An Editorial on Chicago State in the Chicago Tribune

Here's the link to the editorial in this morning's Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-chicago-state-censorship-edit-1115-20131115,0,3960443.story

After the Streisand Effect-- All Quiet on the Midwestern Front?

I just read in the Chronicle about your blog - I wish I had thought of something like that here before I stepped down as dean. I entered academic (sic) to contribute to 'a life of the mind' and to be able to work in a just, inclusive, collaborative environment. I have been fortunate to find that in several institutions but here in ______ I have found an abusive, punitive, totally unprofessional environment stemming from a socio-pathic provost & a co-dependent president. I …am in several legal battles with the 'university' so a blog would work - lawyers don't want me to have anything to do with institution except through them & I've asked AAUP to investigate faculty interference & tenure issues so don't want to mess that up.

Anyway - I just want to thank you & tell you, from someone who has been a faculty member/administrator for over 35 years (1st post was in Jan 1977) I respect & admire what you are doing.

                             --from  a Professor at a state university in Massachusetts

You're (sic) faculty blog fills in what traditional newspapers do not report. Our local newspaper, __________ is not much more than a PR arm of [the university] And, [another paper], though more independent than our local newspaper, will not report the details that you or I have knowledge of and evidence for. That's what our blogs do best. As long as you provide evidence, documentation, proof for your stories and label your editorials, folks will pay attention.

Of course, faculty are afraid of retaliation. You have to lead the way and that's what you are doing.

And don't worry that only a few faculty participate in your blog. Or that some moron administrator spouts his propaganda like "only a small group" are critical. If you weren't having an effect, they'd ignore you. That would be, in my view, troublesome.

I outlasted most of our miscreant administrators at _________and they, not me, give me credit for having played a small part in getting them gone.

We do our small part making our home, schools, a better place.

                                                  ---from a  Professor in Mississippi.

And there are other emails or comments of support the CSUFacVoice bloggers have received from faculty in other far off places like California, Wisconsin, and even UIC!

Well Land o' Goshen! Who'da thunk it?

Maybe faculty around the country are just expressing how sick and tired they are of phoney administrators and their "corporate models" of governance (forget the shared part).  

At any rate, I had never heard of the “Streisand Effect” before I read it in one of the comments on one of the several articles that have appeared about the CSU since Patrick Cage issued his memo of “cease and desist” to us.

The "Streisand Effect":
Named after the American singer and actress Barbra Streisand, the Streisand Effect describes how efforts to suppress a juicy piece of online information can backfire and end up making things worse for the would-be censor. Ms Streisand inadvertently gave her name to the phenomenon in 2003, when she sued the California Coastal Records Project, which maintains an online photographic archive of almost the entire California coastline, on the grounds that its pictures included shots of her cliffside Malibu mansion, and thus invaded her privacy.

That raised hackles online…Ms Streisand… was scorned for what was seen as a frivolous suit that was harmful to freedom of speech. As the links proliferated, thousands of people saw the pictures of Ms Streisand's house—far more than would otherwise ever have bothered to browse through the CCRP's archives. By the time a judge eventually threw the suit out, Ms Streisand's privacy had been far more thoroughly compromised than it would have been had she and her lawyers left the CCRP alone.

The Economist explains: What is the Streisand effect? Apr 15th 2013, 23:50 by T.C.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/04/economist-explains-what-streisand-effect

Going Viral

In case you need to know what it means to "go viral" the Streisand Effect began with an article by Juan Perez in the Chicago Tribune:

"Chicago State University wants faculty blog shut down"

By Juan Perez Jr., Chicago Tribune reporter
7:23 a.m. CST, November 12, 2013

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-chicago-state-university-blog-20131112,0,1259026.story

This story and a little video of the reporter discussing it got picked up by a few other sources and printed more or less the same information. Some of these media are the usual suspects, but a couple of surprises (the AAUP Academe Blog and an academic freedom organization, The Fire). Links are listed below 

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
"Chicago State U. Orders a Faculty Blog to Shut Down"

