WHO IS THE CIVIC CONSULTING ALLIANCE?

Colleagues,
 
Please consider the following as we seek to answer the question: Who is the Civic Consulting Alliance?
 
(Excerpt from City Colleges of Chicago Reinvention: The Truth Blog Site)
 
The upper echelons of the bureaucracy that runs the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) are in the midst of a drastic transformation of the historical mission of the CCC. This mission, like that of most community colleges across the U.S., has been to provide a path for millions of working class, poor or immigrant students to access a university education which offers personal intellectual enrichment that has long been recognized as one of the important foundations of democracy as well as professional advancement. Behind the facade of Reinvention the CCC hierarchy is moving away from these goals and instead narrowing the mission of the CCC to that of job training centers. In service to the Obama administration’s initiative to track students into associate degrees and certificates as their terminal degrees, they have invented the Reinvention. Corporate Chicago is steering this process under the guise of pro bono consultants and advisory councils. The result is the full adoption of the business model for the administrative structure of the CCC.  This has also allowed for the merging of political and business cronyism bloating the CCC headquarters with business positions, heaping on more than $5 million in additional annual salaries in the first nine months alone. 


This has all occurred since Cheryl Hyman, a businesswoman lacking prior educational leadership experience, was anointed chancellor. The impact on students, faculty and staff have begun with the loss of jobs, the reduction or elimination of services and the smothering of academic freedom.  The specifics of the Reinvention indicate that these attacks are just the beginning. Students and faculty have begun to air frustration, resentment, and opposition to the abuses of the Reinvention. An organized opposition to the masters of Reinvention is required in order to secure quality education, decent working conditions, and bright futures for all of those who work and study at the CCC.

Alexi Giannoulias being considered for two top education posts?

If Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has spoken with Giannoulias about chairmanship of City Colleges - let's keep our hopes up  that he is considering changing the Chancellor also.  

Chicago Sun-Times - Michael sneed sneed@suntimes.com Mar 30, 2011 2:09AM

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/4563946-452/alexi-giannoulias-being-considered-for-two-top-education-posts.html

Word is Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has spoken with Giannoulias about chairmanship of the Chicago City Colleges board and Gov. Quinn has chatted with Giannoulias about heading the Illinois Community College board. (Giannoulias, who was a major supporter of community colleges, is also a close friend and hoop shooting buddy of U.S. Education czar Arne Duncan.) Stay tuned.

CCC In The News

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?

 

What Do We Want?

The current Chancellor is only concerned with implementing her business model and providing six figure salaries for her friends. It is a sad day for the City Colleges of Chicago.

We want to see the Chancellor removed and replaced with someone who understands higher education and the needs of our students, we now turn our focus to keeping our Presidents. The only reason Ms. Hyman wants them to reapply for their jobs is because she wants to replace them with her politically connected friends-notice what happened at Harold Washington. The Presidents (who are qualified and who love their students and have demonstrated years of commitment to their colleges and communities) should be given an opportunity to develop student success guidelines with the input from faculty/students/community and execute them.

History shows that institutional change on college campuses is always driven by students and faculty standing together. As faculty we will support students efforts, we have demonstrated our commitment with last nights vote of No Confidence.

Please click on the 2 comments below for a list of newly hired/promoted district personnel.  Also included is the prior city or politically connected institution or department from which each employee came (where available).

Informal “No Confidence” Votes Regarding Chancellor Cheryl Hyman - CBS Channel 2 News 6:00 PM

Vote of No Confidence at Malcolm X College tonight on CBS Channel 2 at 6:00 p.m.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/23/teachers-question-spending-at-city-colleges/

If we don't have confidence in Cheryl Hyman - why are we allowing her to make our President's reapply for their jobs?  Save our Presidents!  Save our Presidents!

Channel 2 CBS - 10 PM News Report on Cheryl Hyman Spending Spree

CBS did an outstanding job featuring Cheryl Hyman and the outrageous hiring of district employees and consultants.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/23/controversy-brewing-at-city-colleges/

We need to Reinvent the Chancellor - Save our Presidents - Cut the Wasteful Spending - Put our Students First by Educating them with Educators (not business people).

Good job Jay Levine!!

City Colleges shake-up draws fire; was Emanuel in the loop?

This is an old, but interesting, article...Marc Schulman is a highly respected business man.  Pay special attention to his comment - the timing of the action "smells". The decision to fire to Presidents took place in a "special board meeting" the day after the Mayoral Election.  Hmmmmm... - why would someone make such a bold move before her new boss was appointed into his position?  How well do Mr. Daley and Mr. Emanuel know Civic Consulting Alliance employees and the new President at Harold Washington - Don Laackman?

[This article was syndicated via RSS from Greg Hinz. The views represented do not necessarily represent those of the Chicago Daily Observer.]

http://www.evri.com/media/article;jsessionid=1nrbrcmdsuln8?title=City+Colleges+shake-up+draws+fire%3B+was+Emanuel+in+the+loop?&page=http://www.cdobs.com/archive/syndicated/city-colleges-shake-up-draws-fire-was-emanuel-in-the-loop/&referring_uri=/person/gerald-roper-0xa1c2b%3Bjsessionid%3D1nrbrcmdsuln8&referring_title=Evri

   In a step that has some political insiders scratching their heads, City Colleges of Chicago is moving to potentially replace presidents at six of its seven colleges by May — just when Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel will be taking office.

    The City Colleges Board voted Wednesday — the day after the mayoral election — to spend up to $336,000 on a consulting firm that will conduct a nationwide search for potential college presidents.

   Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman says the goal is to finish the hiring process "by the end of May" — just two weeks after Mr. Emanuel's scheduled May 16 inauguration. "I don't think our students can afford to wait," she says.

   But a businessman who heads the advisory board for one of the seven city colleges says the timing of the action "smells."

   "This is a massive change. Why would you do this the day after the election?" says Marc Schulman, who operates Eli's Cheesecake Co. and chairs the advisory board at Wilbur Wright College on the Northwest Side.

   Neither Mr. Emanuel nor any of the other mayoral candidates was formally briefed in advance of the pending changes, Ms. Hyman says. "It was discussed with my chairman and the board."

  Mr. Emanuel's spokesman isn't commenting — even though, during the campaign, Mr.  Emanuel suggested that he had some ideas as to how to improve the system.

   News that something was afoot was first signaled in a press conference Mayor Richard M. Daley held last fall, when he announced a reinvention effort designed to boost a system in which only 5% of students end up with a bachelor's degree. 

   City Colleges subsequently hired a new president at one of its colleges, who is not affected by Wednesday's vote. 

   Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Gerald Roper, who's been involved in the reinvention effort, says it has been "in process for a while" and that the shift in presidents is only a part of that effort.

   But news of Wednesday's vote apparently was unexpected to many.

   According to Ms. Hyman, the presidential slots are open because the system has changed its job description. "We have encouraged the current presidents to reapply," she says.

   Under the new job description, presidents will be judged based on how well they boost student transfers to four-year institutions, improve remediation and high school-equivalency programs and increase "the number of students earning college credentials of economic value."

   Ms. Hyman insists City Colleges is not downplaying vocational education — programs designed to put students directly into jobs rather than prepare them for further education.

   Mr. Schulman says those explanations don't satisfy him. "This is a massive change" that ought not be rushed when a new mayor is coming into office, he said.

    Neither Mr. Schulman nor Eli's Cheesecake Co. donated to Mr. Emanuel's campaign, according to the State Board of Elections.