, and to conduct my relationships with the community college staff, the local citizenry, and all media of the community on the basis of this fact;

5. resist every temptation and outside pressure to use my position as a community college board member to benefit myself or any other individual or agency apart from the total interest of the community college district;

6. recognize that it is as important for the board to understand and evaluate the educational program of the community college as it is to plan for the business of college operation;

7. bear in mind under all circumstances that the primary function of the board is to establish the policies by which the community college is to be administered;

8. welcome and encourage active cooperation by citizens, organizations, and the media of communication in the district with respect to establishing policy on current college operations and proposed future developments;

9. support the state and national community college trustees associations;

10. finally, strive step by step toward ideal conditions for the most effective community college board service to my community, in a spirit of teamwork and devotion to public education as the greatest instrument for the preservation and the perpetuation of our representative democracy.

For more information please contact:

Narcisa Polonio, Ed.D., Vice President, Education, Research and Board Services

202-775-4670  npolonio@acct.org