Nov. 12, 2013 Charles Huckabee

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/chicago-state-u-tries-orders-a-faculty-blog-to-shut-down/69057


INSIDE HIGHER ED"Chicago State vs. Faculty Blog"
November 12, 2013 by Scott Jaschik 

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/12/chicago-state-tries-shut-down-faculty-blog#.UoJE9KxMXTw.email
Read more:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/12/chicago-state-tries-shut-down-faculty-blog#ixzz2kXbm9peL

AAUP ACADEME BLOG 
"Chicago State administration puts foot in it again"  by Hank Reichman

...“A thuggish effort…”

While Chicago State may have an argument that use of its trademarks without permission is illegal, its contention that the bloggers cannot use its name or must adhere to some ill-defined standard of “civility” is entirely without legal, much less ethical, foundation.  Anyone who might be misled to believe that the blog is an official publication of the University needs some serious assistance in life.  This is clearly an independent, albeit critical, voice, maintained outside the university and hence fully protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the most basic principles of academic freedom.  Moreover, the publicly funded university’s claim that the blog violates its standards of civility is itself a flagrant violation of principles of academic freedom long endorsed by the AAUP.

Chicago State’s demand that the blog be shut down, and not simply that use of its trademarks cease, indicates clearly that the administration’s intent is to silence a dissenting faculty voice.  The university’s letter is little more than a thuggish effort to bully and frighten, with no legal or moral justification.  Its action therefore deserves the same sort of condemnation and contempt that greeted its previous bone-headed effort to require prior approval of all faculty communications with the media, including contributions to social media.  I hope Professor Beverly and the other bloggers at “Crony State” stand firm against this demand.  The AAUP certainly is ready to provide whatever assistance we can.

You can read the whole thing and excerpts of the AAUP statement on Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications below.

http://academeblog.org/2013/11/12/chicago-state-administration-puts-foot-in-it-again/

And thanks to an ex-colleague from CSU I found out aout this organization:

THE FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education "Chicago State Tries to Shut Down Faculty Blog" November 12, 2013  by Susan Kruth Cage also states in his letter that “the lack of civility and professionalism expressed on the blog violates the University’s values and policies requiring civility and professionalism of all University Faculty members.”    FIRE has explained before that “civility” mandates often impede free and open debate on college campuses and can easily be used by administrators to censor speech based on its content or viewpoint. Even “uncivil” speech is constitutionally protected unless it falls into one of the few and narrowly-defined categories of speech traditionally unprotected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court noted in Terminello v. Chicago (1949) that free speech “may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.” In this case, such a result might be inevitable given the striking accusations contained within the blog. Last week a writer for the blog remarked on CSU President Wayne Watson’s previous complaints about the blog’s “incivility”: “I am not sure how to say in a nice way that someone has lied.”     http://thefire.org/article/16488.html

  Charlotte says: "Hey, wait a minute, I thought they said, 'no one reads the blog'..."

From the U.S.S. Caine: What Happened to the Strawberries?

At the bottom of this post is a sample trademark infringement letter. A comparison of this template with the letter sent Monday by Patrick Cage reveals some important differences. First, the tone of the template is not accusatory, saying "We believe it is possible that you are not unaware of this conflict, and we feel it is in our mutual interest to bring this matter to your attention." Rather than threats and bullying, the proposed letter reads: "To resolve this matter amicably, we demand that within the next ___________________ business days of the date of this letter you voluntarily cease and desist from the use of the Trademark, and any combination of the same, in any and all products or services. If you fail to cease using the Trademark within such time, we will take appropriate steps to enforce our rights." The obvious goal of this communication is the protection of the company's trademark.

In comparison, here's the language from Patrick Cage's recent communication: "On November 6, 2013, as a result of statements you made at a meeting of the President's Executive Council, it came to my attention that you publish an on-line blog called the 'Chicago State University Faculty Voice Blog,' http://csufacultyvoice.blogspot.com/, without any content civility standards. As the publisher, administrator and editor of the Chicago State University Faculty Voice Blog, you are using CSU's trade names and marks without permission or a license from the University to do so." What do "civility standards" have to do with trademark infringement?

