Madame Chair,

 I have decided tonight to discuss a conversation I had with Trustee McGuire in the days after Chairman Hamilton resigned.  I do not do so lightly. 

I do so because last Thursday, Trustee McGuire refused to honor State’s Attorney Berlin’s request for our February and March 2014 closed session recordings. Trustee McGuire refused to cooperate with law enforcement, causing COD to impede a law enforcement investigation.

In fact, I do so also because we have no reason to think, based on their statements and recent actions, that our three fellow trustees will return to their posts before the Illinois Community College Board chairman appoints a seventh trustee, whoever that may be. 

In light of these facts, I think the public has a right to know what Trustee McGuire said to me in that conversation, and to determine for itself what it means for College of DuPage.

To remind everyone, we learned that Chairman Hamilton resigned on the evening of Sunday, December 13.  We had a regular meeting planned for the evening of Thursday, December 17.  On Wednesday December 16th, I called Trustee McGuire to discuss the upcoming meeting.

Trustee McGuire took the opportunity to solicit my support for her bid to chair the COD Board.  She asked me to “stand with her Joe and Erin” and to support her for Chairman.

Trustee McGuire said she would overrule the prior Board and its findings, and to overturn the voiding of President Breuder’s contract.  She said she might put Dr. Breuder back on administrative leave, or on campus, but she thought reinstating President Breuder was the right thing to do, that he deserved his $762,000, and it would likely end his lawsuit.

Trustee McGuire also said she would overrule acting interim president Collins and re-instate Tom Glaser and Lynn Sapyta. Again, she said this was the right thing to do.

Trustee McGuire said she would fire our three law firms, and bring back the very attorneys who in my opinion, enabled or participated in the prior board’s actions that have come under so much scrutiny.

I agreed to discuss these items with her at the December 17th meeting, however she wasn’t here to discuss them. I would have also discussed them with her January 7th, 14th or tonight, but she was not in attendance.

As we saw last week, when Trustee McGuire absolutely refused to grant State’s Attorney Berlin his request, Trustee McGuire said she would cease cooperation with the United States Department of Justice in its investigation of all that happened here.

Her points are not too surprising.  They flow from positions taken here, back when she came to meetings. 

Trustee McGuire has made false accusations about our attorneys to the ARDC.  She has maligned other service providers.  She has said she knows better than the FBI what happened here, and that it is time for the FBI to go home. 

Trustee McGuire has decided to disregard the wants and needs of the voters who put us here.

I am hopeful we can come together to find a new trustee and we can continue to reform the College of DuPage, which is what the public has demanded. The taxpayers, the students and the faculty deserves a College that is moving forward not one returning to the way things were, that led us to where we are today.

Thank you.

Frank Napolitano