Open Letter to the Community from President Caputo

To the College of DuPage Community,

As you know, College leadership and the College of DuPage Full-Time Faculty Association (CODFA) have been negotiating since March towards a new contract. Despite the parties meeting regularly through the spring and summer terms, a new contract agreement was not reached prior to the expiration of CODFA’s contract on August 14, 2019. College officials remain optimistic that a new contract can be agreed upon soon.

Both parties signed a formal mediation agreement when a consensus could not be reached on a number of key issues including compensation, evaluation and promotion. To date, College leadership and CODFA have had one session with a federal mediator. Encouraged by the tenor of those discussions, College leaders feel that a fair and equitable contract is attainable.

CODFA leadership advised the Administration that their members will vote this week on a strike authorization that would permit the possibility of a strike, but not immediately initiate one. Ultimately, association members will vote their conscience. However, Administration does not want to see a strike and believes it can be avoided. A strike would serve no one’s interest. College officials are as focused as ever on bargaining in good faith and with urgency to reach a new contract. Our second mediation session is scheduled for tomorrow, September 17.

Like CODFA, we believe in the transformative nature of education and agree that teaching matters. The success of our students is paramount to our mission as an institution of higher learning.

College of DuPage students deserve access to highly-qualified faculty and we recognize the importance of offering competitive salaries to attract the best candidates. We also have an obligation to ensure that all employees of the College, including faculty, bring their very best to the institution. To be in line with our peers and the majority of institutions nationally, we seek to implement additional evaluation guidelines in a new CODFA contract.

In the spirit of fairness and a desire to put the best instructors in College of DuPage classrooms, we also seek a promotional structure that fully considers educational level and experience. To do otherwise would be a disservice to our students and our faculty, both current and future.

We continue to invest in resources and learning facilities, including state-of-the-art labs and classrooms with enhanced technology, to provide our students and faculty with the space they need to be successful. We do this while being mindful of our fiduciary responsibilities to our taxpayer base and to our students who, unfortunately, given the decline in state funding, bear the brunt of financial pressures. It is a delicate balance and we take seriously our responsibility for maintaining it.

Our students and the communities we serve deserve the best from the parties on both sides of this negotiation. It remains our goal to agree to a contract that best serves the college community as a whole. With the continued cooperation of CODFA, we will strive to attain such an agreement.

We are eager to get back to the bargaining table and will work diligently to achieve a fair new contract with CODFA as soon as possible.

College officials will continue to provide updates on the negotiations as new information becomes available.

Thank you for all that you do for College of DuPage.

Very respectfully,

Dr. Brian W. Caputo

President

College of DuPage