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Rochelle Harden, a tenured associate professor of English at Parkland College in Illinois, was disheartened by the budget cuts and layoffs that affected the campus this past year.
So Harden made the decision to run for the Champaign-based two-year institution’s Board of Trustees. And in April Harden won a six-year term to serve as one of seven trustees on the board.
But there remains one problem as far as the college and the other trustees are concerned -- Harden continues to be employed as a professor. The college’s administration and the board have filed a petition in circuit court asking a judge to rule on whether she can be a trustee and a professor at the same time.
"There are questions on both sides as to the legality of this situation, and it is imperative that Parkland seeks appropriate guidance in order to proceed in a manner consistent with law. It should be noted that this is not an effort to contest the results of the April election, remove Ms. Harden from office or pursue action against her as an individual. … Parkland is anxious to move forward with direction on this issue from the court," a statement from the board and the administration said.
The college officials assert that Harden is violating Illinois’s Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act and the Public Community College Act. The community college act states, "No community college board member shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in his own name or in the name of any other person, association, trust or corporation, in any contract, work or business of the district or in the sale of any article, whenever the expense, price or consideration of the contract, work, business or sale is paid either from the Treasury or by any assessment levied by any statute or ordinance."
But Harden, who has been employed by the college for 13 years, said there isn’t anything in the law that says she can’t serve as a trustee. She’s started a fund-raising campaign on GoFundMe to cover her legal fees for the case.
“Obviously before I handed in my papers to run I looked at the Illinois community college law to make sure there was something there that said faculty can’t serve on the Board of Trustees,” Harden said. “There are exceptions to the conflict of interest rule, and you have to meet the exceptions. You cannot vote on any contracts that relate to you. I’m faculty and I’m under a contract that was voted on two years ago … but going forward, I would obviously step away from that conversation. I’m not going to vote on my [faculty] contract, and I’ll remove myself from any discussions we have about it.”
But recusing oneself from contract discussions wouldn’t be enough, said Mike Monaghan, executive director of the Illinois Community Colleges Trustees Association.
“You cannot recuse yourself from the myriad of issues where there is a conflict,” he said, adding that to his knowledge this is the first time in the state a faculty member has been elected to their college’s board. “This is a huge conflict on every budget item, every tax levy, every policy, every personnel decision.”
But the most difficult conflict would arise behind who is in charge, Monaghan said.
“Is the president the boss or the board member, and if the board member is the boss, how can she be on faculty and have the president as the boss?” he said. “Where does he stand with her? How does he manage her? How does anything happen?”
Monaghan said Harden is violating Illinois law and she could be prosecuted for a Class 4 felony, which is the least serious felony charge in the state but carries a minimum one-year prison term. However, he said he doubts anyone will push for or suggest that penalty.
“Once you’re elected you then have to make a choice, and you can’t serve on both of these things at the same time,” he said. “She can rightfully be a community college trustee.”
Harden said the faculty have a good relationship with the Parkland board, however, there isn’t a faculty liaison or representative to the board, so she feels having someone on the board with a working knowledge of the institution is beneficial. Despite the case, Harden has been participating in trustee meetings since she was sworn in to the office.
Illinois’s budget cuts to the state’s colleges and universities have meant Parkland has been forced to eliminate some programs, raise tuition and cut nontenured faculty. Harden said she’s seen the effect of those decisions on her fellow faculty members and the students.
“I’m one vote out of seven people on the board, but I can provide insight into day-to-day operations even if I’m only in one department I think it would help,” she said, adding that she works with students with disabilities and those in developmental education. “It makes me wonder if they see me as a threat. I don’t know why, since I’m only one vote.”
