The Chicago Tribune’s call for Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch to resign over his handling of a sexual-harassment complaint deserves a closer examination.
Ethics reform is easy to demand from the sidelines. Fixing a broken culture is much harder.
I know something about that.
While serving at City Colleges of Chicago, I experienced sexual harassment by the Chairman of the Board. I did what we tell people they should do: I reported it. I reported it to Human Resources. I reported it to the Chancellor. I reported it to the board members. I reported it to the lawyers. Ignored. No one knew what to do. The most insulting institutional behavior is the doubt that comes forth: “Is she telling the truth?”
What happened next was a zoo.
The complaint was passed from one department to another. People seemed uncertain about who was responsible, what the process was, and what should happen next. I was accusing the top guy of harassment, not a mere co-worker. I wasn’t the only one being harassed. I was the only one who spoke up. Eventually, I took the matter to the press because shining a light on the situation was the only way I could see to make the system respond. The system didn’t know how to respond, but constant public embarrassment to the chairman made his life miserable, and I had my intent and purpose.
That experience taught me something important: reporting sexual harassment is an act of courage. It is a challenge for the woman and the system.
And there is another uncomfortable truth: some women do not want to file a formal complaint.
They may be afraid. They may not trust the system. They may not want their names attached to the allegation. They may simply want the behavior to stop without becoming the center of a political or institutional controversy. That creates an enormous problem for any organization attempting to call out the misconduct.
How do you hold someone accountable for a complaint that was never formally filed? And what obligation does a leader have when an allegation is brought to his attention but the person making it does not want to initiate a formal process?
Those are difficult questions. They deserve more than political theater.
Speaker Welch inherited a culture and a system in Springfield. He did not create the culture of dysfunction, patronage, and political protection that has existed in Illinois for generations. But inheriting a broken system does not relieve a leader of the responsibility to fix it.
The question is whether resignation is the best way to accomplish that.
I don’t believe it is.
The Tribune is right about one thing: three years is far too long for a serious allegation to sit without meaningful action.
Leadership requires accountability, and delay matters. Where do you start? Welch has put a committee together to study the issue and some won’t even serve.
But accountability should not automatically mean resignation—particularly when there is an opportunity to turn a failure into systemic reform.
Welch should grab this issue by the horns.
He should lead the creation of clear, mandatory procedures for sexual-harassment allegations in the Illinois General Assembly. There should be an independent reporting mechanism, protections against retaliation, defined timelines for investigation, confidential options for victims, and consequences for anyone who obstructs or ignores the process.
Most importantly, the rules should not depend upon whether the accused or the complainant has political power.
Make the system work.
Then enforce it.
Then lead by example.
Illinois does not need another resignation that allows everyone to declare victory while the underlying system remains broken. Illinois needs institutional change.
This is bigger than Chris Welch.
It is about whether government workplaces—and frankly, workplaces everywhere—have systems that people can trust when something goes wrong.
I have lived the consequences of a system that did not know what to do.
That is why I believe the answer should be reform, accountability and action—not simply removal.
Welch also faces another enormous challenge: Illinois’ broken system of education funding. He has pledged to address the inequities surrounding how Illinois funds its schools. That work matters to millions of children and families in the State.
Let him do it.
But let him also make ethics reform part of his legacy.
If Speaker Welch inherited a broken system, then let him be the leader who fixes it.
Don’t simply leave the wreckage behind.
Fix the system. Protect the vulnerable. Establish the rules.
Enforce them.
That would be a far more meaningful measure of leadership that could set a standard not only for State government but for private industry and other institutions too.
