Faculty participation in institutional decision making at two Historically Black Institutions

This qualitative study was designed to explore the extent and types of challenges encountered in achieving governance at two Historically Black Colleges and Institutions (HBCUs) among tenured faculty and upper level administrators. A 12-item interview protocol consisting of open-ended questions was utilized to compile the data from six tenured faculty and six upper level administrators from the private HBCU, and six tenured faculty and five upper level administrators from the public HBCU. Findings differed between groups and institutions. The perceptions of shared institutional governance reflected that decision making is often predetermined by administration, and use adoption of top down decision making ignores the role of faculty in shared institutional governance.