Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The turd in the punchbowl



TODAY (Monday), there were two board meetings:

BOARD MEETING #1, which went from 3-5 p.m., concerned our colleges' Accreditation issues. The board of trustees and the governance groups were supposed to discuss the matter together, but it didn't really turn out that way.

Trustee Williams spent a good deal of time criticizing (he called it "challenging") the Accreds re their "secrecy." But at least he was pretty pleasant about it. I'll give 'em that.

Then there was Chancellor Mathur. Evidently, he came to the meeting only to wag his finger at faculty. I'm not sure, but I think he was saying that faculty cause the board to micromanage, what with their phone calls and "badgering."

Yes, "badgering." He kept saying that.

He even singled out some faculty leadership for blame. It was pretty unpleasant.

Nobody else did that. I mean, most people only had good things to say about everybody else. Mathur was the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.


Board meeting #2, the regular monthly meeting, started at about 6:45. It attracted a fair number of faculty (see photo below) who were there mostly to encourage the district to be reasonable about the upcoming contract negotiations. The district's initial proposal is inauspicious.

Wagner sought to be reassuring. It's premature, he said, to worry that the negotiations process is already going badly. Well, OK Don.

Kathie and Howard gave a first-rate presentation on the curriculum process. It was plain, I think, that the trustees were very impressed, not only with the presentation, but with the amount of work that goes into curriculum.

It was a great moment.

I'll have lots more detail in a couple of days, but, right now, I've got to get some sleep. Tomorrow, of course, is trial day up in LA. You know, Mathur's getting sued again.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks as ever for your thoughtful coverage, Chunk - and keep us posted on the trial too - it's the Cely Mora lawsuit, isn't it?

I remember that time well. They declined to hire Cely (said she wasn't qualified!) and instead they hired a mentally unstable incompetent who had to be removed from his position.

Par for the SOCCCD course.

Anonymous said...

who WAS on that hiring committee anyway?

someone help me out...

Anonymous said...

The PE people had to have someone on it.

Anonymous said...

Howard Gensler was on that committee.

Anonymous said...

Chunk, your choice of metaphors is rude and crude and is insulting to turds.

Anonymous said...

There were two faculty members and one classified person from PE. It made no difference. It wasn't about hiring the most qualified person it was about not hiring Cely.

Anonymous said...

thanks to everyone who showed up and spoke so well on behalf of us all.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...