Marvelously succinct!

When I was a child people simply looked about them and were moderately happy; today they peer beyond the seven seas, bury themselves waist deep in tidings, and by and large what they see and hear makes them unutterably sad.

—E.B. White

Today, Angus Johnston's Student Activism (Southwestern College: Unanswered Questions) provides a marvelously succinct update on the Southwestern scandal:

The three faculty members suspended from Southwestern College after a budget protest two weeks ago returned to their jobs on Thursday, but the situation is far from resolved.

Earlier this week college officials floated the possibility that the profs might face criminal charges as a result of their actions, though police at the scene of the protest made no arrests and the only detailed eyewitness report available indicates that the entire event was peaceful and uneventful.

And yesterday the local blog Save Our Southwestern College reported that formal letters of reprimand are to be placed in each suspended professor’s file.

As SOSC notes, SWC has yet to provide any coherent public account of its seemingly erratic actions in the wake of the protest.

Meanwhile SWC president Raj Chopra, who went on vacation just hours after the suspensions were handed down, remains absent and incommunicado.

I think I’ll have my students read this. E.B. White would be proud. —BT

Pictured: White with mutt

Chapman U: from selflessness to selfishness

Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.

—Albert Schweitzer

Chapman president earns more than U.S. president

That’s right. The OC Reg’s Gary Robbins has been reading the Chronicle of Higher Ed, where he learned that the obnoxiously omnipresent Mr. James Doti, Chapman’s Prez, makes, well, a buttload of money ($467,516)—and that doesn’t even include the “5,000 square-foot home in Villa Park that’s provided by the university.”

A couple of days ago, Robbins reported that Chapman was about to dedicate Ayn Rand's bust (Chapman dedicating statue of Ayn Rand today).

Robbins provided a summary of the philosopher's views from the New York Times:

“In Rand’s view, selfishness was good and altruism was evil, and the welfare of society was always subordinate to the self-interest of individuals, especially superior ones. In some ways, Objectivism is an extreme form of laissez-faire capitalism, a view that Rand came to naturally.”

That sounds about right.

According to Robbins, Rand’s “basic beliefs have recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest on many college campuses and among more Conservative and Libertarian thinkers.”

Jeez, before Doti came along, Chapman’s grounds were punctuated with tributes to Albert Schweitzer, the humanitarian.

My recommendation: have a Schweitzer/Rand Celebrity Deathmatch.

And now for something completely different...


Hot late 60s live performance—Lee

"Chicks were born to give you fever, whether Fahrenheit of Centigrade."

Now, if you don't like that—well, first off, if you don't like that, you're some kinda tin-eared asshole—but if you don't like it, you're bound to like this old nugget from the Beastie Boys c. 1992. They're channelin' the great Jimi H. Oldsters, pay attention to the bass line. Work up from there. —BT

* * * * *

Let's ask Arellano (Lariat)

Oops, missed this one: ”Gustavo Arellano will be a Guest speaker at Saddleback College on Nov., 3, from 12 p.m. to 1p.m. in room 212 of the Student Services Center.”

Oops #2:

I just noticed this at CSU Fullerton, News and Info:

Evidently, there was an event this morning at Cal State Fullerton, honoring Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans.

The CSUF announcement, evidently posted on the 29th of Oct., said:

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, will deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual Veterans Day celebration at Cal State Fullerton. This year’s event will pay tribute to Mexican American veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“For the last 12 years, Latino Advocates for Education, in association with Cal State Fullerton, has saluted our Mexican American veterans,” said Orange County Superior Court Judge Frederick P. Aguirre, president of Latino Advocates for Education….
…
Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq from 2003-04, was in charge of the forces that captured Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn….
Sanchez’s memoir, “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story,” published last year by HarperCollins, presents his own critique of the Iraq War, including an insider’s account of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Photo depicts a still youthful and impressionable B. Traven

Black letter day for The Southwestern Three

Our pals at Save Our Southwestern College (SOSC) have posted that It's NOT Over.

As you know, the three “suspended” instructors—Dinorah Guadiana-Costa, Philip Lopez, and Andrew Rempt—were allowed to enter campus again yesterday.

Yeah, but they also received letters of reprimand, signed by “acting” President Nicholas Alioto (Prez Chopra is away on vacation).

Placing such a letter in an instructor’s file is a prerequisite for taking action against him. —You know: for firing him.

