2 FIRED ADMINISTRATORS EXPECTED TO FILE SUITS VS. COLLEGE OF DUPAGE
Two recently fired College of DuPage administrators have abandoned plans to appeal their terminations, at least partly because they say the school’s board of trustees is too biased to fairly consider their case.
Thomas J. Glaser and Lynn Sapyta are instead expected to file federal lawsuits against the state’s largest community college.
ACOD spokesman declined to comment on Friday, saying the school doesn’t discuss personnel matters.
Glaser and Sapytawere fired last month by COD’s acting interim President Joseph Collins for what Collins said was a failure to protect the financial integrity of the Glen Ellyn-based school. Glaser served as senior vice president of administration and treasurer, and Sapytawas assistant vice president of financial affairs and controller.
Glaser and Sapyta initially sought to appeal their firings at a hearing that would be overseen by an independent hearing officer— although the final decision would rest with the seven members of the elected board of trustees.
Four of those members— Chairwoman Kathy Hamilton and trustees Deanne Mazzochi, Frank Napolitano and Charles Bernstein— have made it clear they supported the firings. The first hearing officer withdrew before the process began. COD trustees then appointed retired federal Judge David Coar to serve in that role.
But in a letter dated Thursday, the attorneys for the administrators— Shelly B. Kulwin for Glaser and Peter S. Lubin for Sapyta— said Judge Coar’s appointment is “insufficient” to ensure a fair appeal process for their clients.
That’s because Coar would only conduct the hearing, according to COD’s policy, and the board still would serve as judge in both cases.
The attorneys for both administrators said having trustees rule on their clients’ appeals would be unfair.
“A majority of the board has prejudged the matter and is incapable of rendering a decision that comports with due process,” Kulwin and Lubin wrote in their letter. “Consequently, if the board is allowed to ‘decide’ Mr. Glaser’s and Ms. Sapyta’s fates, they will simply ignore or misstate the evidence to arrive at a predetermined conclusion and completely nullify the role of an impartial hearing officer.”