The Board of Governors of Brandon University is a body established by the Brandon University Act (1998), a statute of the Province of Manitoba. The Act vests in the Board the authority for governing Brandon University. The members of the Board of Governors, as trustees, hold the University in trust for the people of the Province of Manitoba. Responsibilities for maintaining this trust include: selection of a president, monitoring his/her performance, providing guidance to the University via its policies, and often delegating authority to the administration.

The Board of Governors is a collective representing the entire community (both internal and external of the University). As a collective, the Board of Governors is responsible for ensuring the financial stability of the institution and for seeing that the overall plans of the institution are consistent with the institution’s philosophy, goals, and financial resources.

• The University as a Corporation – The University is a corporation, in effect, if not in fact. However, as individuals, trustees have no legal standing. The majority vote of the Board is the only official basis for action.
   
• The Distinct Nature of the Academy – The fiscal soundness of an institution is not an index of academic vitality. While fiscal realities cannot be avoided, the special character of a university is found in two broad relationships within it: the relationship between students and teachers and the relationship between these two and the administration. The quality of these relationships provides the best indicator of the real heal of the institution.
   
• The Board and the President – The task of the academic president is essentially different from that of other corporate executives. It is more comparable to a political role than to corporate administration. Given the peculiar nature of the academic institution, the President is constantly in danger of becoming everybody’s target, to be seen as an adversary by every group, even when he/she must oppose one or more of them (including the Board itself).
   
• The Board and the Faculty – The academic institution has three primary functions – teaching, research, and community service. The mood and style of the faculty is important. While the President is an agent of the Board, he/she should also be seen as an effective leader of the faculty and a spokesperson for their concerns.
   
• The Board and the Students – The Board and the administrators should provide for due process. The conviction that a system of justice prevails will do much to the stability and vitality of the institution.
   
• The Board and the Public – Academic institutions are agents of society in providing the continuity of knowledge and tradition, the development of skills, and the creation of new knowledge. In all these functions, the public well-being is at stake and, in one way or another, some element of the public will be offended by something being done in an institution.

• select and appoint a president;
   
• monitor the president’s performance;
   
• approve the mission of the institution;
   
• approve long-range plans;
   
• insure financial solvency;
   
• defend the autonomy of the institution;
   
• interpret the community to the campus;
   
• serve as a court of final appeal;
   
• assess its own performance.