Cage's next paragraph contains similarly baffling language, totally unrelated to trademark infringement. It reads: "Moreover, the lack of civility and professionalism expressed on the blog violates the University's values and policies requiring civility and professionalism of all University faculty members. As an educational institution, the University encourages intellectual discourse. Such discourse often includes opposing viewpoints. Thus, high standards of civility and professionalism are central tenants [sic] of the University's values and included in the standards of conduct required of faculty members."

The penultimate paragraph reveals the true purpose behind Cage's letter: "We therefore demand that you immediately disable Chicago State University Faculty Voice Blog and any posting that includes the unauthorized use of any trade names or trademarks owned by the University. Please provide us with written confirmation that you have complied with the request no later than November 15, 2013, in order to avoid legal action."

In the world of the Chicago State Administration, represented here by its top legal mind, a potential trademark infringement is cause for silencing the dissenting voices posting on the faculty blog. This is not about protecting Chicago State's "brand" whatever that might be, it is about controlling the ideas of dissenting faculty, ideas expressed in a forum with no connection to the university. Does Mr. Cage really believe that the Chicago State faculty will stop criticizing the Watson administration because he "demands" it?

I can only speak for myself here, but I will say this to Mr. Cage and to the Chicago State administrators who have now made four attempts to stifle dissent on this campus. Your threats have exposed the university to nationwide ridicule, in the same way the university's clearly unconstitutional "Communications" policy made the school a laughingstock in March-April 2012. You may bluster and threaten to your heart's content but the criticism of the administration will continue. Since Wayne Watson and his administration are clearly unable to refute the charges made on this forum, I would expect more attacks of this nature, designed to deflect the discussion into areas that are simply not germane to the issue at hand: falsified resumes and crony hiring practices.

Finally, I stated my position clearly to Wayne Watson in an e-mail I sent him on November 7, 2013. Here is the text:

President Watson:



In the interests of clarity and in response to some of the comments you reportedly made at the PEC meeting yesterday, I offer the following:



The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act is to ensure that citizens are informed of the activities of their public officials. In that spirit, I posted materials on the faculty blog that are public information and that I received from Chicago State’s legal department in response to my FOIA requests. I think it particularly important that the university community be apprised of what your administration is doing, since the activities occurring in the Cook building are often quite opaque.


The information I have posted to this point is far from everything I have on falsified resumes and other inaccurate and untruthful information emanating from your administration. Therefore, I can assure you that there will be more posts forthcoming, all including documentation. I understand that these posts have generated some discomfort among a number of persons in your administration. I believe that once an individual decides to willfully misrepresent his or her credentials that they forfeit the right to either outrage or hurt feelings when those misrepresentations are exposed.


I will not engage ridiculous assertions about incivility or the tone of the posts. The issue is neither my behavior nor my rhetoric, it is the behavior of those persons who have chosen to lie in a variety of venues.


Of course, if you or anyone else wants to respond substantively to anything I have written, I welcome that discussion.


Bob Bionaz


I can only hope that someone in the Chicago State administration has the ability to stop this ill-conceived attack on faculty dissent because it is truly harming the school's "brand."

Here's Another Falsified Resume From the Current Assistant Director of Financial Aid

The case of Tyra Austin is completely straightforward. Despite a bachelor's degree being the minimum educational qualifications for her position of Assistant Director of Financial Aid, Chicago State hired Austin on August 16, 2012 without the requisite degree. The documents that follow include: 1-2) the job announcement for the position detailing a bachelor's degree as the minimum educational qualification; 3-4) Austin's application that lists a Bachelor of Science degree with a minor in English from Howard University, with a degree date of May 10, 2013, ten-plus months in the future; 5) Austin's resume that repeats the same false degree information; 6) Austin's "enrollment verification" that lists her final dates of attendance at Howard in August 2012, with the indication that she has not received a degree; 7) the listing of degree programs in the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences, with the information that Howard's bachelor's degree in political science is a Bachelor of Arts, not the Bachelor of Science Austin claims to hold. To this date, Austin continues to be employed in her administrative position despite lacking the requisite minimum degree.

