In recent weeks, the newly-elected College of DuPage Board of Trustees has moved to place several top College officials on paid administrative leave, including embattled College President Robert Breuder. "The College of DuPage has been through tough times -- times marked by extraordinary and continuous denial," said Board Chairman Kathy Hamilton at the Board’s April 30th meeting.
"Those troubles are not yet over, but the cause of those troubles are." President Breuder recently received a $763,000 buy-out of his contract, approved by the previous Board of Trustees, that resulted in enormous backlash and controversy, and was an animating issue in the recent election of three “Clean Slate” reformers to the Board.
“The Breuder era was marked by controversy and corruption,” added Hamilton. “With this critical move to place Mr. Breuder on leave, we are marking the end of this sad era in the history of this great school.”
The Board also moved recently to place two top financial officials at the College on leave, after it was discovered that $2.2 million of public money had been lost in a risky investment fund under their watch. Thomas J. Glaser, the college's senior vice president of administration and treasurer and a former aide to controversial past Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, and Lynn Sapyta, assistant vice president of financial affairs and controller, are on paid leave pending the results of ongoing investigations into the College's spending practices, policies and procedures, according to officials at the school.
Hamilton, who endorsed the “Clean Slate” of candidates that were victorious in the April 7th election, said these moves represent important first steps in correcting the abuses of the Breuder era that drew so much negative attention to the College of DuPage. “There must be accountability,” sad Hamilton.
“The voters demanded it in the last election, and we have an obligation — we have a duty — to make sure that we get to the bottom of what was going on at the College, and to make sure that we hold the right people accountable for what has happened.”
All three moves to place these officials on paid administrative leave passed by a vote of 4-3.
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