Throw Us a Bone, Waterleaf

In her speech last night at the College of DuPage Board of Trustees meeting, Trustee Dianne McGuire defended the educational purpose of The Waterleaf, a fine-dining restaurant built on the Glen Ellyn campus. Trustee McGuire also asserted, without providing any actual figures, that the Waterleaf’s revenues are on the rise. Considering that end-of-year statements in 2012 (the last time the College administration released these numbers) showed the Waterleaf losing over half a million dollars, it had nowhere to go but up.

“The Waterleaf has been a bone of contention between President Breuder and the faculty since the beginning,” says Glenn Hansen, President of the College of DuPage Faculty Association. The high-end restaurant competes with other local restaurants for the attention of diners able to spend lavishly on food and drink, but it doesn’t have to make a profit. It’s supported by the College of DuPage’s education budget.

What most people don’t realize is that this restaurant serves only minimal educational purpose. Students do not regularly prepare food, serve, or even wash dishes at the Waterleaf. The Waterleaf has its own professional chef and staff - students work there during only a few special meals each semester. The College maintains a completely separate restaurant, The Wheat Cafe, where students practice their culinary arts.

Although today’s Daily Herald headline [http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20141121/news/141129659] lumped faculty among the beneficiaries of expensive meals at the Waterleaf, faculty dine there only rarely - and usually at their own expense. Hansen says that because of the waste of College resources and lack of focus on educating our culinary students, many faculty “refuse to set foot in the door.” A number of Liberal Arts Division faculty felt torn last spring when a retirement dinner honoring several long-time, respected colleagues was scheduled at the venue. Those who did attend paid their own way.

Frequent colorful quarter-page ads for The Waterleaf in the Dining section of the Chicago Tribune make no reference to the restaurant’s connection to the College of DuPage.