Effective governance and oversight is a critical function for college and university boards of trustees. Recent scandals at prestigious universities, at least one of which resulted in significant sanctions and monetary penalties for failure to properly oversee university officials, illustrate just how important proper governance and oversight are - and how devastating an oversight failure can be. College presidents, athletic directors, head coaches and other senior administrators have ethics and compliance responsibilities - but ultimately the buck stops with the board when it comes to upholding ethics and compliance.