# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S174 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 7. UNIVERSITY EDUCATION numbers of delegates appointed by the Board of Directors of the Synod, the Council of Presidents, and the boards of regents shall be established by the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of Concordia University System. 3.6.6.1 The Concordia University System Board of Directors shall: (a) define, after input from the Institution Advisory Council, and adopt the Lutheran Identity and Mission Outcomes Standards (“Standards,” Bylaw 3.6.6.4), which shall be the basis of Synod visitation of Synod colleges and universities, including each of their church worker preparation programs; and maintain policies governing, and supervise the performance of, such Synod visitation (Bylaws 3.6.6.4 and following), which shall focus on support and accountability for maintaining and strengthening Lutheran identity. Consistent with the Standards, the Concordia University System shall ensure that each institution receives: (1) regular ecclesiastical and fraternal counsel and encouragement through annual, informal visitation that involves free exchange among peers; (2) in-depth ecclesiastical formal visitation and reporting (including affirmation, commendations, cautions, and recommendations for improvement; Bylaw 3.6.6.4) at least once every three years; (b) review and approve new implementations of and discontinuance, whether actual or constructive, of programs of study leading to professional church work in the interest of the institution(s) and the Synod; (c) facilitate, together with respective boards of regents, the processes of president selection (Bylaw 3.10.6.8.2) and prior approval for appointments to theology faculties of Synod colleges and universities (Bylaw 3.10.6.9.2); [bylaws as renumbered pursuant to amendments that follow] (d) create and maintain a Model Operating Procedures Manual for Faculty and Administration Complaints and Appeal of Termination: Colleges and Universities, subject to approval by the Commission on Constitutional Matters, regarding the handling of faculty and staff complaints and dispute resolution by college/university boards of regents, to include notification of any relevant ecclesiastical supervisor, and monitor compliance with such; (e) monitor, inquire into, and report to the President of the Synod regarding the ongoing faithfulness of Synod’s colleges and universities to the doctrine, practice, and objectives of the Constitution of the Synod (Const. Art. II and III); (f) monitor—after input from the Office of National Mission; the Department of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services; the Council of Presidents; and the Synod’s seminaries—and report to the Synod on the enrollment, graduation, placement, and retention rates in programs leading to candidacy for commissioned ministry or to seminary enrollment and advise the schools on the Synod’s worker needs and opportunities for coordination; 174 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION (g) receive, revise, and recommend to conventions of the Synod for approval any proposals for creating, essentially revising, or renaming programs of study and certification for commissioned ministry; (h) in addition to providing its own report, review and respond in each Synod convention Workbook to a detailed triennial strategic report prepared by the Institution Advisory Council, summarizing the state of and outlook for church worker preparation and confessional Lutheran lay education, campus, and ethos; Assistive and coordinative roles: (i) assist the Synod and its colleges and universities in articulating and advancing the schools’ unified public confession and application of the church’s doctrine and practice, and, in coordination with the Board of Directors of the Synod, assist in advancing the common defense of their rights to the free exercise of our confession under the Constitution of the United States and other applicable laws; (j) develop and administer, on behalf of the Synod and subject to policies of the Board of Directors of the Synod, financial resources designated to assist the schools in their pursuit of the Standards, in strengthening of churchly identity, and in their achievement of mission outcomes; (k) regularly convene the college and university presidents and, as needed, other leadership to facilitate the schools’ coordination, cooperation, and consolidation of operations, in part or in whole, wherever prudent and practically feasible, while not itself assuming any operational or financial responsibility for such efforts; (l) after input from the President and Secretary of the Synod, the Institution Advisory Council, and the boards of regents of Synod colleges and universities, serve as a resource for the recruitment of highly and variously qualified potential regents, offering in nomination (e.g., as in Bylaw 3.12.3.4 [c]) and suggesting for appointment those suitably qualified; (m) serve as a resource for regents’ development of and mandatory training in governance skills, especially as they relate to the carrying out of the mission of the Synod’s colleges and universities within the mission of the church, and foster regents’ growth in aspects of governance related to the expectations of the Standards; (n) serve as a resource for the development of lists of potential teaching and administrative personnel; (o) together with districts, congregations, local boards of regents, and national efforts, promote student recruitment for both professional church work and lay higher education; and (p) participate with the Board of Directors, Council of Presidents, and respective board(s) of regents, in determinations to consolidate, relocate, separate, or divest a college or university (Bylaw 3.10.6.5). 3.6.6.32 The Board of Directors of the Concordia University System shall be composed of nineten voting members and fivesix nonvoting members (no more than two members Resolutions