SOSC notes that

the content of those letters cannot be released, but they are largely based on the results of an “independent investigation" conducted by a contracted lawyer … who claims to have consulted many "witnesses." The witnesses are not identified; however, given the investigator's conclusions, we can be fairly certain that people within feet of what happened were not consulted. Individuals who were there have repeatedly stated that they witnessed no incitement to riot, no disregard of police orders, and no physical confrontation.

Evidently, the investigator’s “public report” should be available. THE THREE have asked for a copy.

No can do.

Stay tuned.

As you know, there is a type of trustee who views faculty as "just employees" who, like employees generally, need to "follow orders" and "toe the line."

Evidently, the Southwestern Community College District board is dominated by such people. They are very rapidly attaining a reputation for Neanderthalitude.

* * * * *
Janet Wilson at the OC Weekly: The Gift That Keeps On Taking 
• Don Bren’s Irvine Ranch Conservancy wants $20 million in public funds to manage land that he’s ‘giving’ the county

Iraqis. Boy, are they dumb!

Physicist and pesky logical trouble-maker Bob Park today reports several lunacies, including:

There it was, on the front page of the New York Times: the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1500 devices known as the ADE 651 to use at checkpoints. [ADE] stands for Advanced Detection of Explosives.

The 651 is the latest detection device marketed by ATSC (UK) Ltd. It consists of a thin rod mounted on a swivel held by pistol grip…. That's all it is, there are no sensors.

According to Rod Nordland who wrote the article, a retired USAF officer said the device is nothing more than an explosives divining rod. The stupid Iraqis don't know this and paid $16,500-$60,000 each for them, even though American officers told them the devices are worthless. Boy, are they dumb!

Wait! The NYT failed to mention that the US Department of Defense was sold on these devices back in the 90s. Although [that] was classified, they tipped off their favorite novelist, Tom Clancy, that the incredible device could detect people through thick walls by sensing their heartbeats. It was the basis of "Rainbow Six."

It was a scam. Thousands of similar devices are still in use by local police around the country to satisfy "probable cause" requirements for a property search.

ATSC also sells a narcotic detector, but it's exactly the same device....

Meanwhile, in Texas...

from this morning's Inside Higher Ed:

Community College Sued Over Limits on Rallies

Two students -- backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education -- are suing the Tarrant County College District, charging that its limits on rallies are violations of First Amendment rights, the Associated Press reported. The college permits protest activities only in a limited free speech zone, and requires advance permission to schedule events there. College officials say that the rules are consistent with federal and state requirements. But the students say that they are being blocked from engaging in legitimate protest. The students want to rally on behalf of the right to carry concealed weapons on campus and they say that they are being barred from wearing empty holsters on campus as an expression of their views.

According to the AP report:
The students plan to participate in a nationwide demonstration next week known as "empty holster protests," calling attention to police forbidding concealed weapons on campus.

The Huffington Post takes note of the Southwestern College Scandal

by REBEL GIRL

It's true.

Ariana Huffington's preeminent newsblog has noted the ongoing crisis at Southwestern College.

Excerpt:

Professors Suspended At Californian College for Peacefully Protesting Outside of "Free Speech Patio"

If speaking your mind about issues facing the college where you teach—or even just joining a group of students doing the same—sounds to you like a reasonable thing for a professor to do, then you might want to stay away from Southwestern College in California.

Read the rest by clicking here.

P.S.: I just noticed. The HP piece has added the following:

UPDATE 11/05/2009: FIRE confirmed that, as of this morning, the professors who had been banned were allowed to return to campus.

See also
• Criminal Charges Possible For Professors' Role In Protest (10 News)
• Suspended Instructors Return, and Faculty, Staff, and Students Rally (S0SC)

Photo of the after-rally incident (showing police and Phil Lopez) from Sun, 9/25: Students rally against cuts to class schedule

Roy Bauer, signing off

I’ll simply repeat something I wrote earlier today:

In my experience—as a writer for what is essentially a newsletter in the "watchdog" tradition—one encounters the greatest pushback, not when one gets things wrong, but when one gets things right.

