Dr. Chris Picard supervised the meeting and represented the school, as did Howard Owens, director of Human Resources. Chuck Boone, Faculty Senate President, represented the full-time faculty. Al Bettilyon, Criminal Justice instructor, spoke for part-time faculty unaffiliated with CODAA, and Oleh Sydor ( yours truly, CODAA Webmaster ), offered CODAA's point of view.

There were many disagreements between parties, which was to be expected, but we all agreed that the study did not take into account the unique character of College of DuPage, and the diversity of adjunct teaching assignments here. Further, most found the study's conclusions that "relatively few" adjuncts, ( at least in regard to COD and other Chicagoland area schools ), are "freeway flyers" - instructors who teach and commute between a multitude of institutions to patch together a living wage. We all agreed that further study is needed.

We want to thank Dr. Picard and the school for including us in this debate. As with any other issue that faces the school, the input of such an important constituent group as adjuncts is vital.

For those interested, here is the official statement submitted to the IBHE by Oleh Sydor, speaking for CODAA ....

I first found out about the IBHE survey results from an e-mail sent by a colleague. His comments were "...the IBHE just sold us down the river...". After reading the survey, I can see his point. We need to mobilize and challenge this survey's results.

The methodology of the survey needs to be questioned - a narrow number of participants given several vague, and general questions that lead to wildly Pollyana-ish conclusions that seem to have, at least from my own experience, no grounding in reality.

The IBHE survey fabricates a fantasy land where adjuncts happily toil for a fraction of the wages they should be getting, and are absolutely elated not to have health coverage, benefits or job security.

It is a fairy tale world that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the harsh realities of adjunct teaching as experienced by me or any colleagues that I know. I can find only one purpose for this seriously flawed study - as justification by bureaucrats at various schools to be used as "evidence" that the Harper decision should be upheld.

Help challenge this faulty world-view:

• Try to attend the February 5th meeting. If you can't, please spread the word. If no one shows up, the IBHE can report to the legislators that there is little interest, and the legislators can then conclude that the IBHE survey is correct.
• If you can't attend, send written testimony to Donna Manering.
• Find your legislator, and express to them how important passage of HB 1720 is to the future of higher education in Illinois. If your legislator is Dan Cronin or Kirk Dillard, ( and even if they're not ), express your gratitude for their efforts in sponsoring this legislation. We all need to maintain contact with our representatives, to keep momentum building for passage of HB 1720. Senator Cronin is especially important for us as he has recognized the importance of the treatment of adjuncts as a critical issue for higher education. He's supporting us, and we need to reciprocate.

The IBHE meeting will be held on February 5 at DePaul University at the Lincoln Park campus. It will be held in the Student Center, Room 120 A. The street address is 2250 N. Sheffield ( near Fullerton ).

Here's the Web address for the IBHE study ( you'll need the Adobe Acrobat plug-in; if you don't have it, you can download it from Adobe ) :

http://www.ibhe.org/Board/Agendas/2002/February/Item%204-report.pdf
Warning - don't read if you have high blood pressure or a heart condition !

Find your legislator: http://www.elections.state.il.us/dls/pages/selectofficialsearch.asp

Thanks to all of you for your help.

Sincerely, Oleh Sydor
CODAA Webmaster