Colleges have moved from piloting AI to broad adoption, but governance and strategy lag, industry surveys and campus reports show. Ellucian’s 2025 AI in Higher Education survey found personal AI use at 91% among campus administrators and institutional adoption jumping to 66%—yet only 43% say AI is included in their strategic plan. The trend signals rapid uptake without commensurate policy, training or data‑privacy frameworks. Faculty pushback is emerging in parallel. Writing instructors and other scholars are pressing for formal rights to refuse AI in coursework and assessment, citing pedagogical and ethical concerns. Those faculty campaigns—documented in campus reporting and opinion pieces—highlight a growing gap between techno‑operational adoption and classroom governance. The combined signals matter for provosts and CIOs: widespread tool use requires coordinated strategy on privacy, assessment design, academic integrity, and professional development. Institutions face immediate operational choices—dedicated AI governance, faculty opt‑out mechanisms, or centralized procurement—to prevent fragmented practices that could trigger compliance and accreditation questions.