Waubonsee faculty asserts college president isn’t following COVID-19 mitigations to protect students, staff

SUGAR GROVE — Over 90% of Waubonsee Community College’s Faculty Council gave a vote of no confidence in the college president, asserting she isn’t following state and federal COVID-19 mandates.

While explaining the Faculty Council’s concerns during the college’s board of trustees meeting on Oct. 20, a board member cut off Dr. Jeanne M. McDonald’s microphone.

McDonald, president of the Waubonsee Community College Faculty Council, asked the board to uphold its own policies and abide by all federal and state COVID-19 guidelines and mandates. McDonald reported that just over 93% of the council’s members voted that they have no confidence in college President Christine Sobek’s leadership. Polls opened for Faculty Council members at 10 a.m. Monday and closed at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

On Aug. 26, Gov. JB Pritzker announced that all Pre-K-12 teachers and staff, as well as higher education personnel and students, are required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. In addition to the vaccine requirement, the governor also reinstated the indoor mask mandate regardless of vaccination status.

“Because President Sobek will not institute all mitigations for the pandemic, as directed and necessary for health equity and the safety of students, staff and faculty, we asked the board to re-evaluate her ineffectiveness in carrying out and instituting policies for which she was appointed, and for which we the Faculty Council returned our vote of no confidence in President Sobek’s leadership,” McDonald said.

In a news release sent by Waubonsee Community College on Friday afternoon, Board of Trustees Chair Rebecca Oliver stated that the Board “stands united in its unequivocal support of Dr. Christine Sobek, president of Waubonsee Community College, and her leadership in instituting health and safety measures that follow federal guidelines and state mandate protocols to keep the campus community safe and healthy.”

Oliver also stated in the release that Sobek worked to implement many COVID-19 mitigation strategies across the college’s four campuses, which “minimized” the impact of the virus.

However, McDonald claims Sobek has failed to protect students, staff and faculty by returning to operations as usual during the pandemic.

“Patience and caution have been abandoned by upper management in their quest to fulfill strategic goals apart from the context of the pandemic,” McDonald said. “All predictions about the future trajectories of the pandemic cannot be substantiated by present data. We are still currently at transmissions levels greater than June 2021 when mask mandates were lifted for vaccinated individuals. Kane and Kendall counties are still at high transmissions levels according to the new equation adopted by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Even best guesses about the pandemic have been overturned by the severity of waves, new variants, length of vaccine effectiveness, asymptomatic transmissions, boosters and breakthrough cases.”

At the meeting, McDonald didn’t get much further before Oliver, a trustee who has served for 24 years, argued that McDonald was not discussing proper collective bargaining subjects. She asked her to stay within the guidelines set forth in her contract or end her time at the podium.

McDonald, an English professor, kept talking, but by the time she finished explaining that the Faculty Council had found Sobek in violation of the policy pertaining to operations of emergency preparedness and security, and communicable diseases, Oliver had risen from her seat and McDonald’s mic had been shut off.

“Dr. McDonald, you are done,” Oliver stated. “You are done! I would ask for a motion to go into executive session.”

As the trustees voted in favor of going into executive session, McDonald kept on talking.

The executive session lasted close to three hours, but nothing was shared after reconvening. As of late Thursday, McDonald said she had not been contacted by college administrators.

McDonald said Sobek seemingly had no concept that different people have dissimilar risks for contracting COVID while claiming that Sobek’s data states students prefer in-person classes without supporting it.

“(She) has made faulty assumptions about the trajectory of the pandemic,” McDonald said. “And it was like the concept never dawned on her that OSHA or CDC had determined that different people had different risk loads for COVID.”

According to McDonald, no one is policing the masking of students indoors and no standing temperature check or anything similar is taking place on campus.

McDonald is hopeful the board enacts all mitigations prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, complies to all of the governor’s mandates, allows faculty the flexibility to teach online if needed and makes sure health equity is being practiced for those who have high risk loads.

“If they cannot do these things then President Sobek needs to resign in favor of someone who can provide flexibility and compassion for all students, staff and faculty during the pandemic and recovery from it,” she said.

Oliver stated in the release that the Board acknowledged the union’s concerns, but reiterated its “full confidence” in Sobek. She also stated that health and safety measures have been properly instituted.

“The process is working,” she stated. “We need only to look at the numbers and information on the college website to determine the complete picture.”

Sobek, who celebrated her 20th year as college president this summer, recently signed a new contract with an annual salary of $346,413.