5:00PM at Lake Foxcroft Park – on Lambert Road between Butterfield and Fawell
Monday, April 16, 2012
Rally to support COD faculty this Thursday
Come to a rally to support COD Faculty – Thursday, 4/19!
5:00PM at Lake Foxcroft Park – on Lambert Road between Butterfield and Fawell
5:00PM at Lake Foxcroft Park – on Lambert Road between Butterfield and Fawell
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Teaching and Learning Under Attack at COD
The faculty at College of DuPage is under attack. After 13 months of stagnant negotiations, the full-time faculty at COD do not have a contract. Moreover, the administration has started a very public smear campaign (primarily on the COD website that is paid for with public tax dollars) that is designed to create negative impressions of what faculty do and what they are compensated for. The administration has an office full of “spin-doctors” who are trying to paint a picture of faculty that simply isn’t true. Many of the “facts” that they are publishing are either blatant falsehoods or are only part of the story.
What’s interesting is that the administration keeps saying “The College” in reference to itself, and “the faculty” in reference to what they are looking at as “the other side.” We have long thought that the college as a whole is a collection of people who are all here to help students learn what they want and need to learn. Separating out any one group makes it tough to get that job done well.
There are many issues in the negotiation process, but one of the “big deal” issues in our contract negotiation is that the administration seem to think that the type of instruction that is done in our program, “studio and lab hours” is not really teaching. The administration believes that what students do in the studios and labs is “self-directed student activity” and therefore faculty in those areas should be compensated at a reduced rate of pay because faculty are not prepping, grading or evaluating during that time. The current proposal by the administration would devalue many of the classes in our department, as nearly all of our classes have lab or studio components to them.
Quote from the COD website: “College of DuPage does not believe the demands on an instructor overseeing an activity class, such as a drawing studio lab, are equal to the demands on an instructor teaching traditional lecture courses.”
Quote from Joe Collins, COD’s Executive Vice President, when talking about “studio classes”: “There’s no prep, no outside grading — other than he finally grades whatever the drawing is that they do”
What this means is that faculty would have to teach more classes each week or face fairly substantial pay cuts. This is because administration believes that the sort of instruction done in a lab or studio course is less demanding than a standard lecture class (can you tell that COD administrators don’t actually teach?).
What can you do to help?
1. Communicate this information to others (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
2. Write a letter or email to the College of DuPage Board of Trustees http://home.cod.edu/board/
3. “Like” the Faculty Association’s Facebook page and encourage your friends, neighbors and fellow students to follow it: http://www.facebook.com/pages/College-of-DuPage-Faculty-Association/280601578686875
4. Attend a rally to support COD faculty on April 19th (see image below)
Thanks for your support of great teaching and great learning at COD.
The faculty at College of DuPage is under attack. After 13 months of stagnant negotiations, the full-time faculty at COD do not have a contract. Moreover, the administration has started a very public smear campaign (primarily on the COD website that is paid for with public tax dollars) that is designed to create negative impressions of what faculty do and what they are compensated for. The administration has an office full of “spin-doctors” who are trying to paint a picture of faculty that simply isn’t true. Many of the “facts” that they are publishing are either blatant falsehoods or are only part of the story.
What’s interesting is that the administration keeps saying “The College” in reference to itself, and “the faculty” in reference to what they are looking at as “the other side.” We have long thought that the college as a whole is a collection of people who are all here to help students learn what they want and need to learn. Separating out any one group makes it tough to get that job done well.
There are many issues in the negotiation process, but one of the “big deal” issues in our contract negotiation is that the administration seem to think that the type of instruction that is done in our program, “studio and lab hours” is not really teaching. The administration believes that what students do in the studios and labs is “self-directed student activity” and therefore faculty in those areas should be compensated at a reduced rate of pay because faculty are not prepping, grading or evaluating during that time. The current proposal by the administration would devalue many of the classes in our department, as nearly all of our classes have lab or studio components to them.
Quote from the COD website: “College of DuPage does not believe the demands on an instructor overseeing an activity class, such as a drawing studio lab, are equal to the demands on an instructor teaching traditional lecture courses.”
Quote from Joe Collins, COD’s Executive Vice President, when talking about “studio classes”: “There’s no prep, no outside grading — other than he finally grades whatever the drawing is that they do”
What this means is that faculty would have to teach more classes each week or face fairly substantial pay cuts. This is because administration believes that the sort of instruction done in a lab or studio course is less demanding than a standard lecture class (can you tell that COD administrators don’t actually teach?).
What can you do to help?
1. Communicate this information to others (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
2. Write a letter or email to the College of DuPage Board of Trustees http://home.cod.edu/board/
3. “Like” the Faculty Association’s Facebook page and encourage your friends, neighbors and fellow students to follow it: http://www.facebook.com/pages/College-of-DuPage-Faculty-Association/280601578686875
4. Attend a rally to support COD faculty on April 19th (see image below)
Thanks for your support of great teaching and great learning at COD.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Habitat Build Day
The College of DuPage Arch 2840 class at the DuPage Habitat for Humanity Pioneer Prairie site, March 17th, 2012. Blogging to resume soon!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Museum of Modern Ice
For those of you who missed it, here are some images from the Museum of Modern Ice. The 95 foot long mural titled "paintings below zero", by the artist Gordon Halloran, was installed in Chicago's Millenium Park during the month of February.
The mural was maintained by artist who continually added ice to the back side of the wall to create a continuously changing composition of colored ice.
The most stunning aspect of the mural is the vibrant colors and textures that were created in the ice itself. 
It has been a while...
Ok, It has been a while since my last post, but here are a few images that I have been collecting for the last several months....
Above and Below: Interior views of the wintergarden, which is the main circulation space in the building. This is the one space where you get views back to the Mississippi River through the double glass facade.
Above: Exterior view at entry with the Davenport "skyline" reflected in the double glass facade.
Above and Below: Interior views of the wintergarden, which is the main circulation space in the building. This is the one space where you get views back to the Mississippi River through the double glass facade.
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