Things are getting dicey. Might have to lay low for a while. Maybe a long while. I don't want to do that. I haven't in the past. But I'm getting tired of this. Really tired. –R

From Christmas card, James Irvine II, ca. 1929

From Orange Public Library digital archive

James Irvine, II and friends, Irvine Ranch, ca. 1890

From Orange Public Library digital archive

Spanky, aka "Book Burner Don"

The Orange Juice blog today posted some campaign copy that's being used by Don Wagner’s Democratic competitor for the 70 AD, Melissa Fox:

A Right-Wing Extremist or Melissa Fox?

Will it be one of two extreme far right-wing ideologues or will it be progressive candidate Melissa Fox?
…
Far right-wing extremist Number 1 is Jerry Amante….
…
Far right-wing extremist Number 2 is Don Wagner – known as “Book Burner Don” because of his vitriolic attacks on the non-partisan American Library Association — who has called for the infliction of corporal punishment on our kids in elementary school….

Hey! Sounds like Ms. Fox has read Dissent! (See Trustee SPANKY on your right to “pack a gun”.)

We wish her luck.

Fashionable?—YES. Nonpartisan?—NOT SO MUCH.

TRUSTEES 'R' REPUBLICANS 'R' TRUSTEES. Today, Tracy D sent out a district “Update,” which has news about H1N1, Jim Wright—and something entitled “Leadership in Fashion.”

Mention was made of this "fashion" thing at the last board meeting. It seems that at least three trustees (note: according to the Brown Act, if four of 'em gather, it’s a board meet!) and one Chancellor attended a recent event put on by the Laguna Woods Village Republican Club, namely, “their biennial Great Ones on Parade IX Fashion Show.”

Writes Tracy: “The models” [—and "Great Ones," I guess—] “included Board Vice President John S. Williams, Trustees Marcia Milchiker and Nancy M. Padberg, and Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur.”

Every damn one of our trustees is a Republican, you know. Mathur too. (Go to the OC GOP site. He's listed there as the chair of the Rat Bastard Republicans.)

I checked, and Laguna Woods Village lists an unbelievably long list of clubs. Seems like there’s a club for every geezer there. Most of the clubs are just what you’d expect, though I was intrigued by the existence of a “Parapsychology Club.”

I couldn’t find a “Birther” or “Obama is a Muslim” club. Maybe that stuff gets covered at the "parapsychology" get-togethers. Could be.

Sure enough, there’s a Republican Club. A Democratic Club, too.

I dunno. Seems to me there’s something unseemly about three trustees and the chancellor showing up at a subdivision of the Republican Party. (Go to the county GOP website. LWV's Repub Club is listed.)

GLAD TO MAKE THE CORRECTION. Earlier today, I ran into someone who assured me that something we reported back on the 27th of October was factually erroneous.

On that post (About last night), I wrote:

In recent weeks, various people have been telling me to look for [“Dean of Academic Programs, Student Learning, and Research”] (that “new” dean position) to appear on the agenda for the board’s October meeting. … But [when the agenda came out,] it was nowhere to be found.

OK, all of that is true. Then I said:

Today, several people informed me that, at last night’s board meeting, during the closed session, Don Wagner was hopping mad (at Mathur?) that the DAPS item had been “pulled” from (or had not been placed on) the agenda.

As far as I know, the only thing allegedly erroneous about the above is when Don was described as having “hopped madly.” Evidently, it was before, not during, the closed session.

Glad to make the correction.

IS THERE A 50% EMERGENCY? After the Oct 26 Board Meeting (”Let’s kill all the lawyers” [said the trustee], I reported the following:

The board checked out the two colleges’ faculty hiring priority lists. Lang wanted to get a ballpark figure of how many of these hires would be pursued. [Chancellor Raghu] Mathur yammered for a while about how we’ve gotta keep an eye on the 50% Law (which requires that at least half of expenditures go to faculty salaries and benefits), blah, blah, blah. He couldn't give a “definitive” number. But Lang kept pressing, asking for an “educated guess,” and so Mathur spit out “20-25,” though I think I heard somebody yell “30.” Lang just smiled that dubious Milquetoast smile of his.

At the time, it seemed to me that there was more than the usual tension in the air during this exchange. Lang really did seem dissatisfied with Mathur’s answer. Mathur really did seem unwilling to give a number. What was that about?

But, since that time, odd things have begun to happen that suggest that the district is scrambling to increase “instructional” spending. That’s exactly what you've gotta do when you're in danger of crossing the 50% line.

You’ll recall that, a couple of years ago, Mathur acknowledged that he had allowed the proportion of non-instructional spending to grow ever closer to the 50% mark. The situation was so dire that the district was forced to hire 40 or so faculty in one semester!

