Friday, January 18, 2008

What about Gustavo Arellano?


1. Yesterday, at the IVC Academic Senate meeting, Senators were shown drafts of new board policies that are up for approval (on Tuesday, I think). Among them is a policy permitting alcoholic beverages at Foundation functions held on campus. That's good. Punch and cookies are gettin' mighty old.

The writing of the policy isn't so good, though. The policy reads, "The Chancellor...is authorized to approve...the serving of alcoholic beverages...if the alcoholic beverages is for use at foundation...events."

It gets worse. Really.

Baboons run this district.


2. A member of the Commencement Speaker task force solicited suggestions for a speaker. I think the last speaker was a successful bodybuilder/fitness guru. (Faculty on the committee wanted a writer; students wanted the muscle guy.) The speaker before that, I think, owned a successful chain of fish taco restaurants. He wore a colorful shirt. Nice guy.

During the meeting, one senator, a member of the PE department, suggested that we secure an Orange County Olympic gold medalist. I guess they could do curls or something. Or just stand there with their gold baubles.

I opined that, though I was not necessarily opposed to muscle or fish speakers, it would be refreshing if, for once, we could secure a speaker who represented intellectual attainment. Years ago—i.e., anteGoo—our commencement speakers included writers. Now, they're all Republican politicians or businessmen.

Some senators worried that Chancellor Raghu "Micromanager" Mathur might fix the selection. What's the use of having a task force if the fix is in? Yeah, well.

How about writer Gustavo Arellano? He's swell! I can just see it. We'll ask Gustavo, and, Gustavo will say yes (how could he resist?), and then Mathur will step in to give the job to Lou Bone.

That is my prediction.


3. There are indications that Mathur has joined HR in boldly violating district hiring policies. One persistent story is that he "directed" the two college presidents whom to select for the various faculty hiring committees—and he did so in a manner that violated the policy's provision according to which two-thirds of each committee must be faculty. When this became clear, vigilant faculty (who have made an effort to bone up on the details of our hard-won hiring policy, the result of a successful lawsuit) blew the whistle. Nope, you've got to follow the policy.

As you know, owing to a gigantic SCREW UP by the Chancellor, we are now compelled to hire 45 faculty ASAP (in order to increase the proportion of spending on instruction, which is supposed to be at least 50%). Each college president is entitled, as per board policy, to select three members for each hiring committee.

Unless, of course, Raghu P. Mathur is the Chancellor. Then they're not. He is.

Or so he seems to think.

4. Don't forget! There's a meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees on Tuesday. I'm bringing my camcorder.

5. Have you been following the Janet Nguyen case? The OC Weekly is all over her victory over Mike Schroeder and Co. (the Fuentesphere). See NGUYEN VS. NGUYEN: JANET WINS!

I do have one complaint, though. The OC Weekly stole our Carona/Knack joke. See THE BALLAD OF MIKE CARONA. I think their graphic (above) sucks, compared to ours (below):

Plus, Rebel Girl was singing "My, My, My Carona" back in early November! (Did I miss an email?).

We'll let it go this time!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, Chunk old boy. Here is my attempt at psychoanalysing you, "The "Chunkster," just by reading this unbelievable blog of turmoil. I know my analysis is unsolicited, but let's have some fun. Here goes.

I have concluded that you love war, Chunk. Conflict is the principle which permits you to organize your life. Just like Richard Nixon, you see the world in extraordinarily simple terms: There are those who agree with you and support you and then there's the rest of the world. Those who don't agree with you are bunched together and known collectively as "the enemy" - and that group must be vilified, beaten, and destroyed . . . whatever it takes. To you, this easily quantifiable adversary is unquestionably the source of all evil. Therefore, any means of obliterating them is acceptable. You thrive on identifying, assailing, and defeating them. Your hatred for this ubiquitous enemy is actually a source of enormous strength -- it motivates you, energizes you, keeps you going and reminds you of your own self desired superiority.

How am I doing?

Roy Bauer said...

Spot on!

torabora said...

10:01 I noted your observation, in short, in the comments section of "Who Are The Dissenters?" of DtB some months ago. Great minds think alike.

Be aware though that it is exactly Chunk's attitude is what is needed to WIN a war!

When we developed our "Troubles" with our now EX-President (God, I love the 'EX' part of that!) at my college, I too sided with the opposition. The insurgency took three years. There were countless complaints at Board meetings, a no confidence vote, lawsuits, scandals in the local paper and on the radio about our college, a rat line of gossip, accreditation warning and then probation, a Board meeting visit and scolding from Chancellor Drummond (He noted "endless power struggles"), and a Board recall effort to pry our Cissellmonster from his lair. Victory was ours!

3 July 2007.

One of our strong suits, in the background, were the shenanigans surrounding the Foundation. We had misappropriation of public funds, perjury, tax fraud, stupidity, embezzlement, insurance fraud, and probable theft as issues with that creature. You folks at SOCCCD need to give your Foundation 990's a solid examination. With rat bastards, you will find that they're sloppy and leave incriminating evidence behind. They believe they are beyond reproach, being all high and mighty.

I believe it was Churchill who said "In war:resolution, In defeat: Defiance, In victory: magnanimity, In peace: Good will".

The test will come when the Goomonster is slain and the guns are silenced. There will be PTSD and your District may need an occupation force,a war crimes tribunal, reconstruction, and a Marshall Plan. Ours did.

War is hell.

Anonymous said...

Chunk - It must be said that some faculty wanted the body builder/motivational speaker/millionaire as did some adminstrators - and some faculty chose not to attend the decisionmaking meeting at all.

I think this is a lost cause. No one cares. I wish they did.

Anonymous said...

The college president amde the final choice for commencement speaker based upon the committee's recommendations.

It IS a lost cause.

The hours we spend in meetings at this place when the result or decision is already
a foregone conclusion - it is some kind of existential exercise.

Give up already.

Spend the time and energy with your family and loved ones -a dn your stduents in class. Anything else is already fucked up beyond rescue.

Anonymous said...

gee, why so glum?

Anonymous said...

Many faculty have felt for so long that graduation was such a farce that they don't even bother to attend--or go long enough to see their students but don't sit through the mispronounced calling-out of names and the anti-intellectual speakers or, worse yet, incompetent student speakers. Mathur's attempted contractual decree that faculty "vill attend graduation" only proves his desperation.

Gustavo would be good. Some of us might even come this year if there was something serious going on. Until then, I'll just continue to send congratulatory notes to my students instead.

Anonymous said...

Commencement is for the students, not the faculty. God you people are so self-centered!

Anonymous said...

A very long definition of a gadfly, torabora. Chunk is nothing more than a gadfly.

Anonymous said...

Nothing LESS than a gadfly, I think you mean to say. A gadfly who uses--GASP!--freedom of expression to "obliterate" his evil-assed enemies. Thanks for keeping the truth alive, Chunk.

torabora said...

5:06 I certainly never looked at graduation as being "for the students". It seemed to me that the whole exercise was designed to please the folks who put it on. It was their party, not mine.

I had the system wired from the start. No High School graduation "ceremony" for me, No Siree! I heard,because I wasn't there, I got the diplomas out of order. The kid who got mine threw it on the ground where it became the litter it deserved. I couldn't wait to escape my prison like existence there. God, it was awful! I spent my graduation day floating down the American River in an inner tube. That beat school any day!!!

I managed to sweet talk my Company Commander in boot camp and got out of that dog and pony show giving directions in the parking lot.

Same goes for my college degree. I paid for the damned thing....why would I want to spend one more minute than necessary on it?

No bad on those who enjoy panoply and ceremony, it's just not for everybody.

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...