June 22--A controversial high-end restaurant at the College of DuPage could be significantly changed -- or even shuttered -- under proposals expected to be considered by the board of trustees this week, the Tribune has learned.
The college's interim president, Joseph Collins, said administrators will present three options for Waterleaf's future: Leasing the restaurant to an outside group, with the campus getting a percentage of the profits; gutting the space and making it into three classrooms; or turning the professionally run restaurant over to the culinary program where it would be run by students and faculty.
"I would recommend the third option, converting it to an academic enterprise," Collins told the Tribune at a meeting with the editorial board Monday. The options will be presented at a board of trustees meeting Thursday, but the board is not expected to vote that night.
College officials also could continue current operations at the restaurant, though that option seems unlikely given the controversy surrounding it over the past several months.
Of the many examples of lavish spending by the college's prior administration, perhaps none struck a chord with taxpayers and lawmakers more than the use of Waterleaf, which opened in October 2011 as a pet project of President Robert Breuder. Tribune investigations have found that senior administrators and trustees spent more than $350,000 in taxpayer and donor funds on meals and alcohol at the restaurant, sometimes hosting community members but often meeting with each other over lunch, dinner or after-work drinks.
And even though state law says the restaurant should be self-sustaining, it has lost nearly $2 million since it opened and is budgeted to lose more than $500,000 this fiscal year. Faculty and other critics have said the restaurant has done little to advance the educational mission of the college since students have limited access to it. The college offers two classes -- one on Mondays, one on Tuesdays -- teaching students how to run an upscale restaurant.
An analysis by the Tribune found that $1 in every $9 taken in by the Waterleaf has come from the college or the foundation, the school's fundraising arm. Bills show that administrators regularly dined there without explaining the purpose of the expense and without identifying who was present. As the state's largest community college, the college receives most of its funding from property taxes and tuition.
"People on the board have been troubled by the use of the Waterleaf," said board Chairwoman Katharine Hamilton, who assumed the chairmanship in April. "It fails to meet the guidelines of the mission put forth in the community college act. Since we are a college, we thought it would be great to make it part of the education. That is our goal. We would like to see it used as a source of teaching."
Hamilton said it's doubtful the board will decide to maintain the restaurant as-is. "It's an option, but I don't think people are really interested in that," she said.
Collins said if the board decides to convert it to a student-run restaurant, the change wouldn't occur until at least January because the fall semester course schedule has been set. "There are a lot of moving pieces," Collins said. "We have employees who currently work there and we have to be respectful of that."
Prior to Waterleaf's opening, the college had a student-run restaurant called the Escoffier Dining Room, where lunch cost about $15 and dinner entrees were about $25. Breuder shuttered it after he built the $25 million Culinary and Hospitality Center, which features the 130-seat Waterleaf and a more casual, student-run establishment called Wheat Cafe.
The 60-seat cafe, which offers training for students in the culinary and pastry arts and hospitality management, is open for lunch and dinner several times a week when school is in session. The college has said it has no records of Breuder, trustees or senior administrators charging a meal at the Wheat Cafe to the college, suggesting college funds for their meals were spent only at the tonier Waterleaf.
If the college converts Waterleaf into a student-run operation, Collins said the current cafe could be transformed to a fast-casual style restaurant like Panera.
Breuder, who is on paid administrative leave amid internal and criminal investigations, defended the French-inspired Waterleaf as a marketing tool that brings community members to campus and wows them with a first-rate dining experience. Nearly 17,000 customers visited last fiscal year, according to the college. Lunch costs $20 to $30 a person and dinner about $50 a person. Diners have given the restaurant positive reviews online, and the Tribune's Phil Vettel awarded it 3 out of 4 stars last year.
The restaurant also boasts an expansive wine cellar.
The college's administrators were among the most frequent diners. Until earlier this year, the college had two internal house accounts that the president and senior managers used to expense dinner and drinks, and the foundation had another one, a system similar to one used at a private country club.
Breuder charged more than $100,000 to his account from October 2011 to December 2014, including a $3,572 holiday dinner for senior managers that included 18 bottles of wine, some of which cost as much as $120, for 18 guests.
Glenn Hansen, president of the faculty association, said faculty would support Waterleaf becoming a student-run establishment.
"This has to meet the students' needs," Hansen said. "The culinary faculty already have said they have great plans. There is an opportunity to move COD in a better direction."
David Sarrett, a server at the Waterleaf since it opened, said he would support a more collaborative relationship with the culinary program.
He cautioned against making the restaurant entirely student-run, however, because of students' limited schedules and the need for a restaurant to be flexible to customers' needs, including for wedding receptions or late-night drinks after an event at the adjacent campus theater.
"What if the class time starts at 5 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m. and you have a show and people want to stay and buy a bottle of wine? You never want to kick them out," said Sarrett, who graduated from the college this year with a degree in film and video production. "How do you accommodate those people when you only have students (running it)? I think there is a compromise."
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