VOTE COMING TUESDAY TO FIRE COD’S BREUDER
Embattled College of Du-Page President Robert Breuder could be fired as early as Tuesday night.
The college’s board of trustees has called a special meeting for 6 p.m. Tuesday to consider a resolution to terminate Breuder’s employment.
That resolution says the college has found evidence of “misconduct and mismanagement” that Breuder “participated in, oversaw or failed to prevent.”
It says Breuder “violated specific policies established by the college, violated board of trustee and legal directives, breached his duties and engaged in conduct damaging to the reputation of the college and the reputation of the office of the college president.”
“This is a somber time for the institution and for the community,” board Chairwoman Kathy Hamilton said Friday. “And this comes after due consideration.”
Breuder could not be reached for comment.
The board agreed last month to void Breuder’s contract and to treat him as an at-will employee. That means the often-divided sevenmember panel will require only four votes to fire him— not the five previously required in his contract.
Hamilton and her three board allies, Deanne Mazzochi, Charles Bernstein and Frank Napolitano, all are expected to support the firing.
The three other trustees, Dianne McGuire, Erin Birt and Joseph Wozniak, are likely to oppose the move.
Hamilton said the board never needed more than four votes to terminate Breuder because the five-vote clause in his contract “was not supported by statute.”
“Just because people agree on something doesn’t mean it’s law,” she said. “So we never needed five votes.”
Breuder was put on paid administrative leave at the end of April after a new majority was elected to the board amid public furor over a $763,000 severance agreement the old board approved for him.
The Glen Ellyn-based school, the largest community college in the state, has been subject to state and federal investigations as well as internal probes into questions about its finances and administrative practices.
Since Breuder was placed on leave, Hamilton said the board’s focus has been on “changing the culture at the college.”
Attorneys hired by the board did internal investigations of the school’s policies, personnel, practices and finances. The decision to begin termination proceedings in August was the result of those internal probes.
—Robert Sanchez