Who will provide "oversight" of the SOCCCD Chancellor hire?

Item 6.1 of the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees concerns “Chancellor Recruitment.” The board will “discuss and take appropriate action on recruitment of [the] new Chancellor.”

Included in the agenda item is Board Policy 4011.6: Employment Procedures for Chancellor. Section 1, point 7 of this policy concerns “oversight”:

According to 4011.6, the Chancellor or Board designee “will appoint the search committee….” Further, according to the policy, the Chancellor or Board designee will select the committee chair.

I don’t know about you, but I will quickly cease to have confidence in the search and hiring process if Raghu Mathur is chosen as the provider of oversight of the hiring process.

Two weeks ago, I contacted IVC’s Academic Senate cabinet, requesting that they agendize something (e.g., a senate discussion) that might yield some action to encourage an honest and professional Chancellor hire. As a result (I suppose—the cabinet doesn’t communicate with me, evidently) some sort of “Chancellor search” item did appear on the agenda of last week’s senate meeting, but the meeting ran long and the item was put off until the meeting of the 25th.

But it now appears that an important decision regarding the integrity of this search/hire might be made on Monday, the 22nd—naming the Oversight Person for the hiring process. The agenda item does not make that clear.

Mathur has a history of manipulating administrative searches.

A few years ago, during the trial for a civil suit—a widely-respected and experienced applicant accused Mathur of discrimination in a dean hiring process that yielded a stunningly disastrous hire—attorneys pursued whether Mathur had done “reference checks”—i.e., calling and verifying references listed on the selected candidate’s application. As I recall, it appeared that, had the reference checks been done or had they been done competently, important damning information about Mr. Disaster’s history would have come to light.

In court, to the amazement of observers, Mathur stated that, somehow, the form that documented these reference checks (he was supposed to have done them) had been lost.

Lost?

Yes, lost.

Item 5.13 concerns a speaker for the IVC Academic Senate “Distinguished Academic Lecture Series.” In April, Jazz man (and UCI professor) Kei Akagi will present “message of jazz.” He will receive $2,400 for travel expenses/honorarium. (Presumably, this is an honorarium.)

Oddly, this has been added to item 5.13:

We're renting or leasing a Lexus? For whom?

Comments:

Anonymous said... — Yes, the Chance is good [at] losing or discovering information "vital" to the district (aka "him"). 5:45 AM, February 20, 2010
Anonymous said... — Usually the senate meetings run long because a self important philosophy instructor talks too much... 7:28 AM
Bob Cosgrove said... — You know, at the Saddleback Senate we relish having folks who engage, even when we disagree. Senates are forums for different views on topics of concern. Be happy that you have someone who is ethical and thinks.
IVC has had a series of excellent Senates over the years and I know since I have attended many of them. Your Senate has been receptive and skeptical of some of the ideas we have shared with you and you with us.
But the exchanges often identified common ground. 7:44 AM
Anonymous said... — 7:28, as I recall, that instructor barely spoke. He did recommend a change that was ultimately endorsed by the senators. 8:16 AM
Anonymous said... — I like the fact that ideas ARE discussed in the Senate -- that the Senators are asked to cosider -- and not just rubber stamp agenda items. In general, if the meetings run over -- it's a matter of minutes. Everyone knows that. Senate meetings are from 2-4.
(same with curriculum -- or used to be -- items read and discussed -- now it's not -- people bragging in the meeting that they don't read the stuff and never will) 8:18 AM
Anonymous said... — Face it, many people resent doing their jobs, fulfilling their responsibilities. They just want their paychecks and the shortest work day possible. 8:54 AM
Anonymous said... — Oversight? yeah right. 9:42 AM
Anonymous said... — Gee, hard to see how looking out for ethical integrity and thoughtful consideration of crucial issues to the welfare of the District translates into "self-important." 

"Self-sacrificing," yes--especially when those lacking that sense of integrity or work ethic simply attack.

Thanks Bob, for putting it well: "Be happy that you have someone who is ethical and thinks." I wish he had more company in the Senate in that respect. 10:39 AM
Bob Cosgrove said... — The Lexis issue—land that was not being used by Saddleback or probably will be. Lexis needed an area to park vehicles. It did not go through the process, unfortunately, for discussion. It was a done deal.
We do receive some money and a new entry way from that side of the college.
The trade off seems ok. 11:34 AM
Brenda Borron said... — I am proud that Roy Bauer is my representative to the Senate. I am proud that he brings courage, integrity, and thought to the Senate meetings. We have all been trained to ask questions, to challenge prevailing ideas, to get to the bottom of things. Surely, if nothing else, our experiences at IVC during the early years of this decade must have taught us that we must be ever vigilant, that we must do the things that we ask our students to do: read critically,think deeply, write persuasively and honestly. That someone would contend that we can be "talk[ing] too much" about the serious issues that confront us — issues that the School of Humanities, through our elected representative, Roy Bauer addresses in Senate meetings — is perplexing to me.
If we are not willing to spend a few extra minutes at meetings of the Senate and the union in order to understand issues, communicate those issues to our membership, call for discussion, and vote as REPRESENTATIVES of our schools, why even bother?
We call it "shared governance" for a reason. All of us share in the governance of the Senate, and we do so through our elected representatives. "Thank you, Roy" is something I often say to Roy privately. Now I'm thanking 7:28 for giving me an opportunity to say it publicly. 11:51 AM
B. von Traven said... — Garsh, thanks. Naturally, our school has two senators, and my colleague has turned out to be excellent. Totally reliable, and she soaks up info lots better than I do. My mind is a sieve. 12:07 PM