These documents speak for themselves, I have nothing further to add.

Hot off the presses...

So it goes on. For your consideration I present the following correspondence and link to a subsequent newspaper article. You may click on the images for a larger size. The redaction marks on page one are mine.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-chicago-state-university-blog-20131112,0,1259026.story

There will be more to follow I am sure.

The Administration's Lies: Here is What Transparency, Accountabilty, Responsility and the Committment to Academic Rigor Really Look Like at Wayne Watson's Chicago State University

Here are policies relevant to the hiring of employees at Chicago State University.

"Integrity
The University expects all employees to act with integrity at all times in the workplace, or when representing the company. The following list gives examples of lack of integrity, although it should not be considered an exhaustive list:
• falsification of employment application, official academic transcripts, degrees or other records"
Page 9 of the Chicago State University Human Resources Policy Manual, available here: http://www.csu.edu/results.htm?cref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csu.edu%2Fcref_cse.xml&cof=FORID%3A9&q=Human+Resources+policy&sa=Go).

"Background Checks
All job offers are contingent upon satisfactory completion of the University’s background check process, including employment history, education, references, criminal record, a motor vehicle record (MVR) when driving is a requirement, and any other data that may be necessary to analyze a candidate’s qualifications for a position at Chicago State University.
Background checks are required for all employees in full-time, part-time, and temporary positions. Background checks must be run on all candidates prior to beginning employment, regardless of whether they have previously been employed by Chicago State University or are transferring from another State University."
(Page 7 of the Chicago State University Human Resources Policy Manual)

Here is the statement on the CSU application that addresses untruthfulness by applicants. The consequences for lying on an application are clear: termination when the lies are discovered:

At Wednesday's PEC meeting, Wayne Watson apparently reiterated his commitment to transparency, a platitude he has continuously articulated. Of course, since the truest indicator of how a person feels is behavior not rhetoric, Watson's actions often contradict his stated belief in "transparency." Watson has also frequently pontificated about "responsibility" and "accountability." In the past four years, the Chicago State community has seen various examples of how much Watson values these ideas. Even before he began at CSU he criticized its faculty publicly, soon after assuming the presidency he began meddling in curriculum and imposed his re-organization scheme on two of the school's colleges. He and his administration have subsequently attempted to stifle expression on campus and dictate academic standards to faculty. He has created extra-contractual statuses for tenure-track faculty, violated the CSU-UPI contract on various and sundry occasions and is now involving himself in the hiring of faculty. He apparently expressed the belief (I'm paraphrasing here) at the PEC meeting that he needed to interview faculty members to ascertain whether or not they were "afraid" to teach here. What that says about his perception of both CSU students and faculty, I will leave for the reader to decide. Watson has also taken it upon himself to uphold the highest standards of the academy by weighing in on degrees and the quality of schools attended by CSU faculty applicants (across disciplines, it seems like he has a Ph.D. in everything). He has apparently decided that no one without a Ph.D. in hand should be hired at Chicago State and has often expressed the notion that CSU faculty should be able to "transfer" to Harvard.

As I demonstrated in previous posts, Watson has apparently failed to apply the same stringent standards to some of the members of his administrative "team." In the case of Cheri Sidney, lying on her resume has resulted in promotions and raises. Angela Henderson's untruthful omissions and exaggerations on her resume have similarly resulted in promotions and raises. I will soon be discussing the case of Tyra Austin, another administrator who has falsified her resume and application. Although Human Resources has policies in place to deal with academic misrepresentations, the administration has not terminated any of the individuals who have included demonstrable lies on their resumes and applications. Rather, Watson concerns himself with the "incivility" of the faculty blog and the fact that the exposure of (public information) portions of someone's personnel file makes them feel bad. Clearly, his administration has demonstrated no will to address these serious issues of untruthfulness. Fortunately, the Freedom of Information Act exists to enable citizens to access public information that will allow them to assess how public agencies operate. Combined with other public records, the disclosures under FOIA make it possible to obtain a clear picture of how the Watson administration operates in both its hiring practices and its adherence to university policies and procedures.

