Friday, March 11, 2011

Stop the De Invention of the City Colleges of Chicago

The De Invention Vision:
To transform the City Colleges of Chicago into an institution that looks like, runs like and thinks like a BUSINESS. To supply viable employment opportunities for as many displaced workers from CPS, City Hall and the Civic Consulting Alliance as the CCC Board of Trustees will approve for hire.
The Goals of De Invention:
To Deceive - To use data to make a case for massive changes within the City Colleges of Chicago when in actuality the outcomes for CCC are not vastly different from most open enrollment community colleges across the country. 
To tell our students that their voice matters and that their voice will be heard
when in reality the students are used as pawns to advance an agenda that is not
in the interest of their success.
To Divide – Pitting colleague against colleague, promoting an atmosphere of mistrust and a work environment where fear and intimidation are the rule.
To Devalue – Our union rights in an effort to set the stage for what is now happening in Wisconsin to happen here in Illinois. To support a notion that colleagues with decades of experience now have nothing of value to offer the City Colleges and that the only thing that will "save" CCC is to hire new Presidents, Administrators and Vice Chancellors to advance the goals of the "Reinvention". To treat City College employees with disrespect after many have given decades of dedicated service only to be notified without warning that there service is no longer needed, that they should pack a box and then be escorted by security out of the building like a common criminal.
To Destroy – Our colleges by implementing a complete change in the organizational structure. Change that will result in CCC resembling a fortune 500 company rather than an institution of higher education. To remove the COMMUNITY from the community colleges, diluting the spirit and ethos that is unique to each college. To heavily invest in banding, logo changes and messaging that will have no impact on student retention or graduation rates.
Left unchallenged under the current leadership of Ms. Cheryl Hyman, a product of the City Colleges of Chicago, the value of higher education, the individuals who provide it and the students we serve are all at great risk. It is the 100th Anniversary of CCC. We all should be celebrating our commitment and dedication to our students and not treated as if we need non-educators at District office to run our campuses.
It's time to stand in solidarity and support for all students faculty and staff.

2 comments:

  1. The environment at CCC is the worst I have ever seen in my 15 years of employment. This young lady has created a business case study on how you should not conduct "change" in an institution.

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  2. I agree... City Colleges has changed dramatically in just one year. Cheryl Hyman needs to go back to corporate and allow educators to lead our institution. Only in the city of Chicago will allow someone like her to be in a Chancellor position. The students and community will suffer.

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