Curiouser and Curiouser

In a recent Chicago Stories blog, I wrote how it seemed odd that Cheryl L. Hyman, chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC,) sent out an e-mail to faculty and the PR newswire announcing that she is recommending the appointment of Donald J. Laackman as the next President of Harold Washington College on the Sunday night(February 20,2010) before the President’s Day holiday and two days before the Mayoral election. I did not understand why the story was basically “being buried.” Of course, there was nothing in the newspapers about the announcement because the municipal elections over-shadowed anything else. Now the story, as Alice in Wonderland said, has become, “curiouser and curiouser.” More on that later.

First, some background that came directly from a City Colleges press release.


“About City Colleges of Chicago
The City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), District 508, is the largest community college system in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation, with 5,800 faculty and staff serving 120,000 students at seven campuses and thirteen satellite sites city-wide. The City Colleges of Chicago is in the midst of a Reinvention, launched by Chancellor Cheryl Hyman shortly after her appointment by Mayor Richard M. Daley in March 2010. Reinvention is a collaborative effort to review and revise CCC programs and practices to ensure students leave CCC college-ready, career-ready and prepared to pursue their life’s goals.

CCC includes seven colleges: Richard J. Daley College, Kennedy-King College, Malcolm X College, Olive-Harvey College, Harry S Truman College, Harold Washington College and Wilbur Wright College. The system also oversees: the Washburne Trade School, the French Pastry School, two restaurants, five Child Development Centers, the Center for Distance Learning, the Workforce Institute, the public broadcast station WYCC-TV Channel 20 and radio station WKKC-FM 89.3 FM.”

Smart idea to try to reinvent themselves because the graduation rates range from a pathetic 3.4% at Harold Washington College to 13% at Malcolm X. Also, according to City Colleges, “right now over 80% of our programs have less than 45 students completing per year.”


How will they become a viable operation? The Reinvention web site tell us:

What Are the Goals of Reinvention?:
Chancellor Cheryl Hyman says the heart of our Reinvention effort is ensuring student success and the Reinvention plan has four student-centered goals:

• Increase the number of students earning college credentials of economic value
 • Increase the rate of transfer to Bachelor’s degree programs following CCC graduation


• Drastically improve outcomes for students needing remediation


• Increase number and share of ABE/GED/ESL students who advance to and succeed in college-level courses.

Now that you know the background, we return to the rest of the story.

On Wednesday, February 23rd, three days after announcing the recommendation of the appointment of Donald Laackman as President of Harold Washington College, the Board of Trustees of CCC voted to “redefine the role of college president at its seven colleges and called for current presidents and new candidates to apply for the revamped position.”


Board Chairman Martin Cabrera Jr. said, “We have made student success the focus of our reinvention efforts, and going forward, we must measure the performance of our leadership and staff against that goal. By re-defining the role of our college presidents, we are making it clear that our institution, including the Board and senior leadership, has clearly defined goals that increase accountability and ensure CCC is providing value to our students.”


The press release CCC sent out also said, “Today, the Board also approved the hiring of a professional firm to undertake a national search for candidates. The current presidents have been encouraged to re-apply for the redefined positions. The Board of Trustees anticipates naming its president selections as early as May.”

So basically all the various college presidents must resign and reapply for their own jobs. But since the Board is hiring a national search firm to find NEW presidents, what are the odds that the OLD presidents will be re-hired? And just three days ago they named a new president for one of the colleges. It does not make any sense!

I guess the Board wants us to be like the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland who said, “If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.”