CSU Faculty Voice: No Confidence in Chicago State Trustees

Monday, September 19, 2016

No Confidence in Chicago State Trustees

This is the "no confidence" declaration currently circulating among CSU staff and faculty. If anyone associated with the University wishes to sign this, e-mail me at rbionaz@att.net. I plan to drop this off today at the governor's office in the Thompson Center.

September 17, 2016

Dear Governor Rauner:

Yesterday, Nikki Zollar, Anthony Young, James Joyce, Spencer Leak, Marshall Hatch, and Horace Smith of the Chicago State Board of Trustees terminated the services of President Thomas J. Calhoun after he had spent only 8 and one-half months on the job. As a condition of the “separation” agreement between the Board and the President, the departing President will receive $600,000 in severance over the next two years. The Board members gave no reason for their termination decision.

These Board members took this feckless and fiscally irresponsible action despite overwhelming support for Dr. Calhoun from all parts of the University. They betrayed the students, staff, faculty, and alumni of Chicago State. They betrayed community members who support this University. They betrayed each and every constituent group desiring to see fundamental change in the way this University does business. Finally, against the backdrop of purported “financial exigency,” their profligate commitment of hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for two presidents for the next two years betrayed the taxpayers of Illinois.

Given the appalling disregard for both the public good and the well-being of Chicago State University exhibited by these six Board members, the staff and faculty of this school declare that we have “no confidence” in them. We demand that they resign. If they will not, we ask that you immediately remove Nikki Zollar, Anthony Young, James Joyce, Spencer Leak, Marshall Hatch, and Horace Smith from the Chicago State University Board of Trustees before they are able to further damage our University.

Yours truly,

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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.