Since the mid-1980s, universities have been faced with the rising prominence of the economic mandate in relation to the university's academic mission. In large measure, this has resulted from governments using universities to promote national competitiveness, economic development and employment readiness. To some, universities, themselves, now appear increasingly to behave like business corporations. Many in academe abhor the corporatisation of universities and mistrust their boards of governors for promoting this. Against this background, I ask two questions about the ethics of governors in relation to trust. First, what is the basis of the moral obligation of the board of governors to the university? Second, what are the grounds for the university community determining the board of governors to be trustworthy? Philosophers of education have had much to say about universities, but little about the ethics of governance. In this article, I attempt to address the ethical foundations of governance, and to set out the conditions for the trustworthiness of a board of governors.