COLLEGE OF DUPAGE TRUSTEE NAMED, BREAKING DEADLOCK
College of DuPage’s newest trustee says he was encouraged by “reform-minded individuals” to seek the position and break a 3-3 deadlock on the board that ground business to a halt at the state’s largest community college.
David S. Olsen, a Downers Grove village council member since 2013, was named Saturday to replace former board Chairwoman Kathy Hamilton, who resigned in December.
Olsen was appointed by Lazaro Lopez, chairman of the Illinois Community College Board, just two days after the deadline passed for the bitterly divided COD board to fill the vacancy on its own.
“With a full board now in place, I encourage the board of trustees to meet as soon as possible to prevent any further delays in addressing the work of the board,” Lopez wrote in a letter to board Vice Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi.
The appointment is being viewed as a loss for trustees Dianne McGuire, Erin Birt and JosephWozniak, who wanted Lopez to pick someone without ties to Mazzochi and two other trustees who were allied with Hamilton.
As the seventh member of the board, Olsen is expected to cast the tiebreaking vote on many issues facing the Glen Ellyn-based school, including whether to continue the search for a new college president to replace the fired Robert Breuder, whether to replace some of the school’s law firms, whether to comply with a request from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office for executive session minutes related to an extension of Breuder’s contract and even who should serve as chairman of the board.
“It was an honor that Dr. Lopez believes that I have the experience and temperament to do the people’s work,” said Olsen, who will serve until the next election in April 2017.
The 27-year-old Downers Grove resident wasn’t among the more than two dozen candidates who applied for the vacancy through the college.
Instead, Olsen said he was approached several weeks ago by “reform-minded individuals in the community” to consider the position.
“They asked if they could forward my name,” he said. “After thinking about it, I agreed that they could share my name with Dr. Lopez.”
Olsen has the backing of several state legislators who have sided with Hamilton and her supporters on the board.
State Rep. Peter Breen said he was pleased Lopez “acted quickly and decisively to fill the vacancy” on the COD board.
“He could not have chosen a better person than David Olsen,” said Breen, a Lombard Republican.
However, McGuire called Olsen’s appointment disappointing.
“There was an opportunity to bring someone to the table with objectivity, neutrality, and perhaps even some educational experience to help the college restore its full accreditation and address the ongoing disagreements between the veteran and the new trustees,” McGuire said. “But that is not what has occurred.”
—Robert Sanchez