City Colleges needs leadership

City Colleges Chancellor Nelvia M. Brady's charges that boardChairman Ronald Gidwitz is guilty of "sexist" and "demeaning"behavior have turned her current contract negotiations into adecision based on race and/or gender.

Frankly, we find that discouraging.

If the chancellor now wants to publicly argue the merits of hercontract renewal, let's hear about her track record as chancellorsince 1988 and what she hopes to do to improve the educationalopportunities for students.

What her predecessors got in the way of privileges and benefitsaren't for us to negotiate. And what's so wrong about being heldresponsible in return for turning around a failing system?

What we care about are the 200,000 students who enroll annuallyin the City Colleges, students who for years have gotten the shortend of the stick throughout a system - deficient in remedial skillstraining, vocational education and the academic transfer programs -that doesn't meet students' needs.

The only clear thing coming out of Brady's accusations andGidwitz's defense this week about her new contract is that theleadership of the City Colleges isn't united at a time that realleadership is called for, at a time when it seems that just abouteveryone involved in the college system, from the faculty to Brady tothe board, blames one another for its problems and disagrees abouthow to fix them.

Given the complaints about Brady's performance and the Sun-Timesreports in January about questionable contract awards, Gidwitz andthe board would be remiss to tie the system and taxpayers to amultiyear contract with Brady at this point.

If the board and Brady can't sort out their disagreements over aone-year contract, which isn't all that unusual in higher educationin Illinois, then say so and move on to other issues.

If Mayor Daley has pressured the board to renew Brady's contractand if he's now being pressured to choose between her and Gidwitz,then it only shows that public education in Chicago is so tied up inpolitical knots that education reform can't occur.