To the Board…
November 21, 2008
CODFA PRESIDENT HANSEN ADDRESSES BOT ABOUT POLICY MANUAL CONCERNS AND COLLABORATIVE PROCESS
Glenn Hansen, President of the College of DuPage Faculty Association and Professor of Photography, made the following comments to the Board of Trustees at its meeting November 20, 2008:
I'd like to thank all of my faculty colleagues, both full time and part time; the classified staff; the administrators; and of course the students for being here tonight. It is a great turnout! It is amazing what we can do when we work together. I don't know if it's quite the 300 faculty members the Campus Police were concerned about, but it is certainly more people than usually come to a Board meeting.
Tonight, I am hopeful that the Board will approve an adjustment of faculty members' retirement dates. This issue was resolved successfully by faculty and administration working together. It was a complex issue that we were able to work through in less than 4 months. It stalled a bit at the end once the attorneys became involved, but Dr. Ryan and I were able to move it forward with a little "shuttle diplomacy." Thank you for bringing this to a final conclusion. Collaboration takes time—not always a lot of time—but the results are worth it.
As you look out into the audience, you should realize that most people are here because of the proposed change to the Board Policy Manual. Few documents impact College of DuPage more than the Board Policy and Procedure manual. The Policies and Procedures are superceded by state and federal law, as well as all of our bargained contract agreements. The manual has been around from the beginning of CoD. It is a living document that reflects how we operate as an institution. It is a document that is continually amended through a well-established procedure. While it is properly known as the Board Policy and Procedure manual, it is the College of DuPage's Policy and Procedure manual. We, the constituency groups and district community members, along with you, the Board of Trustees, are the College of DuPage. The procedure for amending the policies and procedures is very clear. Past practice has been effective. It is a negotiation process that usually ends in an effective agreement with all voices and concerns heard. Amendments go through Leadership Council, to all of the constituencies, back to Leadership Council for discussion, to the cabinet and the President, and then to the Board of Trustees. Most of us understand how this works effectively in an institution that incorporates the principles of AQIP accreditation and Continuous Improvement. We build consensus, and dictates are contrary to the process. This is a free democratic society, and voices of the citizenry must be heard.
As you know, the collaborative process known as shared governance is an important tenet of College of DuPage's culture. It is critical to a functional organization, to accreditation, and even to the Lincoln Award that we have applied for and are receiving. Colleges and universities across the United States are expected to operate through shared governance. In simple terms, shared governance is supposed to allow people to use their expertise to serve the best interests of an institution. Boards provide planning and oversight, administrators run the operations, faculty develop and teach curriculum. Shared governance has to be both dynamic and balanced. When it works, it's collaborative and energizing. When the system gets out of balance, then people just can't do their jobs well.
Unfortunately, we have seen a progressive breakdown of collaborative process between the Board and the college community during the past two years.
- We witnessed a breakdown of collaboration within your own group. Several times Trustees have verbally attacked each other.
- We have witnessed two Board members and Facility Master Plan Director resign while making various accusations.
- We have witnessed a very heated public debate at a December board meeting between President Chand and Chairman McKinnon about the need to renovate the Berg Instruction Center.
- We witnessed a less than public selection process for appointing Trustee replacements.
- It took public advocacy for a modification of the Presidential search process.
- We witnessed Trustees' comments advocating the need to limit free speech at Board meetings, while also repeatedly expressing a desire to control the student press.
- We have experienced an abrupt end to a major collaborative effort to refine the Mission, Vision, and Values statement for College of DuPage. Hundreds of hours of work by students, staff, adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, administrators, community members, and some of your time were put on hold until September 2009.
This proposal is the ultimate indication that working together is not important to you, the Board,
and that collaboration is not how College of DuPage is going to operate. However, it is also very
important to note that this attitude is contrary to Dr. Breuder's philosophy, which he shared with the
media on Tuesday afternoon. He believes in working together to solve problems. But has he seen this manual
that redefines even his responsibilities?
If there is a need for new policies and revision of existing policies, there is a proper way to achieve that goal. This, however, is not the way to proceed. The renumbering of all policies, the deletion of many policies, the addition of over 100 more—all without an indication of what is new and what is deleted—is inappropriate. Furthermore, reviewing policies without procedures is like reading the first paragraph of each chapter in a book and then claiming you read the book. The procedures define the policies by describing how the policies will become operational. We have not even seen the procedures, but the current timeline calls for them to be presented to us in December. Each policy must be presented with its accompanying procedure. They must reviewed together by the college community within an appropriate timeframe, and then the responses must be heard.
The Policy and Procedure Manual is incredibly important in defining College of DuPage. It impacts teaching and learning, it impacts every resident of the district, it impacts our work conditions, and it could change what our students learn. This proposal must be withdrawn so that together we can begin an effective review of the existing manual as per existing Board Policy and Procedure number 1001. We, the faculty, as well as all other stakeholders, I'm sure, are ready. We invite you to join the process. Thank you.
