Questions Are Raised Over Ouster of Student Newspaper’s Faculty Adviser

June 3, 2011, 1:28 pm

The College of DuPage has removed Cathy Stablein from her longtime post as faculty adviser to the Courier, the student newspaper at the Illinois college. According to the Daily Herald, a local newspaper, the administration says the move was meant to give Ms. Stablein more time to help restructure the two-year college’s journalism program. But Ms. Stablein and some students on the paper believe that her removal was the result of articles in the Courier that have criticized the administration. “The swiftness of the action astounded me,” Ms. Stablein told the Naperville Sun, another local paper. A college official said there was no connection between the articles and Ms. Stablein’s removal.

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barbarashell

A college official said there was no connection between the articles and Ms. Stablein’s removal. …does anyone actully believe this BS? Puhleeeze
daniel_von_flanagan

Why is the faculty member the only one whose name is named? The thin-skinned anti-free-speech administrators were deans Daniel Lloyd and Sue Martin. When these two are interviewing for their next administrative position, the community at their prospective schools should be able to learn this side of them in an internet search. – DvF
http://www.facebook.com/rjarman1 Richard Aylwin Forbes Jarman

The Courier serves as the laboratory for the journalism program, enabling students to practice their craft; then exactly how does castrating the newspaper by lynching its long-standing advisor help with restructuring the journalism program?
disembedded

Oh my, The College of DuPage has endured many years of internal/external political conflicts and uproars. Administratively, many consider it too be quite a shabby place.
jlmce2

Please sign the students’ petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-sly-attack-on-free-speech-and-college-media-at-college-of-dupage
woodstock3

Sorry to hear about the administration’s response. I had a similar response from administration after my boss engaged in harassment surrounding my need for a bilateral mastectomy last year. I had to stick to my guns and demand repeatedly that administration address the ample
documentation and proof I had compiled. It took months and unbelievable effort.

After much persistence on my part, they could no longer avoid addressing the issue and officially found boss had engaged in “unprofessional conduct”. They “permanently reassigned” me to another manager; however, within a few months I was informed that my former
boss could no longer get all of her work done and that, as a result, Dr. Breuder felt not enough money was coming in to the school. I was told I must, therefore, help my former harasser with her projects. The projects WOULD NOT be reassigned to my new boss (I asked if this was an option).

When I questioned that decision and how the new process would work (“helping” my former boss with projects still under her authority, but “not reporting to her or interacting with her”), heinous and reprehensible false charges were subsequently leveled against me and I was
suspended–with two police officers present–THE NEXT DAY I RETURNED TO WORK.
(Interestingly, all these events began to transpire 2 days after my former boss’s contract renewal was approved by the Board of Trustees). Of course, despite my 11-page rebuttal to refute the false charges (with more ample written documentation that supported my position) I was still terminated.

I believe that the administration’s stance on the whole debacle was also that a “moving forward” approach should have been taken. I interpret that as: do not question administrative decisions (regardless of circumstances). I wish you the best of luck in your continued
interactions with COD administration and will continue to follow the story with great interest.
woodstock3

A Google news search on “College of DuPage” will show that lately the administration has been engaging in behavior many find questionable re: 1) employment practices, 2) free speech, 3) ordinances pertaining to the village in which the school is located, 4) violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5) vendor contracts. Further, a news search on the president will show that this school is not the first institution at which he was known for his contentious relationships with faculty and staff.