I recall trustee Wagner saying something like, “this is no way to hire faculty.” (See Mathurian fiasco.)

Well, duh.

And here we go again.

Send thank-you notes to Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur.

A “JAWS” MOMENT. The OC Reg’s “Science Dude” reported today Richard Dreyfuss' visit to Chapman U ( Dreyfuss picks UFOs over kids during Chapman talk).

… a different audience member asked [Dreyfuss] if it was true that he and the late Robert Shaw didn’t get along while they were making “Jaws.” Dreyfuss talked about Shaw’s well-documented problems with alcoholism. But he also told a heartbreaking story about how Shaw sobered up and delivered the famous speech in which his character (Quint) recounts the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, a tale from World War II that is actually true.

I thought the Chapman audience was going to cry. The crowd in Folino Theater went absolutely silent.

FIRE's letter to Chopra

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) announced today that it has “intervened” in the “Southwestern College suspended faculty” case. (See FIRE intervenes)

It asserts that:

FIRE has written a letter to the Superintendent/President of California's Southwestern College (SWC), Raj K. Chopra, regarding SWC's suspension of three faculty members who were with a group of students who strayed beyond SWC's "free speech area" in order to speak with Chopra after their scheduled protest of various SWC actions. The letter draws attention to the several violations of the speech, assembly, and due process rights of the professors, who were banned from campus and ordered not to use campus e-mail or other campus resources. 

The letter also analyzes the unconstitutional provisions of SWC's speech policy. Free speech at SWC is restricted to a single "free speech patio" that occupies a very small percentage of the campus. 
The controversy, which already has received national press coverage, has generated significant outrage on campus. One student even made the following T-shirt, which sold out almost instantly [see above].

Read the letter here.

Mad as Hell tells us that this is her favorite part:

A public liberal arts college such as SWC should be seeking at all times to expand open discourse, to develop intellectual inquiry, and to engage and challenge the way people think. Contrastingly, a college that is intolerant of the often messy reality of a free society—for example, the need to make painful funding decisions that will affect college students and faculty members—is incapable of teaching students to live in freedom. SWC's actions send the message that speech that is unpopular with the authorities is to be feared, restrained, and monitored. This message is completely incompatible with a free society and stands in stark opposition to the ideals of higher education.

 Yes, indeed.

Matt Coker posted this hilarious video from YouTube that's about the current crop of noisy right-wing Republicans. It  mimics those iPhone commercials:

Out at Peters Lake, 2008

Peters Lake (near Irvine Park), 1949. Evidently, in January of that year, it snowed! (Got this from the OC Public Library archive.)

George Orwell's Southwestern College

Wackiness and Orwellian weirdness persist at Southwestern College. Today’s Save Our Southwestern College blog updates us on the "suspended dissenting faculty" situation:

The college has referred the case to the San Diego County District Attorney. An online case search suggests that a case number has not yet been assigned, so we have no further information.

The DA? That sounds pretty serious.

Meanwhile, yesterday, the college district issued the following:

The district had scheduled hearings at the request of three individuals…. Those individuals have withdrawn their request for hearings. … The Human Resources Department is diligently moving to conclude the investigation on this matter in the hopes that it can be resolved and that the three individuals may be returned to campus this week. We are unable to answer any questions with regard to this matter at this time.

Hoping they return? But what about the DA thing? That doesn't seem quite so hopeful.

Naturally, these developments raise a number of questions, and folks at the college are asking them. See We Want Answers NOW!

This intimidation gambit (plus rope-a-dope) is kind of amazing, isn't it?

Brings back memories. I seem to recall a case a few years ago in which a persistent critic of the SOCCCD board and administration was accused, by the district, of violence and discrimination, on the basis of plainly non-violent and non-discriminatory language in a newsletter (Dissent). He was ordered to anger management counseling.

The first federal judge called the district's actions against me "Orwellian." So far, this Southwestern College thing is looking pretty Orwellian too. I can't imagine what those three guys are thinking. —I mean, besides "WTF!"

Casino night at the college: fun photos

If I'd o' showed up, I would o' come as freakin' Rin-Tin-Tin.

Something called “Casino Night” occurred at Irvine Valley College two weeks ago. Its theme: Hollywood: past and present. Evidently, it was a fundraiser put on by the IVC Foundation.

