Call to Order.
1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Roll Call
All trustees are present.
3. Agenda
Motion to approve the agenda passes. Trustee Birt is opposed.
4. Public Comment
Chair Hamilton announces that there will be a 5-minute time limit at the later session for public comments. There will be public comments on the budget as well.
Glenn Hansen, CODFA President.
Good evening, I’m Glenn Hansen, president of the Faculty Senate and Association.
Positive change comes slowly, it’s often not easy. It’s been an ugly year since our VNC. Tonight you can take bold and decisive action sending a clear message and move on. It is difficult to make a decision but to do nothing is a decision too, a weak action but a decision too. You’ll argue about cause for dismissal, as you have for a long time. Some claim you debated this firing for longer than we knew, but in the end you decided it was better not do anything and failed in your leadership. If you want cause, close your eyes and throw the proverbial the dart. Let me be clear, No One did anything here at COD without Robert Breuder’s approval. He may not have said “do this” for everything that happened, but he set the conditions. He showed how he wanted things done and everyone mimicked that freely and happily. But, I would say that the first time something more than bottle of “2 buck chuck” was charged to a house account, funded by student tuition dollars, you had cause. Whether the board endorsed it or not, the students were betrayed and that is something to be held accountable for.
We can debate the future for everyone who participated in the abuses of money and people for the last 6 years, but their fate is cast by their actions and a new President will decide their future. Instead, tonight you decide the future for one person; don’t mistake Robert Breuder for a leader, don’t make him a fallen hero, don’t make him a scapegoat for others’ decisions to follow his directives, simply make him unemployed.
Move forward and begin to look for a leader. Leadership is not about appearances. Leadership is not about authority or power. Leadership is not telling someone to
do something or “else”. Leadership inspires others to do the right thing, to make the right choices, to achieve beyond the expected, leadership respects and values everyone, and most of all leadership is not about self. The preamble to our VNC described leadership, the qualities we, the Faculty, expect in a college president. We are not lemmings, we will not follow a flawed leader. In 2008 we said no, in 2009 we said no, and every year since we have said no leading up a very clear “no more” last year. Tonight, we urge you to say no and goodbye to anymore failed leadership.
Thank you.
Richard Jarman, CODFA Vice-President.
The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain was commemorated this week, and I was reminded of one of Churchill’s speeches during those dark hours concerning a recent victory: “..this is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.”
I take the optimistic view that the vote to be taken tonight on item 10 does represent the beginning of the end; the end of the beginning was marked by the election result April 7th and reforms subsequently enacted.
I was in the boardroom in April 2009 when that lame duck board muscled that extension through; 3 years after 3 months on the job! How about that for fiduciary responsibility Messrs. MacKinnon, Carlin, Atkinson et. al. Guardians of the taxpayers’ purse? I think not.
Little did we know then the onerous consequences of that (possibly illegal?) stunt. They could have been prevented, yet those three added years mushroomed into four more, as supine board upon supine board sat in silence, as if under a spell, as the date advanced each April. That is, until one person had the temerity to ask a question.
Many will argue that it is better to let it all go; give up the $760 K and move on. It would be expedient perhaps, but it would not be right. Sometimes, doing things the right way takes more time and costs more money. So be it. Thanks to the giant mattress of cash the college now happily nestles on, courtesy of the previous regime ironically, the money is not the point.
The likes of the Daily Herald editorial board opine that it is just a personal vendetta on the part of that upstart trustee. I would not begrudge her a little, given what had been meted out to her in the past. I don’t think she is alone. But vengeance is not the motive here. Setting the record straight is. This institution must be purged of the stain of the past six years and a precedent established that future boards and its leaders will act responsibly with the interests of the institution uppermost.
In light of item 11, a proclamation that I wholeheartedly support, and who among those here could possibly not, it seems fitting to reflect on another Churchill utterance from the battle 75 years ago, “that the gratitude of every
home in our island, and indeed throughout the world, goes out to the those, who, undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion.” I think Robert Miller fits that bill.
Thank you.
Kirk Allen. Commenting on item 11 as a veteran of the Air Force. Naming the building after a Medal of Honor hero is the right thing to do. Item 10: have laid out the case (about Breuder’s contract) with legal background for this action. My hat’s off to those who vote for this. He listed several questions to the board which he will provide in writing, relating to misuse of public funds and Breuder improperly serving on a board.
John Kraft. Applauds the board for renaming of the building. Asked questions about the COD’s classification of SLEA trainees as students, costs of maintaining the firing range.
Adam Andrzejewski. Founder of Forthegoodofillinois. Asked questions, must government employees follow the law? Was it legal for Breuder and others to bill luxury goods and memberships to the college? Were no-bid contracts legal? Agenda shows that the board has heard from faculty and community. Vote to invalidate any contract that has not been legally conferred.
Matthew Turmand. Deputy Director of American Transparency. Spoke to board in the past after Trustee McGuire’s speech invoking Nazis. Strongly critiqued McGuire again for improper reimbursement of expenses related to her partisan political activities with Naperville Democrats.
Laura Reigle. Calls out Trustee Birt for missing meetings. Recalls the meetings when there were 10 seats for the public and fences around the trustees. Who was behind this? Calls on board do what is morally right.
Paul Lefort. DuPage taxpayer. Asks questions. Repeats request from last month to know final construction costs of large projects. Mentions large legal bills from law firms that are no longer retained. Also outstanding bills to Herricane Graphics. Would like to see analysis for why COD has highest cost per student among IL community colleges.
Jeanne Ives. State Representative. Recounts story of Robert Miller and comments on the meaning of duty and honor. His story should be remembered. His name should be on the building – so that people will find out who he was. The community built the building, the community deserves the right to name it. Thanks board for the agenda item.
Roger Kempa. Asks questions about financial reports, audit proposal, and whether master list of new committee assignments is available.