Dive Brief:
- College of DuPage trustees approved, again, a controversial $763,000 severance package for the Illinois community college’s retiring president.
- The 6-1 vote, called six days after the trustees’ initial approval of a deal for the president, Robert Breuder, was met with groans and boos from the standing-room-only audience of about 400, the Chicago Tribune reported.
- A few hours before the trustees meeting, a state legislator threatened to cut $1.25 million — double the severance payout — from the college’s state funding if it voted to approve the buyout.
Dive Insight:
The board of trustees has a history of discussing and voting for contract changes and raises for Breuder without complying with the Illinois open meetings law, and the outrage expressed at Wednesday’s meeting may indicate why it wanted to avoid public scrutiny. The three-hour meeting included 40 speakers from the audience, most of who criticized the move or the president, or called on him to step down immediately. Breuder plans to retire in May 2016, and trustees defended their decision by pointing out that he would have been paid $2 million if he stayed through 2019, when his contract was to expire.