Near as I can tell, the event was successful. Looks like people had fun. I could speculate further, but this is a family blog.

Some dames.

All proceeds have gone to provide IVC student scholarships. That’s great.

A friend alerted me to a website that offers quite a few photos from that night. Looks like you can buy ‘em. See: 2009 Casino Night

Evidently, Craig Justice was born to play a spiv or a mafioso.
Hell, maybe he IS one. Could be.

Pace, Craig.

I’ve included four of the photos here (I've greatly reduced and cropped them so as to make them worthless and undesirable), but you really oughta check ‘em all out yourself. There was a band and Republican decadence, too. I'm not sure kids oughta have access to these photos.

Among the participants: Trustees Wagner and Fuentes; IVC President Glenn Roquemore; former Saddleback College President Rich McCullough. Lots of dames.

Glenn obviously got into this whole dang thing.
Looks like he's about to launch into a back-room deal.

Rich looks dubious.

If it quacks like a duck...

Inside Higher Ed has an update on the Southwestern “faculty suspension” story: When Is a Suspension Not a Suspension?

On Friday, Angelica L. Suarez, vice president for student affairs at the college, contacted Inside Higher Ed to say that reports … that professors had been suspended were incorrect. She said that because the professors have not been formally charged with anything or found to have done anything wrong, they can't be suspended, because that would be punishment….

Suarez also said that … the college was investigating incidents that followed the formal rally, when some students walked to the president's office to demand answers to various questions. … ¶ The investigation centers on questions over whether any professors incited the students to continue their rally, whether they showed "disregard" for campus officers and whether they had a "physical confrontation" with the officers. Asked if there was any evidence that anyone at the protest had even touched a police officer, Suarez declined to answer.

… Anger has been growing on campus not only over the suspensions, but the lack of clarity over why they were ordered. Suarez said that the decision to take action against the professors was made by the college's president, Raj Chopra, but that he started a vacation the next day….

The college's latest action has prompted some college employees who witnessed the [rally] to publish accounts in which they say none of the allegations being investigated are true.
…
Philip Lopez, an English professor who is president of the faculty union and who is one of those being investigated and barred from campus, said that he and his colleagues feel like they are experiencing "something out of Kafka" in that they are being assumed guilty of rules they didn't violate and aren't officially charged with violating.
…
As to what the college is investigating, he said that there was no contact at all between those protesting and the police officers, and that faculty members followed the students, and didn't lead them. Lopez noted that physically clashing with a police officer would be a crime, and that police officers were present and could have arrested anyone who broke the law, yet they made no arrests.

Anyone who knows the professors, Lopez said, would know that they aren't people who could physically challenge police officers. "The only exercise I get is running off my mouth," he said.<

I took this picture of what's left of the chapel in 2008.

Oddly, they seem to have disappeared!

Today, those wacky dissenters on Save Our Southwestern College do a follow-up on yesterday’s story of a San Diego Union Tribune (UT) editorial that praised the odious Southwestern College President Chopra. Virtually all comments that the editorial attracted were scathing denuciations of Chopra and the editorial.

So guess what happened next?

Oddly, online comments on yesterday's … Union Tribune editorial … seem to have disappeared. (The editorial itself is intact.) Also missing are two letters to the editor in support of the suspended professors.

Possibly, the online UT is undergoing some formatting changes, and the missing items are the result of a technical glitch. Not to worry. We were able to recover the items, and in the interests of helping out the UT, we present them here.

Check it out: SOSC.

OC's claim to fame

Four famous photos that have always defied explanation

Did you see those UFO pics in Friday’s OC Register? (OC's moment in UFO history)

Evidently, University of Hartford econ professor Dom Armentano thinks that these familiar—even iconic—Polaroids are pretty special. They were taken by Rex Heflin in Tustin, at Walnut and Myford, in 1965. And, according to Amentano, they don’t seem to be a product of hoaxery.

Guess so. Still, that flying saucer sure does look like something somebody found in their mom's attic.

Recent reanalysis gives this one an official okey-dokey.

They say that the famous Tustin hangers were made to house blimps, but that never really made much sense, now did it?

WW II listening post, Irvine, ca. 1943

WW II listening post with volunteer, Gertrude Cleary, Irvine, ca. 1943

Irvine photos from Orange County Public Library digital media.

Above and below from "Titans of History"