This information raises troubling questions about the integrity of Chicago State's administration. In fact, the Watson administration has engaged in a series of untruthful representations regarding the educational qualifications of Angela Henderson. These include falsehoods about her degree status on the university's website and extend to the official records of the Chicago State University Board of Trustees. The following documents demonstrate:

This is the material from the University website under the title of the "President's Operations Team." The information on Angela Henderson has been updated to reflect the recent award of her Ph.D. However, for several months prior to her receipt of the degree, the Chicago State website listed her as "Angela Henderson, Ph.D," the Vice President of Enrollment Management. Of course, based on the chronology of events surrounding the award of her degree, Angela Henderson never held a Ph.D. while she was the Vice President of Enrollment Management. She received her Ph.D. some six weeks after (August 11, 2013) her appointment as interim provost on July 1, 2013. Nonetheless, the university claimed for several months that she held the Ph.D., although the text clearly contradicts that claim. The material below I downloaded from the university website on July 8, 2013:

The below material is the earliest reference I have found on the CSU website to Angela Henderson as "Dr. Angela Henderson." This is a portion of the Enrollment Management Organizational Chart dated November 27, 2012, nearly nine months before Henderson received her Ph.D. (The organizational chart is available here: www.csu.edu/enrollmentmanagement/pdf/EMOrgChart_002.pdf):

Next is an undated press release that appeared in early 2013, most likely in late January or early February. Again, this is several months prior to Henderson earning her degree. Nevertheless, the press release refers to her as "Dr. Angela Henderson," with her title (the press release is available here: www.csu.edu/news/winsaccolades.htm):

Up to this point, the university's falsehoods had been confined to its website. However, in March, the false information about "Dr. Angela Henderson" began appearing in the agendas and minutes of the Chicago State Board of Trustees. Altogether, Henderson is referred to erroneously as "Dr. Angela Henderson" in five official Board of Trustees documents. The next three items show "Dr. Angela Henderson" appearing on the agenda of the March 8, 2013 meeting(document 1) and in the March 8 minutes (documents 2 and 3):

The next three documents show Henderson listed as "Dr. Angela Henderson" on the agenda for the May 17, 2013 meeting (document 1), a correction to "Ms. Angela Henderson in document 2, then another reference to "Dr. Angela Henderson" in document 3:

The appearance of these misrepresentations in the official agendas and minutes of the Board of Trustees raise the question of why these records have never been corrected. Equally troubling, the misrepresentation of Henderson's academic credentials is not an isolated incident. The university website currently lists "Renee Mitchell, Ph.D." as the Director of Human Resources. However, according to Mitchell's resume, her degree is actually a Doctorate of Management from the University of Phoenix. While Mitchell possesses a doctorate, it is not a Ph.D. and should not be listed as such anyplace in official university records or on a website accessible to the public. The brief biographical sketch also contributes to the misrepresentation as it describes her degree as simply "a doctorate in organizational leadership."

These various falsehoods and misrepresentations stand in counterpoint to the basic values of truthfulness and academic integrity that must undergird the culture of any university. I try not to speculate as to motive and I will not do so here. However, the "why" of these falsehoods is an intriguing question. Indeed, how do these kinds of misrepresentations appear without someone correcting them? The argument that no one in the administration knew about these falsehoods is hardly credible. Is this the work of some clerk? Finally, are we going to continue to display this kind of inaccurate information on our website? Little wonder why our school's reputation is often under attack. Of course, this must be the fault of the faculty and I should certainly have not brought any of this to light in such an impolite manner. In subsequent posts, I plan to address the issue of civility so helpfully raised by Wayne Watson.

