Dupage Policy Journal

Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) sees former College of DuPage (COD) president Robert Breuder's tenure as an unmitigated disaster.

“The counterclaims laid out against disgraced former COD Pres. Breuder are a devastating indictment of his tenure,” Breen wrote on Facebook. “Thanks to Deanne Mazzochi and the entire College of DuPage for doing the hard work of fixing the mess left in his terrible wake.”

COD’s board of trustees recently filed a counterclaim against Breuder in federal court for at least $25 million in response to the wrongful termination lawsuit he filed in 2015, one day after he was fired. In addition to the $25 million in compensatory damages, school officials are also seeking punitive damages and attorney fees.

Breuder named board members Mazzochi, Frank Napolitano, Charles Bernstein and former Trustee Kathy Hamilton as defendants in his lawsuit. The board voted to terminate Breuder in October 2015, just five months before he was scheduled to officially step down and collect a $763,000 severance package.

In his lawsuit, Breuder claims the board ran a “malicious” scheme that infringed on his contractual and constitutional rights, firing him for personal and political reasons.

The board responded to Breuder’s claims in a 78-page response after filing the counterclaim, saying Breuder "ran the college like his own private enterprise, rather than as a taxpayer-funded public institution."

Breen seems convinced that the school and the board are doing the right thing.

“Lawsuits are not for the faint of heart, but Deanne and these board members are truly defending the people's interests in court,” he wrote in the post.