OLD GUARD.

OLD GUARD.
(From The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999)

     A loosely affiliated group of faculty who, at least until recently, dominated the Faculty Association (faculty union). They achieved the zenith of their power and influence during the presidency of Sherry Miller-White, who ran the union as an Old Guard front, utterly disregarding laws, CTA guideines, bylaws, and any notion of openness and process. The Old Guard comprises Miller-White, Sharon MacMillan (the current union president as we enter 2000), Curt McClendon, Tony Garcia, Raghu Mathur (who, during the CTA leadership team hearings of 1997, secretly spoke in defense of the group), Bob Kopfstein, Lee Walker, Ken Woodward, Mike Runyan, Tom Carrol, Ray Chandos, Patrick Fennel, Mike Channing, Andy Kish, Curt McLendon, and various others.
     The Old Guard and their allies (such as IVC's Glenn Roquemore) have accused Reformers of seeking administrative positions, a charge without factual basis. Despite this rhetoric, in recent years, various members of the Old Guard, owing to the group's influence with the Board Majority, became full-time administrators. For instance, Mathur, despite lacking any full-time administrative experience, became interim and then permanent president of IVC; Runyan became a Vice Chancellor. Woodward, who has said that reformers seek to become administrators and "don't like teaching," became Dean of Liberal Arts and ceased teaching, at least for a while. Glenn Roquemore, who made similar pronouncements, became the Acting VP of Instruction; presently, he is the permanent dean of advanced technology.

Andy Kish (1928-2018)

     A crucial locus of Old Guard power--which survived the internal union elections (1999) in which Reformers emerged victorious--is the union PAC committee, which, according to the chapter's bylaws, comprises former union presidents--people like Walker, Miller-White, and other unsavory characters. In 1999, the new union treasurer, in conjunction with CTA, sought to secure the chapter's PAC committee records, but the group has been utterly uncooperative, consistently refusing to turn over bank records. Reportedly, the group had set up many PAC accounts; one of these can be accessed with a secret code that only Miller-White knows. She hasn't provided it. It is likely that the situation will come to a head in 2000, for CTA auditors are growing impatient.
     See the BOARD MAJORITY/OLD GUARD AXIS.