Robert Breuder, outgoing College of DuPage president

Robert Breuder, Ph.D., is officially out as College of DuPage president.

The college’s board voted 4-1 last week for the immediate dismissal of Breuder, who has been on medical and administrative leave since April.

But the Breuder saga showed no signs of ending. The now-former president responded with a federal lawsuit for wrongful termination.

The suit seeks unspecified damages for violating his constitutional rights and damaging his reputation. Breuder, who had served as president since 2009, also lost a $763,000 severance package he was to receive upon a scheduled March 2016 retirement.

But board chairman Katharine Hamilton said there were ample reasons for the dismissal.

“This somber moment for the College of DuPage follows extensive investigation and careful consideration, but it also signals a new beginning by officially ending the fraud, waste, and abuse of the Breuder era and enabling COD to fully embark down a new path toward a better tomorrow,” she said.

An outside counsel’s investigation found “found evidence of misconduct and mismanagement, which Dr. Breuder participated in, oversaw, or failed to prevent,” according to information presented to the board prior to last week’s vote.

The probe demonstrated that Breuder “violated [Board] and legal directives, breached his duties, and engaged in conduct damaging to the reputation of the college and the reputation of the office of the college president.”

The board cited eight specific grounds for termination, including:

• Failing to preserve electronically stored information on his college-issued iPad;
• Electioneering and engaging in prohibited political activity;
• Mismanaging College and College of DuPage Foundation funds – involving the campus radio station, the Waterleaf restaurant, which is being re-purposed for academic use, and financial investments;
• Improper conduct regarding a $20 million state grant;
• Failing to secure confidentiality of board executive sessions;
• Failing to facilitate the college’s response to Freedom of Information Act requests;
• Inappropriate conversion of locker room facilities primarily for personal use;
• Conduct that resulted in a 2014 faculty vote of “no confidence,” damaging media attention, possible sanctions by the Higher Learning Commission, state and federal criminal investigations, and a state audit.

Breuder’s lawsuit, meanwhile, charges that his dismissal was “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable under the circumstances,” according to documents filed in federal court. “(The) defendants … had decided to terminate Dr. Breuder long before Oct. 20, 2015 based on their personal interests and political agendas.”

The college is also preparing a response to a highly critical 45-page report on Breuder and financial and administrative practices conducted by the Higher Learning Commission, COD’s accrediting body.

–COD board fires president who answers back with lawsuit–