Here's Another Way to Falsify a Resume

I understand that in today's PEC meeting, Wayne Watson complained about the "incivility" on the faculty blog and expressed his belief that the things posted here constitute "cyber-bullying." In addition, he seemed aghast that someone's personnel material would be made public. Here's the answer to all those complaints. 1) I am not sure how to say in a nice way that someone has lied. Of course, the real text here might be that it is always preferable to say nothing, in which case Watson and his administration can continue to abuse the university's hiring system; 2) this ridiculous red herring is not worth a response; 3) this material, is, in fact, public information. All the resumes, job announcements and applications came from Chicago State in response to a FOIA request. Wayne Watson and his acolytes seem to be under the mistaken impression that Chicago State, rather than being a public institution, exists for their private benefit. I have posted only materials that contain untruthful statements. If someone does not wish to see her/his resume exposed publicly, do not lie on it. Is the administration contending that these resumes do not contain falsehoods? Does Wayne Watson find this behavior defensible? If so, I would love to see the evidence supporting either or both of those positions. I recognize this strategy for what it is: a ham-handed attempt to divert attention away from the egregious actions of Watson and his administrators and onto the behavior of his critics. That said . . .

Here's another example of a falsified resume, this one from our current Interim Provost Angela Henderson. Henderson's resume claims differ from those of Cheri Sidney since Henderson does not actually list a non-existent degree on her resume. However, the problems start on page 3 and 4 when Henderson, in an application submitted March 18, 2011, asserts that she will receive her PhD on June 30, 2011. Henderson repeats this assertion on page 1 of her resume, when she writes that she is a PhD candidate with an "(anticipated completion by June 2011)". As her degree verification from the University of Illinois at Chicago indicates, she received her Ph.D. in Nursing on August 11, 2013. It seems unlikely that someone seeking a Ph.D. would not realize that they were more than two years away from finishing. Thus, this claim is apparently untruthful, and at best misleading. The following documents, the degree verification from UIC, page 3 of her application, page 1 (shown as page 6 of 11) of her resume, demonstrate the apparent falsity of Henderson's claims.

Most egregious is Henderson's omission of her 2002-03 demotion to teaching status and pay cut of nearly 1/3. There is obviously a story behind this and I will offer my speculation as to what it may be. As you can see from the next document, the president of Olive Harvey College, Lawrence A. Cox, resigned on August 9, 2002. Cox was a controversial figure, having earned a vote of no confidence from his faculty in 2001, partly for his autocratic management style. As you can see from the following documents, prior to Cox's departure, Henderson, then known as Angela Starks, did quite well at Olive Harvey: promoted first to department chairperson in 1998, then to Dean of Instruction in 2000.

The above document is where the main problem inherent in Henderson's resume surfaces. Following Cox's resignation, the new interim president of Olive Harvey demoted Henderson back to teaching and cut her pay from over $77,000 to just over $52,000. She worked as faculty from August 2002 until January 2003, when Wayne Watson apparently rescued her by extricating her from her predicament at Olive Harvey and transferring her to the District Office, in the process restoring virtually her entire pay cut. However, this is not reflected on Henderson's 2011 resume as it details a seamless period of employment as the Dean of Instruction at Olive Harvey until December 2002 when she moved to the District Office. Her omission of that salient experiential fact is simply a lie. After leaving Olive Harvey, Henderson never again worked anywhere but the District Office. The following documents from the City Colleges of Chicago Board Reports detail the changes made at Olive Harvey, Henderson's (Starks's) demotion and subsequent promotion. Charles A. Green, the new interim president of Olive Harvey, either had no desire to retain Henderson in her administrative position or Henderson chose not to continue working under Green.

This document shows Jacquelyn H. Parker appointed as the Interim Dean of Instruction, replacing Angela Henderson (Starks)at the same salary of $77,353, effective August 12, 2002.

