Dear CCC Family,
In case you missed the recent news stories on the City Colleges, (notice no "special announce", no "CCC in the news", no "ccc press" on these stories) check out the links below. While the Chancellor and her team busy themselves attempting to hold emergency meetings with the leadership of faculty council, one thing remains certain- YOU CAN'T FIGHT THE TRUTH! You can't buy off enough people, make enough new policies, create enough reinvention teams, or hire enough spin doctors to change the fact that the Chancellor and Board of Trustees have wasted a ton of money, hired a bunch of unqualified people and created an atmosphere where the morale on the campuses is at an all time low, and the morale at the District office is probably even worse for those who silently disagree with the events of the past 12 months. The Chancellor wants to say that we are "One CCC", that we should be unified, thus the District-Wide Graduation. Consider this question: How many times has the Chancellor visited your campus? How many times has the Chancellor met with your students or met with you?
Now because the Chancellor fears a Vote of No Confidence she suddenly wants to be cozy with the Faculty Council leadership; she has been here a year and now she wants to know what we think and how we feel? Does she not realize that we are not only EDUCATORS, but we are also EDUCATED? The Chancellor wants to remove our Presidents, change our school colors and logos, and at some point she will probably want to rename a college or two. The Chancellor wants to factor out the communities that surround and support our colleges. The Chancellor wants to run all of the colleges from 226 West Jackson.
All of this in the name of Reinvention.
For some good questions regarding the recent Reinvention Application Email check out the post by Realist on the Harold Washington Blog, it raises some good questions. (I did not want to included it in this email without permission)
Certainly in time the Chancellor will be removed; there is no way that our Mayor-Elect would consider cutting the City Council in half to save the taxpayers money and allow the contiuation of such wasteful spending and questionable hiring practices at the City Colleges with no real benefit to our students. The Chancellor referred to these new hires/titles as "Investments". It would be refreshing if she thought enough of our students to invest in them.
Two questions remain. How much damage will be done before the the Chancellor is removed? How long will it take complete a Deinvention once she is gone?
The damage is done, but sadly, more of the negative impact of the "Wheel Reinvention" team will show in the months and years to come, with money wasted on wrong things and political friends while being moved away from where it really matters.
ReplyDeleteThe boss keeps acting like an evil empress, disrespecting everybody and everything that was at CCC before her, showing no proficiency or class in leading a large educational institution. This is a temporary experiment and it will go down the tubes. It's only a matter of time when she will start pulling her hair, screaming, and firing her own team members, as they are fearfully following her delusional Fortune 500 ideas without any criticism or courage. This is why she is putting extra security and bars around her, so she can continue treating decent people like dirt. I wonder whether anybody has sued her yet? Any complaints filed? This lady has extinguished the last traces of morale that were left at CCC. The only people who sleep well are the ones who have been fired.
Concerned Instructor of City Colleges of Chicago
ReplyDeleteAs adjunct faculty for one of the City College’s of Chicago, more specifically Olive Harvey for several years as to date, there are some issues that need to be said. I would like to add as well that I started my educational journey at Olive Harvey so it really disheartens me to have to write this.
I have a Master’s Degree in Communication Studies and Training and have completed 70 % of a Doctoral Program in Post Secondary and Adult Education, and have taught at the College level for 10 years. The classes that I have taught on the campus are remedial English courses and composition. Written communication would definitely fall under the scope of English.
However, in the spring of 2011 I was informed via a phone call a week before classes were contracted to me that I could no longer teach those courses and could only teach speech courses, unfortunately there are none available for me to teach. According to their job description for the English classes there is room for miss-interpretation. Posted below is a brief portion of the job description for English faculty (full and part time) from City College’s website.
Please review:
Qualifications:
You must have at least a Master's Degree in English, Rhetoric, Composition, Literature, Linguistics, MA Journalism, or MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry or other appropriate sub-discipline, and relevant teaching experience.
It would appear that a Master's in Communications and Training would fall under the appropriate sub-discipline and the relevant teaching experience is that of at least 10 years.
It would also be worthwhile to mention there have been several semesters where I worked over half way through before getting paid for services rendered. It appears too that the seniority list for adjunct faculty is a joke as well, as I am number 3 on the list at the campus. Because of the re-invention, for the first time in four years I am unemployed and cannot get unemployment. According to Section 612 there is reasonable assurance that I will be returning in the next academic term or year. City Colleges have not offered me any classes for the summer or fall semesters as in previous years.
Respectfully, my colleagues and I are the frontline solders’ and are exposed to numerous behavior issues exhibited by students who have a lot of diversity and baggage they bring to the classroom. I was stalked by a student an entire semester and after the semester ended and administration did nothing about the situation, putting my life in danger. We obviously have a great love for our profession. And with being said, it would be appropriate that the powers that be come down from the Ivory Tower and meet with these stakeholders and members who do the real work of educating our students.
Cheryl Hyman and her comrades have not a clue what the front line solders go through while they sit in the Ivory Tower and dictate orders. Transformational leaders walk with the members and become a part of the changes. There is no way that City Colleges can be operated like a corporation. What worked for ComED is not going to work for the students, stakeholders, and members (namely the instructors). Morale is low among some of my colleagues because of this re-invention (reinvention is not even a word). It makes me wonder as well how Ms. Hyman would feel if she worked and did not get paid in a timely manner. So in many respects it is business as usual as the Chancellor surrounds herself with individuals that share the same mentality as she does.
Professor,
Claudia Williams (Olive Harvey Campus)