By Brian Hudson, bhudson@mysuburbanlife.com
Glen Ellyn News Mon Jan 21, 2008, 11:41 AM CST
College of DuPage Trustee Mary Mack has stepped down, charging failed leadership, self-serving interest and what she called “Gestapo-like tactics of intimidation and sexual harassment.”
Her resignation took effect Jan. 14.
Mack said in her resignation letter that the personal interests of the board members conflicted with her ability to execute her job.
“Ultimately it appears the politics of Chairman Michael McKinnon and the top administrative officials have proven stronger than the mandates of the statutes and the mission and objective of the college,” she said in the letter.
“What I encountered almost from the beginning of my term as trustee is aberrant, pervasive and contrary to good order, discipline and governance,” she said.
In a Jan. 15 response to Mack’s resignation, McKinnon said the board accepted her resignation, but he did not directly respond to or affirm her claims.
“Due to the serious nature of your allegations, the board, in fact, is seeking the advice of legal counsel in this matter,” he said in his letter.
What was “most disappointing,” McKinnon wrote, was that over the past two years, board members had in private discussed the issues that Mack aired publicly in her letter.
Mack is the second COD trustee to step down recently. Last year, Jane Herron resigned mid-term, citing many of the same issues.
“The board is going in directions I believe to be in conflict with the values of the college, the community, and my own ethics and values as a board member,” Herron said in her resignation letter.
