The Waubonsee Community College Faculty Council Union attended the October board meeting to announce the passing of a no confidence vote. Board of Trustees Chair Rebecca Oliver has issued a statement on behalf of the Board of Trustees:
“The Waubonsee Community College Board of Trustees 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.”
At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, Dr. Sobek assembled a COVID-19 response team charged with identifying, isolating, and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 through on-going consultation with the Kane County Health Department. This group was responsible for implementing numerous measures across four campus locations in Sugar Grove, Aurora Downtown, Aurora Fox Valley, and Plano.
As a result of their work and continuing mitigation efforts, the college has minimized the impact on its four campuses within a region that has seen significant peaks in case counts and COVID-19 related deaths. The college has been impacted by a total of 80 cases over nineteen months across its population of close to 10,000 students and staff combined. The college’s reported case count includes affected individual(s) who have impacted some aspect of campus operations, including the need to transition members of an in-person class to a 100% online class modality for a period, or by requiring the isolation and quarantine of an employee(s) according to CDC guidelines.
In September of this year, and in response to Governor Pritzker’s mandate for higher education, Dr. Sobek formed a Mandate Response Team (MRT), a body of senior officials as well as faculty, staff, and student representatives from the college, to ensure that the college complies with these additional COVID-19 mandates.
Ms. Oliver also stated that the board acknowledges the concerns expressed by the faculty union; however, the board has full confidence in Dr. Sobek and the facts about how the college has and will continue to properly institute health and safety procedures at the college. “The process is working,” said Ms. Oliver. “We need only to look at the numbers and information on the college website to determine the complete picture.”
To explore the expansive safety protocols the college has put in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission, please visit www.waubonsee.edu/covid19.
