The MIT Faculty as a whole plays many key roles in the governance of the Institute, including stewardship of academic and educational matters, through its standing committees, monthly meetings, and procedures defined in Rules and Regulations of the Faculty. These web pages provide related information and resources. A broader set of resources for members of the faculty is available on Faculty Concierge, a portal site sponsored by the Provost’s Office.

An Institute of Shared Governance

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 "A university, like all other human institutions – like the church, like governments, like philanthropic organizations – is not outside, but inside the general social fabric of a given era," Abraham Flexner wrote in his classic 1930 text, Universities. Flexner continued, "It is … an expression of an age, as well as an influence operating upon both present and future." American universities developed in their present form – a unique synthesis of German and British predecessors – alongside the expansion and institutionalization of American democracy, simultaneously embedding both the openness and exclusions of the larger society. Over the last century, our universities have experienced a dramatic shift away from what during the nineteenth century had been the absolute power of presidents and trustees. We have moved toward what Jonathan Cole, sociologist and former provost of Columbia University, calls "a company of equals."...

Message from the chair