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• DuPage United Home Page
  • About Us
  • Photo Album
  • Guidelines
  • Contact Us
  • How to Contribute
  • Issues
    • DuPage County Budget
    • DuPage Water Commission
    • Affordable Housing
    • Affordable Housing Naperville
    • College of DuPage
    • C.O.D. - Framing the issue
    • C.O.D. - Vote on April 7
    • Economy
  • Links
• Media Coverage
• Metro Regional Training
• ESL Pictures
• Books and articles

College of DuPage Election links

For COD Trustee 6 year term

For COD Trustee 2 year term

For all DuPage County local election information for April 7

Below is the extended version of the questions presented to the COD Board of Trustee candidates at the DuPage United Assembly.

The question are intended to address many of the concerns that have emerged over the last 7 months. The candidates were asked to give a yes or no response. All the candidates that attended said yes to all of the questions (the chart above is a summary).

A. In selecting a president for COD, will you pledge to appoint a Search Committee representative of all affected constituencies (trustees, faculty, administration, employees, students, and community), a search committee whose members all have a vote in selecting the several finalist to be presented to the Board of Trustees for final selection?

B. In order to restore a sense of shared mission and shared governance at COD, would you work to repeal the policy manual adopted on March 19 and reestablish the Leadership Council (elected leaders of each employee group, the administrative executives and the President) in order to begin the revision process of the policy manual again?

C. Will you make workforce development a priority for COD and take immediate action to enhance and invest in workforce development?

D. Will you work toward finding alternative funding sources and cutting expenses so as not to further burden the students of COD with unaffordable tuition increases?
F. If you win the election, will you agree to meet with representative of DuPage United before May 7, 2009?


Click HERE for responses made on March 22, 2009 by the candidates running for C.O.D. Board of Trustees

Why should I care about what is happening at College of DuPage?

Background

> College of DuPage (COD) is a major economic engine in DuPage County, both in terms of the number of people employed there and the number of students prepared for employment. It is a local treasure that offers opportunities to residents of District 502: Associate Degrees in everything from auto mechanics to philosophy, special certificate training, nursing program, youth education, Older Adult Institute, Continuing Education, GED prep, English classes, Career Service Center, McAninch Arts Center entertainment, Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, Business and Professional Institute, WDCB radio station, and a community fitness center.

> The largest source of revenue for COD is property taxes of about $70,000,000, which fund about half of the budget.

Recent Actions by COD Board of Trustees

>The forced resignation of President Sunil Chand last May captured the public’s attention. Prior to this unexpected event, the Director of Facilities, Planning, and Construction and two Trustees had resigned after conflicts with a few of the Trustees.

.> Taxpayers are now paying the salaries of two Presidents until the contract with Dr. Chand expires in December 2009. This is a repeat of what happened with the President before Dr. Chand. In addition, the Board is paying the former Interim President $60,000 for consulting. So in 2009 about $600,000 is being spent on the current and former presidents.

> The Board decided to have just 3 board members vet all the candidates and choose the finalists for the new president. DuPage United repeatedly recommended during Public Comment at the Board of Trustees meetings that the Board follow the procedure used in the past and recommended by the governing body that gives accreditation to community colleges.

>The Board responded by appointing an advisory board, which had no binding authority or vote in the selection process, and those on the advisory board were sworn to secrecy – they were not even allowed to say if they felt it was a fair process. DuPage United again spoke out, sharing our concern about the Board’s proposed process and explaining that the process was flawed and would create further division and mistrust among the stakeholders.

> Trustee Atkinson (who was appointed, not elected) filed complaints against 6 of the candidates running for COD Trustee in April. Mr. Atkinson has business connections with the current Chairman of the Board, Michael McKinnon, who also chaired one of two electoral boards that decided if those candidates could remain on the ballot. Mr. McKinnon is running for reelection. Vice-Chair Mark Nowak, who is also running, chaired the other electoral board.

>Outcry from faculty, students, business community and residents erupted when Trustee Atkinson submitted an entire rewrite of the Board policy manual. The new President then edited the Board's version twice, with the following impacts:
• Variable tuition. COD will charge more for courses that have high demand or are expensive to support. This could discourage people from entering the medical field, among other fields, which are critical for the community.
• Complete control over outside speakers will rest in the hands of the President.
• Procedures to implement the policies are not included in the new manual.
• Revisions and changes to the policy manual was a key role of the Leadership Council (elected leaders of each employee group, the Cabinet and the President); however the Leadership Council has been disbanded by the President. Leadership Council was an effective method for shared governance, much different from the president sending the manual to each group and asking them to look it over and make recommendations.

> COD Trustees are elected by the residents of the COD district. This board has been hostile toward participation of voters at board meetings, which is undemocratic. DuPage United is not interested in setting policy; we simply demand true input from the stakeholders, and accountability from the Board.