College of DuPage

College of DuPage was established after the Illinois General Assembly adopted the Public Community College Act of 1965 and the approval of DuPage high school district voters in a referendum. [ 3 ] The college opened on September 25, 1967, under the leadership of the college's president, Rodney K. Berg, and Board of Trustees Chairman George L. Seaton. At the time, classes were held in office trailers and leased suburban sites throughout the newly established Community College District 502. Due to the college's students, faculty and staff having to drive from building to building for classes, the chaparral was adopted as the school's mascot. [ 3 ] That year, The Courier , the school's student newspaper, published its first issue. In 1968, the Glen Ellyn campus location was acquired. [ 3 ] A year later, three interim buildings were constructed west of Lambert Road in Glen Ellyn. The Berg Instructional Center, the college's first permanent building, opened in 1973. [ 7 ] WDCB , a public radio station owned by the college, was founded in 1977. [ 8 ] Harold D. McAninch was appointed as the college's second president in 1979. [ 9 ] In 1982, the college began publishing the Prairie Light Review , a literary magazine. The Student Resource Center (SRC) and Physical Education and Recreation Center opened in 1983. [ 10 ] The McAninch Arts Center was built in 1986. [ 11 ] In 1990, the Seaton Computing Center was built and housed computer-specific classrooms for the Computer Information Systems, Computer and Internet working Technologies, and Office Technology Information programs. [ 3 ] [ 12 ] A year later, the college opened new campus locations in Naperville and Westmont, Illinois . [ 3 ] Michael T. Murphy became the college's third president in 1994. [ 13 ] [ Note 1 ] In 2002, voters approved a $183-million bond referendum that provided funds for renovating and rebuilding the Glen Ellyn campus and off-campus locations.

[ 3 ] [ 14 ] Funds from the referendum were used to build the Homeland Security Education Center, the Student Services Center, and the Culinary & Hospitality Center. [ 3 ] In 2003, Sunil Chand replaced Murphy as the college's president. That year the College expanded with the opening of the Bloomingdale Center for Independent Learning. [ 15 ] The Carol Stream Community Education Center opened in 2004 and the West Chicago Community Education Center in 2005. [ 16 ] In fall 2005, College of DuPage converted from a quarter system to a semester system. [ 17 ] In 2006, College of DuPage and the Indian Prairie District 204 created the Frontier Campus, a magnet school for District 204 seniors and an additional college regional center. [ 18 ] The college's Early Childhood Center and new campus roadways and parking lots were completed in 2007. [ 3 ] The following year, the college received a maximum seven-year re-accreditation through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. In May 2008, the board of trustees abruptly removed the college president, Sunil Chand. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] Faculty members and students protested a November 2008 board meeting to implement conservative activist David Horowitz 's " Academic Bill of Rights ", which takes control over curriculum away from teachers and gives it to the school board. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] The faculty association sent a letter to the board noting that the changes were never discussed and no complaints over curriculum have been filed by students. [ 21 ] In January 2009, Robert L. Breuder became the college's president. [ 3 ] The Health and Science Center and Technical Education Center opened that summer on the Glen Ellyn campus.

The Technical Education Center is 178,000 square feet (16,500 m2) and houses the Automotive Technology, HVAC/ELMEC, Architecture, Horticulture, and Interior Design programs, and in a new steel, glass and precast concrete panel building on the west side of campus. The building was awarded LEED Silver certification and was designed to support horticulture, construction trades, architecture, interior design, construction management, and automotive technology. [ 23 ] In May 2016, Dr Ann Rondeau was elected to become the sixth president of the College of DuPage. [ 24 ] The 475,000-square-foot (44,100 m 2 ) BIC Renovation (phase one completed in 2011; phase two completed in 2012) and the new 65,000-square-foot (6,000 m 2 ) Student Services Center (SSC) (completed in 2011) included the reorganization of faculty and administrative departments, expanded student commons, updated classrooms and labs. The addition of the new Student Services Center which now connects the SRC and BIC with a large naturally lit commons, a new coffee shop and 'one-stop-shop' student services offices and operations. The renovation and Student Services Center replaced the deteriorating BIC exterior with a new, modern panel and glass exterior and bright interior spaces. The transfer of the classes to the BIC enabled the construction of the next phase of the Homeland Security Education Center expansion on the west side of campus. The project was designed by the Architecture firm Loebl Schlossman Hackl, with Brandon Lipman AIA as principal designer. The Culinary and Hospitality Center (CHC) was completed in 2011. It houses culinary kitchens and bakeries, a six-room boutique hotel run by students of the hospitality program, two gourmet restaurants open to the public, a culinary amphitheater and the college's Multimedia Services department. Waterleaf, one of the college's two restaurants, seats 150 people.

The project was also designed by the Architecture firm Loebl Schlossman Hackl, with Brandon Lipman AIA as principal designer. Phase one of the Homeland Security Education Center was completed in 2011. The center houses the college's Criminal Justice and Fire Science Technology programs, as well as the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy and the COD police department. [ 25 ] Controversies College of DuPage had a special fund for administrators called an "imprest fund." Any purchase made from the fund that is under the $15,000 is not subject to disclosure to the public or review by the board of trustees. [ 26 ] The board reportedly failed to review the itemized receipts for $26 million of expenditures that college administrators have spent over 16 months. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] In October 2014, The Washington Times awarded COD its weekly "Golden Hammer Award", given for waste, fraud, and abuse, in response to its management of this fund. [ 29 ] In 2014, COD President Robert Breuder sent an email to the college's trustees asking them to come up with a justification that would allow the State of Illinois to disburse a $20 million grant that the legislature previously had approved. In the email, Breuder proposed associating the released funds with a planned $50 million teaching and learning center. [ 30 ] The appropriation incident and Breuder's email led to an editorial in the Chicago Tribune that called the episode, "a seedy little money grab by officials at the College of DuPage". [ 31 ] On January 22, 2015, the board of trustees voted to give COD president Robert Breuder $763,000 as a retirement package.