To the Board…
October 13, 2008
CODFA VP HIGGINS ADDRESSES BOT ABOUT REASSIGNMENT OF ADMINISTRATORS
Lisa Higgins, Vice President of the College of DuPage Faculty Association and Associate Professor of English, made the following comments to the Board of Trustees at its meeting October 13, 2008.
Tonight we were given a copy of the proposed policy manual by Trustee Atkinson, which appears to be a complete rewrite of our current manual. As the Trustees know, the current policy manual has been worked on over many years by the Board and the constituencies. The Faculty Association will be looking through the policy handbook closely. And we reserve the right to review policies that affect our bargaining unit.
My comments today are in regards to the current Policy 4061.
For the second time in almost a month, the Board has been asked by our interim President to approve the reassignment of an Administrator to a tenure-track Faculty position.
As a point of policy, the Faculty are concerned.
Board Policy and Procedure 4061 makes it possible for the President, with Board approval, to reassign Administrators to Faculty positions. However, the Board policy clearly states that this is to be done "based upon a continual assessment of the needs and interests of the students and the community."
We are concerned that Administrators are being reassigned into tenure track positions as a matter of convenience, and not with the best interests of the students in mind.
The Faculty are concerned that reassigning Administrators to Faculty circumvents our own rigorous hiring process. Usually new tenure-track faculty have to compete for their jobs from a national pool of applicants, go through multiple interviews both on the phone and in person, conduct a teaching demonstration and provide a portfolio of professional materials. It concerns us that newly appointed full-time tenure-track Faculty are not going through a similar process.
We have many talented Administrators at COD. But with all due respect, Administrators are not hired based on their teaching ability. Many Administrators have not taught in many years, and some have little teaching experience at a community college, where the teaching load and range of student skills can be daunting for even an experienced professor.
We are concerned about how these reassignments will affect our current searches for new Faculty.
We are also concerned as to why changes to Administration are being made before a reorganization plan has been made public, and before we have a new President.
