My co-blogger Todd has had a series of posts on college and university governance in the last few weeks, and in particular on the question of the role of trustees and the influence of alumni. Todd's posts in part reflect his own unique experience as an alumni trustee at Dartmouth. I'm more interested in the broader question: What role should alumni have over the direction of a university?

  I particular, imagine a lot of alumni at a particular university think their university is going in the wrong direction. How much power should they have to influence the institution? Obviously alumni have influence in their giving: Many universities depend on alumni giving, and alumni who respond with their wallets or the lack thereof will have the university's attention. But should there be a larger role for alumni?

  I haven't really thought much about these questions; my candid answer is, I don't know. But I would be interested in reader responses to these sorts of questions. I ask in part because it's not obvious to me that alumni should have a lot of influence. Perhaps they should, but I think that's a case that has to be made rather than assumed. What do you think?