Slow down hunt for COD president

Citizens should be concerned about who the next president will be - the next president of the College of DuPage, that is. The COD board of trustees is about to choose the next COD president based on a time that is in sync with the interim president's need to return to his vacation home, but out of sync with the normal recruitment cycle.

The last two COD presidents have been removed before their contracts were up (at full pay), so it is of utmost importance that COD return to a period of stability.  With the board of trustees at the center of various campus controversies in the last several years (including removal of President Sunil Chand, resignations of two trustees, and the resignation of the director of facilities), it simply makes no sense that the search committee consists of just three trustees (with non-binding advice from a representative advisory group), nor that the search is being done in such haste.

Under a more typical scenario, the search team would include voting representatives of constituency groups such as faculty, administration, etc., and the process would take nine to 12 months rather than six. Recruitment (currently underway) is usually done in the fall, but selection of the semi-finalists would more typically occur in the late winter, with a finalist being chosen in the spring. The new president would arrive on campus in the summer. The target at COD is Jan. 1.

By rushing the process, COD will attract significantly less applicants, partly because conscientious candidates may not be willing to leave the institutions they currently serve in the middle of an academic year with only a month's notice.

COD is too important to our community to settle for less than the very best. Let's slow down and do this right.

Debra Fulks

Glen Ellyn