The "bone" motif

I’ve had time to take a closer look at the Board’s Monday agenda, and here’s my report.

1. WHITE OUT? It does appear to some that IVC’s Vice President of Instruction, Dennis White, is toast. The closed session agenda mentions the VPI, but the possible action is unclear.

Despite his boners, Dennis is well liked, and he has become a friend to the Academic Senate. But President Roquemore—who is widely viewed as a mannequin; nobody's ever actually seen his lips move—is said to be displeased with Dennis’s performance. Hence the potential toastiness.

To many of us at IVC, that Roquemore views White as incompetent is, well, ironic. Plus Glenn the Mannequin has the vision of--well, of a mannequin.

2. EXPENDITURES. On Monday night, there will be lots of discussion of budgets and expenditures. The full agenda has reams of paper listing hundreds of purchases.

Just for fun, I’ve assembled a small subset of these purchases below. It reads like poetry:

Recall Secure Destruction, Inc. — Shredding of documents — $325

Bone Clones, Inc. — Anthropology equipment — $4,738.85

Bee Man — contract services — $175.00

Cornerstone General, Inc. — Clock Tower Demolition — $8,240.00

Bone Room — Anthropology equipment — $568.75

I particularly enjoy the “bone” motif.

Here’s one of my favorite expenditures:

S&B Foods — President’s chat — $59.62

OK, so, apparently, S&B Foods whipped up a “President’s chat.” I like that. I like that very much.

Here are a few more actual items:

7/28/06 — Thomas A Fuentes — $1,198.50 — TFuentes Internet

Would someone please explain this one to me?

8/03/06 — Red Herring Magazine — $48.00 — Red Herring subscription

At first, I thought RH was a sportsman’s magazine, but I looked it up, and it promotes new technologies. Dang.

8/03/06 — Retail Webs LLC — $10, 075 – Greenhouse

Greenhouse: 10 grand. Plants?: —Priceless.

8/31/06 — Nothing But Air — $300 – Chancellor’s Opening Session

OK, I made that one up. In truth, NBA provided balloons for “welcome day.”

3. PROGRESS REPORTS. Items 71 and 72 are the Accreditation “progress reports.” They make good reading. Some excerpts:

Saddleback College:

Re board micromanagement

There are some issues that still need attention. Among them are these…(2) [T]he board’s rejection of college-determined institutional memberships…In March 2006, one board member pulled the American Library Association membership…The trustees spent portions of three board meetings debating whether or not the ALA endorsed pornography for children…[T]he board now requires detailed justification each time an institutional membership is requested or renewed.

…Another perception is that the board favors other units (such as ATEP) within the district over Saddleback College.

Evaluation: …[T]he question that requires clarification is whether the college defines its own mission, goals and objectives…? Or, whether it is the district that defines its mission, goals and objectives and the college…then defines its role in response to the district mission?....

Re administrative instability:

The perception remains among faculty and classified staff that the governance style of the board and district discourages college administrators from taking risks to solve difficult problems….

Irvine Valley College:

Re board micromanagement:

[During a March 27 presentation,] [t]he Chancellor … states that there is no college that has lost accreditation because of micromanagement….The Chancellor intimates that the faculty and staff may invite micromanagement by the board, as noted in the following statement:

“To the faculty and staff, please don’t invite micromanagement by going directly to the board about college issues. Please come to me as chancellor and/or go to the college presidents.”

…During [a]…discussion…, other trustees [than Mr. Fuentes] raised concerns as to whether it would be prudent to continue denying that there is a problem with board micromanagement by blaming other constituent groups. In response to those concerns, … [Fuentes] states:

“I’m saying that the problem in this district is more a macromanagement by elements who ought not to be macromanaging than it is by a couple of trustees on this board micromanaging….”

…[T]he majority of the board and the chancellor believe that the issues in the district relate to macromanagement by faculty leaders rather than micromanagement by the board….

…On January 31, 2006, in opposition to the recommendation of the chancellor, the board voted to deny the colleges’ institutional membership in the American Library Association, alleging that: 1) the ALA is comprised of “liberal busybodies…”; 2) the ALA opposed the Child Internet Protection Act and therefore favored allowing children access to pornography in public libraries; and 3) the ALA opposed the USA Patriot Act.

…Similar board involvement occurred relative to the decision by the IVC administration to discontinue intercollegiate tennis…Based on the discussion of the board and presentations by members of the community, the college administration elected to continue the intercollegiate tennis program.