Lawmaker Threatens To Punish College Of DuPage Over $750K Severance To President
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A northwest suburban lawmaker was threatening to slash state funding for the College of DuPage, after its board of trustees agreed to a $762,868 severance package for the community college's retiring president.
Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) said he'll propose legislation to trim more than $1.5 million from state funding to COD next year – twice the cost of the exit package for outgoing president Robert Breuder.
"Those monies are being given to the College of DuPage by the taxpayers to stay in the classroom, not to pay for the hunt club fees of their retiring president; not to be paying for his Lexus," Franks said.
Franks also said he thinks the Illinois Attorney General's office should review the severance package to determine if it's proper, and whether it could be rescinded.
"I'm not sure it leads to anything criminal. I just think it's monumentally stupid, and monumentally wrong," Franks said.
He asserted the board's vote might have violated the Open Meetings Act, claiming they made a deceptively vague announcement of a public meeting to vote on the matter, originally slated to be held in a room too small to hold everyone who wanted to attend.
He said, one way or another, COD and not taxpayers will pay for the deal.
Trustees who voted in favor of Breuder's severance package said he guided COD through a $500 million expansion, and oversaw an increase in enrollment at a time when most other community colleges are seeing enrollment declines.
Breuder's sup porters also said his contract was essentially a legacy from a previous board, and the severance deal amounts to a major cost savings since Breuder's contract would have paid him $2 million through 2019.