This document shows Angela Starks's (Henderson's) status change from Dean of Instruction at Olive Harvey to full-time faculty, a change that can only be viewed as a demotion, whether voluntary or involuntary. The status change included a salary reduction of nearly $25,000 per year.

Fortunately, Wayne Watson soon made Henderson whole by transferring her to the District Office as the Executive Director of Career and Technical Education, at nearly the same salary she had received as the Dean of Instruction: $77,250.

In contrast to the case of Cheri Sidney and her bald-faced falsehoods, Henderson's lies were more subtle, implying that her Ph.D. was imminent, omitting a rather important break in her job chronology. Nonetheless, these actions can be construed as deceptive: in other words, lies. All documentary evidence cited in this post comes from the registrar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago State via FOIA requests or from the City Colleges of Chicago Board Reports online.

We Need Not Worry Any More, Human Resources Knows About the Falsified Resumes and Has Already Taken Care of the Problem

Here's Renee Mitchell's response to my e-mail:

Dr. Bionaz,



Thank you for your email. The Office of Human Resources is aware of these matters and has taken appropriate personnel actions.





Sincerely,



Renee

So, Human Resources knows two administrators lied on their resumes/applications and they're still working, even being promoted. I wonder what Wayne Watson's administration would do if a faculty member falsified her/his educational credentials? I can't imagine what "appropriate personnel actions" might be for CSU administrators.

If You Want to Know What a Falsified Resume Looks Like, Here's an Example

In the spirit of transparency and public disclosure, I am sharing these public documents with the Chicago State Community. The relevant portions of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act follow:

5 ILCS/140 Illinois Freedom of Information Act

"The General Assembly hereby declares that it is the public policy of the State of Illinois that access by all persons to public records promotes the transparency and accountability of public bodies at all levels of government. It is a fundamental obligation of government to operate openly and provide public records as expediently and efficiently as possible in compliance with this Act."

"Restraints on access to information, to the extent permitted by this Act, are limited exceptions to the principle that the people of this State have a right to full disclosure of information relating to the decisions, policies, procedures, rules, standards, and other aspects of government activity that affect the conduct of government and the lives of any or all of the people."

The documents that follow, the 2009 resume and hiring forms for Cheri Sidney, and the 2009 job description for the position of Associate Director of Human Resources, provide examples of both falsified application materials and the way crony hiring works at Chicago State.

On the first page of her resume, Sidney indicates she worked as the "Director of Student Retention" at Harold Washington College from 2007 to 2009. There is no record of Sidney ever being employed at City Colleges and there is no record in the Harold Washington organizational chart of any such administrative position existing at the College.

While the information about her alleged employment at Harold Washington is almost assuredly untrue, the educational material on page 2 is a bald-faced lie. Sidney claims to have a Master's degree from DePaul in HR management. However, as the degree verification on the next page clearly proves, Sidney received a Bachelor's degree from DePaul in 2006 and a Master's degree in 2013. Also notable, is that in 2009, Sidney indicated no dates of degree for either her Bachelor's degree or the fraudulent Master's degree Sidney lists on her resume.

This document details Sidney's educational credentials. Sidney received both her degrees from DePaul University's School for New Learning. The verification lists the major course of study as "School For New Learning Degree Program," while Sidney claims her Bachelor's degree to be in "Concentration in Human Resources-Professional Development." According to the DePaul website: http://snl.depaul.edu/programs/, no such concentration exists in the School for New Learning.

The administrative hiring form demonstrates how Human Resources incorporated the lie from Sidney's resume into official university records. According to this form, Sidney possesses a "Master's of Art," from some unnamed institution. Signed by Human Resources Director Renee Mitchell as well as by Wayne Watson, this form effectively legitimizes Sidney's untruthfulness.

The job announcement details the qualifications for the Associate Director of Human Resources. It sets the bar quite low, requiring only a Bachelor's degree and "five years human resource experience," with a salary "commensurate with qualifications and experience." As the hiring form demonstrates, despite Sidney's somewhat limited work experience and educational credentials, the administration judged her "qualifications and experience," to be worth a $90,000 yearly salary.

