“A university…educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it.”
John Henry Cardinal Newman, Idea of a University
Commentary
By Gary Kopycinski
Editor and Publisher
Prairie State College made incredible progress over the last few years, due in no small part to the leadership of former President Paul McCarthy. The faculty and staff do an excellent job preparing students for further studies at colleges, universities, and the work force. Every student and faculty member should feel proud to be a part of a growing and dynamic educational community.
However, Board leadership has become entirely too political and ripe for political patronage. Board President Mark Fazzini’s attempts at micromanaging the institution are deplorable. Fazzini and his supporters on the board voted to give the Board President the authority to hire employees.
This dangerous practice leave the door wide open for political patronage, and Fazzini and Friends are all too happy to pull Prairie State down that slippery slope. Political patronage is an ugly and expensive practice for any governmental body. Patronage is especially dangerous for an educational institution funded by taxpayer dollars.
Do we really need to say the name of our former governor at this point?
There are only three independent voices on the PSC Board right now: Kathleen Doyle, Mary Lee Johnson, and Peg Donohue. Doyle and Johnson need and deserve your support and vote on Tuesday, April 7.
They voted AGAINST giving the board president the authority to hire employees (Board Minutes 5-15-07). They voted AGAINST the hiring of board family and friends (Board Minutes 1-27-09). Both are eminently qualified and impeccably ethical.
If you have any doubt who Mark Fazzini supports, he personally showed up – in the Board Room at Park Forest Village Hall – after the first of the Park Forest Candidates’ Forums to pass out campaign literature for the two candidates running against Doyle and Johnson.
We cannot permit Prairie State College to become the personal political playground for Mark Fazzini, Jacqueline Agee, Phil Faso, and John J. Marks. The students, faculty and staff deserve better. The community deserves better.
I know and respect Kathleen Doyle and Mary Lee Johnson and intend to vote for them April 7. I encourage you do the same.
