CSU Faculty Voice: And what does 2010 hold for us???

Friday, January 22, 2010

And what does 2010 hold for us???

So many of you readers have joined your humble narrator in condemning the incompetence of the university's Board of Trustees, not just in a flawed presidential search but also in a pattern of malfeasance and misconduct stretching over several years. Now today's Chicago Sun Times puts us back in the news with a report from Fran Spielman that our very own BOT Chairman is a "slumlord." Can it be that a hand picked member of the Chicago Plan Commission is actually been derelict in providing livable housing to low income residents? Methinks yes and so do several of those residents who have planned a downtown rally to ask for the removal of the Reverend Doctor Finney from yet another public body. At least we can rely on consistency from our Board Chairman. He spreads his inability to manage more broadly than just Chicago State University. Recall, that while a member of the Plan Commission, he was part of the body that oversaw a $110 million cost overrun on the construction of Kennedy King College. When questioned about the overrun, neither he nor any City College administrators could find documentation supporting or explaining the overrun. Our new trustees, however, had such confidence in Chairman Finney that they re-elected him to serve a second one year term as Board Chair. Given the identified deficiencies of leadership and governance at the university, will Trustee Finney survive the site visit of the Higher Learning Commission or be purged as part of the systemic failure of the university. Only the trustees know.

I eagerly await the next chapter of this tragic saga.

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Thanks to Haki Madhabuti

"1. He/she must be a scholar of national note, with significant peer review publications and books in his or her field. There must be no doubt as to his/her standing in the community of scholars. This would also include a history of the candidate’s participation in the appropriate professional organizations.

2. He/she must have served with distinction as the administrative head of a major unit within an institution of higher learning or at the important position of Provost and/or Dean. Of course, prior service at the presidential level is preferred.

3. He/she must have a documented history of raising significant monies from the private and public sectors. At most major and research one universities it is not unusual to expect the president to come with a plan to raise in excess of half a billion dollars or more in the first few years.

4. The prospective president must have a consensus buy-in from the faculty, students, administration and staff, therefore, arriving with a unity mandate to lead by joining a University community that has bought into his or her vision for the future."

From an open letter to the CSU Community, 2009.