Feb. 04--The City Colleges of Chicago faculty council Thursday announced a vote of no confidence in the chancellor's leadership, citing uneasiness with steps administrators have taken to "reinvent" the state's largest community college network.
The decision comes after Chancellor Cheryl Hyman made several changes to the seven-campus system's policies, such as increasing tuition for some part-time students and eliminating class registration one full week prior to the start of a semester, without consulting them, faculty members say.
"There's a lack of shared governance. The joke at City Colleges is they govern, and then they share what they've decided," said Sean Noonan, who holds the legislative chair with the Cook County College Teachers Union.
The council, which represents the faculty, said officials were implementing "sweeping changes" without any "meaningful demonstration of concern for faculty, student or community concerns," according to the resolution, said Jennifer Alexander, the council's president.
At Harold Washington College, for instance, 114 of 116 full-time faculty members voted, with 106 of them supporting the resolution, said Jenny Armendarez, an associate professor of English, speech and theater.
City Colleges is the largest community college system in Illinois, serving about 114,000 students per year, according to its website.
At a meeting Thursday of City Colleges' board of trustees, more than a dozen community leaders and students spoke in defense of Hyman and the reinvention campaign, citing its multiple successes. Among them is City Colleges' graduation rate -- which rose from 7 percent to 17 percent since 2009.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush said Hyman is a talented educational leader who left the "comfortable corporate world" to lead City Colleges.
"(Faculty) fight change with everything they have, because change threatens their sense of being comfortable," he said. "We ought to be commending and applauding her for her results. Why are we here this morning even discussing a vote of confidence for Chancellor Hyman?"
The City Colleges system has traditionally been a low-cost way for Chicagoans to take classes toward a two-year associate degree. The board, appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, voted in July to raise tuition as part of a $696 million spending plan that includes no property tax increase. By raising costs for students instead, City Colleges could balance its budget without resorting to the politically painful tax increases Emanuel faces as he deals with pension shortfalls and budgeting issues at City Hall and Chicago Public Schools.