Wayne Watson ensured that this entry level administrative position was only the first step up the promotional ladder for Sidney. Although the position of Associate Director had not existed in June 2009, the administration created a new position just for Cheri Sidney. When Watson promoted her out of that position into another new position, Director of Enrollment Management, the Associate Director of Human resources position simply disappeared from the university budget. Similarly, when Watson promoted Sidney again to a newly created position, her current job of Associate Vice President, the Director of Enrollment Management position disappeared from the university budget.

Sidney's ascension to her current exalted position clearly demonstrates the cynicism inherent in Wayne Watson's continued pontification about "accountability, transparency, and responsibility." In any non-dysfunctional work environment, Sidney would never have been hired as one of the university's senior administrators. Given the declining enrollment numbers at Chicago State since she became one of the two top persons in Enrollment Management in 2010, it seems fair to describe her job performance as wretched. Again, in almost all other workplaces, this would have earned her either a demotion, or most likely, termination. Not so here. Her personal relationship with Wayne Watson has benefited her immensely.

As I pointed out in an earlier post on this blog, the policy on falsified applications seems clear. Again, we will see what Wayne Watson does about this situation.

For any of you who object to the tone of this post, or who might make the argument that I have no right to post such material, I received the majority of this material from Chicago State University in response to requests I made under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. All the above material is, in fact, public information.

Will There Be Consequences for Lying on Application Materials?

I was delighted to see that our administration has decided to vigorously enforce policy on the campus. Given that they have now become sticklers for following appropriate procedures, I thought I would advise Human Resources of the mendacious resumes and hiring policy failures surrounding the employment of Cheri Sidney and Tyra Austin. Accordingly, this morning, I sent the following e-mail to Renee Mitchell with a CC to our erstwhile interim Provost:

Given the university administration’s newly discovered desire to ensure that university and board policies are followed to the letter, I have information about procedural violations in hiring and falsified resumes that I am sure you will want to know about and correct.

In 2009, the president’s close friend Cheri Sidney applied for a position as Associate Director of Human Resources. She indicated on her resume that she had earned a master’s degree from DePaul in HR Management. However, Ms. Sidney had no master’s degree at the time. She did not receive a master’s degree from DePaul until 2013, and it was in Applied Professional Studies. Thus, the information on her resume is simply a lie. In addition, this same untruthful information appears on official university documents; as the hiring form for Ms. Sidney, dated October 7, 2009, indicates her level of education to be a “Master’s of Art.”

In August 2012, Tyra Austin applied for a position as the Assistant Director of Financial Aid. The job announcement clearly indicated that a Bachelor’s degree was required for the position, with “a Master’s in Business, Accounting, Public Administration or Student Personnel or related field . . . preferred.” Ms. Austin is apparently clairvoyant as her application indicates that she possessed a B.S. degree in Political Science from Howard University with a graduation date of May 2013. Thus, Ms. Austin failed to meet the minimum job requirements at the time of her application and subsequent hiring on August 16, 2012. To this date, she has still not earned any kind of baccalaureate degree, so she continues to be employed without the requisite minimum educational requirements for her position. As an aside, Howard does not award a B.S. in Political Science, the degree is a B.A.

Apparently, Human Resources either failed to check or ignored the obvious lies about the educational credentials of these two applicants; a clear violation of its own policy. As for the consequences of falsifying application materials, the “Certification of Truthfulness” on the Chicago State application is quite specific on that matter. I am sure you will want to get to the bottom of these two questionable hirings. I am in possession of all documents relevant to my claims in this e-mail. Should you wish to see those documents, I will be happy to forward them. Alternatively, you could also check your own records as virtually all the material substantiating my claims came from university records. Thank you for your service and for your attention to this matter.



Yours truly,


Robert, E. Bionaz, Ph.D.



As I said in my e-mail, I'm sure the administration will want to get to the bottom of this issue as expeditiously as it wants the senate controversy resolved.