Moraine Valley Community College Chairman Joseph Murphy (back left) and Vice Chair John Coleman (back, right).

Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) trustee Eileen O’Sullivan on May 18 expressed significant concern over what she called a lack of transparency in the board’s deliberations and decisions.

O’Sullivan’s transparency critique was seconded by a former trustee of MVCC, which is located in south suburban Palos Hills.

But board chairman Joseph P. Murphy pointedly rejected those concerns, saying O’Sullivan’s criticisms were vague and that she was unfairly smearing the reputation of the college.

O’Sullivan has questioned what she called non-responses to requests for information from College President Sylvia M. Jenkins regarding a top administrator’s employment contract, and enrollment and financial details of the school’s two off-site campuses.

At the May 18 board meeting, Jenkins replied that she did not forward the information to O’Sullivan because she believed replying to the entire board of trustees in an email would violate the state Open Meetings Act.

Jenkins asked that any trustee seeking additional information first contact chairman Murphy, who would forward the request to her.

O’Sullivan said was not alone in her concerns. New trustee Michael Murphy, no relation to Joseph Murphy, said he found the document Jenkins did send to all trustees on the school’s off-site campuses “wasn’t the most comprehensive. It wasn’t a proper report.”

A former college trustee, Tom Cunningham, strongly agreed with O’Sullivan’s assessment of the MVCC board’s lack of deliberation and internal communication, saying the board in his experience was “very non-transparent.”

“I’ve asked for countless documents (before) and they never gave me that,” he said.

Of the board processes during his tenure, Cunninghm said, “All of it was puppet-mastered.”

O’Sullivan noted that at the Board of Trustee retreat in February “you talked about adding another campus.” She said there was little information about the two off-site campuses MVCC already operates, and that she simply wanted more data regarding the need for yet another facility.

“What’s data,” Joseph Murphy asked O’Sullivan. “You said you wanted data on (the) Tinley Park (campus).”

“Contracts, agreements,” O’Sullivan replied.

“Define your data and we’ll do the best we can. I’ll work with the college to get the answers,” Murphy told O’Sullivan.

But an April 14 email O’Sullivan sent to Jenkins specifically asked for, among other things, “Further information on the off-site campus’ such as what the projected credit hours/seat count and headcount were originally, also the credit hour revenue for the (fall 2015) and summer (2015) for both off-site campuses as well as the costs each campus incurred during both the summer and fall of 2015.”

In a follow-up email, O’Sullivan told Jenkins, “It is vital for the board to have a clear and full understanding of the data regarding all our locations, such as how much money it takes annually to run each of the schools independently as well as how much  annual revenue each of the schools bring in independently.”

At the board meeting Jenkins said she asked O’Sullivan to call her on the phone. In reply O’Sullivan said, “Prior to this, in the last three years, when I did call, I felt like I didn’t get a straight answer.”

O’Sullivan said her latest concerns were aroused when she sought to discern whether a veteran administrator, Dr. Margaret Lehner, was still formally employed by the school.

“First I was told she wasn’t paid,” said O’Sullivan. “I was told before she didn’t have a contract.”

Documents O’Sullivan uncovered through her FOIA shows that, in fact, Lehner has been paid $43,600 annually through two “Special Services Assignment” contracts. Those documents show that since 2007 Lehner has been paid a total of $349,400.

“The question is, I don’t remember (Lehner’s special assignment) ever coming to the board each year,” O’Sullivan said.

Joseph Murphy bristled at what he characterized as “hearsay” by O’Sullivan about the alleged underutilization of the Tinley Park campus and a former administrator there who reportedly left because there was too little to do and that the campus was “a ghost town.”

“To hear that we lost a full time administrator because they were bored,” Murphy said. “I don’t think we should be throwing out hearsay, and (comments about) ghost towns.”

“To disparage the reputation of our college, I’d just caution you,” said Murphy.

“I appreciate the caution, Mr. Chairman,” O’Sullivan replied, adding, “You’re taking my request and putting it in a negative connotation.”

Trustee Michael Murphy attempted to settle things down, saying, “We’re all in agreement that when someone asks questions, it’s not in a suspicious way.”

“All I was looking to do was to be transparent,” O’Sullivan said.

In a phone call May 19, Murphy reiterated his contention that O’Sullivan’s criticisms were without basis.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about (regarding) transparency,” he said. “Whatever she asks for, she gets.”

Murphy said college officials first became aware of the possible need for off-campus facilities back in 2005. A Master Facility Plan, he said, “presented data showing we needed to have a stronger presence near the I-80 corridor.”

The Tinley Park off-site campus and the Blue Island off site-facility, he added, were funded by an $89 million bond referendum approved by district voters in 2006.

Murphy particularly bristled at what he said were unfair comparisons O’Sullivan had made between Moraine Valley and the scandal ridden College of DuPage.

“When you paint with a broad brush,” I take exception to that,” he said. “And alluding to a College of DuPage-like situation, I take great exception to that.”

Murphy called Moraine Valley College “the best of the best,” adding, “The ethical behavior of the college and its employees is beyond reproach.”

O’Sullivan said Murphy and some other board members are not open to the sort of questions she believes need asking.

“I think my questions stir defensiveness,” she said. “I don’t understand why discussions and questions are dismissed or fall on deaf ears.”

O’Sullivan said she agreed with Murphy’s positive assessment of Moraine, saying, but insisted that she has a responsibility to provide oversight of the administration.

“I think Moraine is excellent. I would hope that’s true. But I think part of our duty is to assume that isn’t true.”

Referencing to the problems at the College of DuPage, O’Sullivan said, “I want to make sure things like that aren’t happening here.”

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— Moraine Valley College trustee raises transparency concerns —