ICC President Speaks on His Retirement

By: Reid Harman, Harbinger

Saturday, May 2, 2015–Just a couple of hours before the 7:30 p.m. mass email announcement from the college’s public affairs department, Erwin mingled with students and staff at the Student Recognition Evening, where apparently no one was aware he was carrying out his last official function. When the event ended at 8 p.m., Erwin left promptly.

According to the email from Cheryl Fliege, vice president of marketing and college communication, “Circumstances in Dr. Erwin’s individual retirement plan created the need for this sudden announcement. While this announcement may seem unanticipated, Dr. Erwin has been involved in planning for his retirement since February 2014.”

Erwin’s retirement was effective two days later on Friday. It also stated that in compliance with retirement guidelines, ICC employees could not contact Dr. Erwin about official college business for the next 60 days.

The necessity to travel on Thursday meant that he would not be able to be on campus for his final day as president, but Erwin responded to questions via telephone, in an exclusive interview with the Harbinger. The responses have been edited for length.

Q: Why did your retirement come about so suddenly?

A: In February of 2014, the [ICC Board of Trustees], in closed session at the retreat, talked about my retirement. I was saying, “what can we do to mutually agree upon [a plan] that would work for the college?” We put a few dates out there, and one of them was actually earlier than this. Then what happened was the pension reform was passed, and then in about 6 months it was in effect, and it greatly damaged my retirement opportunity.

I was looking at July 1… and the counselor that I talked to said, “well, you ought to check out April and see what happens.?” And she was right; I actually lost pension by retiring in July instead of retiring in April, and that’s a quirk of the quarter system of the fiscal year. I said, “are you sure this is correct?” and she said, “this is very close to being accurate, so if you need to make a decision, you can call the same day and we can put it into effect.”

So that’s what happened basically. I then called the board chair-elect and had a meeting with her and I laid it out in front of her and we started putting the wheels in motion so this could happen: today is my last day and tomorrow is effectively the first day of my retirement.

Q: Are you saying that you didn’t know that you were retiring until the week of?

A: Yes. Governor Rauner just came out with his pension reform that he says will be effective July 1, and it greatly subtracts from my pension opportunity. And I just can’t continue to have that up on the table and be jeopardized by the General Assembly and [the] governor’s reform attempts. At some point, there will be reform in the state of Illinois for pensions, and I know it, in some way, will subtract what my opportunity currently is under the system.

And then the realization “John, you’ve got to do that this week.” I’ll be honest with you, I was in denial and avoidance. I had all those psychological things in play like “oh, this can’t be real, it won’t happen,” but, you know what, it is real, it can happen, and I didn’t want to be the victim of procrastination.

At least now I know exactly where I’m going to stand into the future. So, those are the positive pieces of it, this clarity on my future, but the tougher part is I’m psychologically not ready to step away. But I can’t help the environment, the context, that I’m in regarding this kind of decision.

Q: So you didn’t make an announcement personally because of how suddenly this came about?

A: And a little bit [because] the legality of having to be silent. I obviously was right up on the date when it became communicated, so I minimized my lame duck status to one day, and, ironically, it was a bereavement day and I actually had to go, because of a family loss, to a funeral.

It just turned out that way. I can tell you that when I woke up Monday morning to go into the office, this was not on my mind, and I had many other things on my mind. But as that day unfolded and each day and the contact with the State University Retirement System… It just became very real to me that I could be doing something very foolish if I just continued my routine. I needed to get in here and make this decision, and, actually, live with the full consequences of it.

Q: So what is the next step for ICC?

A: Monday, the board has a really important board meeting, and out of that meeting they’ll be laying some framework for the future. They’re going to have to look at an interim president, and then they’re going to need to begin a really intense selection of a search firm to establish the process [for finding the next president].

Q: Will you return to the college after the 60-day period?

A: I’m coming back July 1 and I’ll begin boxing up my office, and I’ll be pleased to work with staff on an appropriate farewell because that’s the thing that has not been done. It’s just very difficult for me because of the suddenness. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to graciously, appropriately say thank you for my privilege of serving ICC and say thank you to all of the wonderful students and staff that, over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to meet and support.

Q: Might you someday work at ICC once again?

A: I’ll put it this way: I really need some time to step back and absorb the consequences of this week and consider what options I have in front of me… I just have to be really careful with the system that I don’t jeopardize my pension because of contact with the college or any kind of reemployment.

Q: How will you feel when you wake up tomorrow as a retiree?

A: I’m still in shock. I don’t have finished business. I have a lot of unfinished business at Illinois Central College that I would have loved to have seen completed. There’s some wonderful things happening with ICC North, the move from Downtown, the sustainability center, the assessment of student learning initiative, our movement toward a better, stronger strategic plan and a “dashboard” for the college, the human resource initiative for stronger development plans for performance and the advancement of talent at ICC among our employees… I could go on and on. So I just see a lot of positive things in front of ICC.

Q: Do you wonder what will become of ICC and your unfinished business?

A: Separation has all of the same emotions for us when we invest ourselves with a sense of mission and passion in what we’re doing. How do you say goodbye? Who is going to pick these things up? How are they going to get done? Some unsureness ― the future is gray, hazy. How well can we live with that, the ambiguity of the future?

It begins to get better when you can see a clear line of sight on the change. So, if you know your successor, that begins to help, if you know what you’re going to do with yourself next, that helps. You see, for me right now this is still pretty fresh. I haven’t quite sorted it all out.

Q: If you could say one last thing to the students, is there something that you would like them to hear from you?

A: Yeah, don’t give up on your dreams. Be persistent. Continue to strive towards your goals regardless of the number of obstacles, barriers, naysayers that are out there. Be true to yourself, and reap the rewards of being a dogged and determined person who has confidence in oneself to succeed. That is my advice to students, and that would be, I believe, a lifelong rule to follow.