American University’s Board of Trustees today unanimously approved a lengthy set of recommendations to improve the board’s inclusiveness, accountability, and oversight. The governance overhaul was conducted in response to heat the board has taken from students, faculty members, alumni, and the U.S. Senate (The Chronicle, May 18) for the trustees’ role in a compensation and spending scandal surrounding American’s former president, Benjamin Ladner, who was ousted in October (The Chronicle, October 25, 2005).

The wide-ranging reforms include the appointment of a student and a faculty member to the board, performance assessments of trustees, and channels for board oversight of the contract, expenditures, and performance of American’s president. Additionally, seven new trustees were added to the board, which now numbers 25 members.

“We have put our own house in order,” said Thomas A. Gottschalk, the board’s vice chairman, at a news conference today on American’s campus.

Details of the board’s overhaul will appear in an article to published Monday on this Web site.