In this speech, Chancellor Thomas J. Nussbaum defends the existence of local governing boards for community colleges and offers suggestions for improving the current weak governance structure. He argues that doing away with local governing boards would: (1) create a greater inconsistency between the mission and the governance of the colleges; (2) result in the college staff and faculty being accountable to a governing body that is removed from the community; (3) decrease the governing body's effectiveness because a statewide body would have greater responsibilities; (4) require the state to generate new funds for the community colleges because local property taxes would not be distributed in the same way; and (5) remove an effective mechanism for selecting, supervising, advising, and evaluating local campus presidents on a regular basis. The Chancellor recognizes the three primary weaknesses of the current system, specifically the prescriptive style of the legislation in dealing with the boards, the reluctance of the governing boards to trust the local system boards, and the inappropriate influence of a coalition of community college organizations. In response, he presents six steps for enabling system governance to work, including: (1) establishing an ongoing series of joint meetings between the board of governors and the leadership of local trustees; (2) involving the local boards in the system's consultation process; and (3) reviewing and improving shared governance. (TGO)