Naperville Sun May 29, 2008
By Paige Winfield pwinfield@scn1.com
College of DuPage trustees have abruptly terminated Sunil Chand's tenure as president, although his contract doesn't expire for another year. Harold D. McAninch, a Naperville resident and president of the college from 1979 to 1994, will take over as interim president, said Bill Troller, the school's public information director. Chand, 62, was named president emeritus and will be paid the full contract amount, Troller said.
Chand's departure came about as a "mutual agreement" he made with the college, board Chairman Mike McKinnon said in a written statement. David Carlin, another trustee on the eight-member board, also said the removal was a joint decision between Chand and the board.
"Over the last couple months we've had discussions on different things," Carlin said. "It kind of played out as we were discussing things."
The announcement came five days after a May 22 meeting during which the board conducted Chand's annual performance review.
Carlin and McKinnon reportedly had a rocky relationship with Chand in recent months as they negotiated a $90,000 contract with Res Publica Group - a Chicago-based public relations firm.
While Carlin declined to give specifics about any factors contributing to the decision, former board member Jan Herron said the announcement doesn't surprise her, based on the way the board leadership operated during her own tenure.
"I think (McKinnon) knew he wanted a different president," she said. "I think this has been on his mind for a long time. I think at this point he's lined up his ducks, and they've quacked."
Herron resigned from the board in January 2007, saying she was disgusted with the manipulation used by McKinnon and other trustees who tried to "micromanage" the college. She said that during her time on the board she saw Chand trying diligently to work with trustees, but was constantly kept "out of the loop" on all sorts of decisions.
"We'd go into meetings and there would be little discussion and no need to have any discourse and boom, the vote was done," she said.
Kathy Wessel was the only trustee to vote against Chand's departure at a meeting Tuesday, saying she thinks the decision is the "wrong thing" for the college. "I think Dr. Chand is a
fantastic leader and president and should still be president of COD," Wessel said.
Chand left his job as an executive vice president at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland to take over from previous COD president Michael Murphy in 2003. He also is the former dean of Triton College in River Grove.
Troller said McAninch will serve as a competent and skilled president until the board hires a new president - for which trustees have not set a deadline.
"(McAninch's) extremely familiar with COD," Troller said. "He's incredibly well-versed on community colleges and I think he's probably going to be integral on the board's discussion of future presidents down the road. I think the goal here is to keep the college moving forward."
