'No confidence' statement by Chicago's professors, other faculty... City Colleges Board reluctantly hears the bad news from its own faculty...
The Feb. 4, 2016 meeting of the Board of Directors of City Colleges of Chicago had got wind that a statement of no confidence in CCC Chancellor Cheryl Hyman would be presented by the faculty. Going into denial mode, the Board engineered a public relations overkill of some 19-20 fawning statements specifically repeating "confidence in" the Chancellor, in the hopes of stifling the effects of the anticipated Faculty Council statement.
Jennifer Alexander reading the "no confidence" resolution of the faculty congress of the City Colleges of Chicago. Despite the attempt by Chancellor Cheryl Hyman's supporters to pack the meeting, the voice of the actual teachers was heard after two hours of the meeting. Labor Beat photo by Larry Duncan.This parade of paeans to Cheryl Hyman went on for nearly two hours, having the effect of stunning the audience into a stupor. The testimonies were eerily similar in their phraseology, suggesting that they were orchestrated rather than spontaneous. It was two hours of grant-proposal-ese repeating the same short list of buzz words and phrases.
Then, after about half of the audience had been driven away by all this, it finally came time on the agenda for the Faculty Council statement to be put into the record.
Jennifer Alexander, President of Faculty Council of the City Colleges of Chicago, walked up to the mic and stated:
"As Faculty Council President, on behalf of the City Colleges of Chicago, I'm here to announce with grave disappointment that our efforts in shared governance have been repeatedly and pointedly ignored by our chancellor. And so today we will enter a resolution declaring a vote of no confidence. This is a significant decision, one which we did not take lightly. We reserve a vote of no confidence for only the most serious concerns. We are exceptionally concerned that our chancellor's actions are destroying our mission, the values and integrity of the city colleges. Ultimately, this vote is about protecting and giving voice to the students and the community that we serve. I will now read the resolution."
And below is the resolution she read into the record:
Resolution:
At a time when the District Officers of the City Colleges of Chicago are proposing and implementing sweeping changes to our District and Colleges without any meaningful demonstration of concern for faculty, student, or community concerns; the Faculty Council of the City Colleges of Chicago (FC4), the representative body of all full-time faculty, supports a Declaration of No Confidence in the present Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, Cheryl Hyman. Faculty Council seeks a Chancellor who is responsive to student and faculty concerns, demonstrates a commitment to the CCC mission, respects shared governance, and comes from an educational background.
Supportive Evidence Whereas, the supporting evidence for this vote of no confidence has been articulated, documented and presented publicly at the CCC monthly Board meetings both during the Public Participation and in the FC4 President�s Board Reports. These concerns date back to June of 2015 with no discernible attempt to address faculty concerns from the Chancellor.
Whereas, FC4 has surveyed full-time faculty to rate their overall satisfaction with the current direction of the CCCs, of 471 respondents, 72.4% are dissatisfied. The City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor, Cheryl Hyman has:
I. Ignored repeated and well-documented requests from numerous faculty members and FC4 to provide the data, including any cost-benefit analysis, consideration of impact to students and communities, or any other rationale behind:
A. Program consolidations and
B. Eliminating registration one (1) full week prior to classes starting.
Both of these actions limit student and community access to high-quality programs and violate the mission of the City Colleges of Chicago. II. Ignored repeated requests to engage in meaningful dialog with faculty and students, including but not limited to the FC4 requests for a district-wide Town Hall Meeting. III. Ignored repeated pleadings from students to re-consider significant tuition increases where part-time and international students are disproportionately impacted causing hardships.
IV. Eliminated the entire �Academic Affairs� department at District Office and failed to replace the position of Chief Academic Officer or Provost.
Be it so resolved that based on this well-documented evidence, The Faculty Council of the City Colleges of Chicago votes No Confidence in Chancellor Hyman�s ability to govern the City Colleges of Chicago.
Then Faculty Council President Jennifer Alexander announced that she was going to walk this statement over to the Mayor's Office and invited others to come along. She was joined by about a dozen faculty and other supporters, who then went over to City Hall in a delegation and holding signs.
Comments:
By: Dan Kelley
No confidence in Cheryl Hyman
CCCLOC, the adjunct faculty union at the City Colleges, has been negotiating for a new contract for the past three and a half years to no avail because the district has refused to bargain in good faith. The Executive Board of the union has also recommended a "vote of no confidence" as to the ability of Chancellor Cheryl Hyman to lead the college district.
By: Richard Janus
No confidence
It's about time that the charade of chauffeured Cheryl is exposed for all to see.
And yes: City Colleges District Office actually provides her with a chauffeured limousine to haul her rear end around town.
By: Sydney Hart
CCC faculty vote of no confidence
I am a faculty member at one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Jennifer Alexander and our district wide faculty council are our elected representatives and accurately reflected the position of faculty across the district. In addition, the faculty councils at the two largest colleges in the CCC system (Harold Washington and Wilbur Wright) conducted their own votes of no confidence. Both colleges had over 90% faculty participation and over 90% of the faculty confirming the vote of no confidence.