Recent developments in big data have heightened the need for data governance in any organization. There has been a growing interest and recognition of the importance of data governance in higher education. While multiple research efforts focus on a literature‐based approach to conceptualize data governance, evidence‐based research on this topic can scarcely be found. Higher education institutes are facing similar challenges in aligning their information technology (IT) efforts with business processes to meet organizational goals. This study aims to address such a research gap and investigates the status quo of data governance practice across tier one universities in the United States. Using Web content analysis, this paper sought to obtain empirical evidence of data governance initiatives, the extent of data governance, and its relationship with IT governance and information governance across a sample of 30 tier one university websites. Results of this study revealed that most of the universities created a new data governance unit with different labels (e.g., data governance, institutional research, or data management/analytics), while some universities extended IT governance or information governance to data governance. These findings shed light on the potential directions of developing data governance initiatives in higher education.