Being a department chair means having to handle a diverse array of legal issues, including academic freedom, harassment, student privacy, and personnel matters such as termination and denial of tenure. Rather than trying to acquire a thorough understanding of the intricacies of every legal situation one might encounter, Fernando Gomez, vice chancellor and general counsel for the Texas State University System, recommends developing a basic understanding of legal principles, using common sense, and seeking expert help when necessary to make this important aspect of the position more manageable.
Beyond the Credential Factory: Why Higher Education Must Shift from Management to Flourishing
For decades, higher education leadership has obsessed over “student success” as a purely operational metric. We track retention and graduation rates and postgraduation outcomes with the same linear precision that
Yoshitaka Iwasaki
August 3, 2026
