1. TRUSTEE VISIT. Yesterday (Nov. 8), Trustee Nancy Padberg and Student Trustee Paul Ho toured Irvine Valley College and met with faculty, students, and staff. By the time I ran into them—at about noon—they had been joined by a couple of administrators that Paul had snagged.
As we neared A400, Paul had the bright idea of showing Nancy “our cadaver.” Yes, Dissent readers, IVC’s biology faculty secured their own human cadaver--maybe a coupla years ago. I guess that's why A400 sometimes gets seriously funky.
Something told me that Trustee Padberg would rather pass on the cadaver meet ‘n’ greet. Luckily, class was in session, and the cadaver was occupied. Whew!
Soon, our little group wandered into A200, which houses thirty or forty faculty offices, including the offices of most of the School of Humanities and Languages. It is no secret that Chancellor Mathur has long viewed H&L as a cesspool of devilish connivery, comprising a "core" of troublemakers who have expended prodigious energy over the years in an effort to thwart the administrative career of Goo and the interests “of the students.” Well, that’s nonsense, but the poor fellow believes it. As a consequence, despite its unequalled contribution to WSCH, H&L has some of the lousiest facilities and digs to be found in the district. Check it out!
At one end of A200 is the hideous zone we ruefully refer to as “the lounge.” It sports a linoleum floor, two cheesy desks, a motley assortment of stinkoid chairs, a microwave oven (which occasionally reeks of fish), a crummy little couch, and a large plastic tree. (See picture.) Students seem to use the “lounge” as a study hall. I found a banana there once.
Well, because of its centrality, “the lounge” was an unavoidable part of Nancy and Paul's tour. I don't know what Nancy thought of it, but I bet she was pissed, boy. I wouldn't be surprised if, later, she grabbed Glenn's ear again, and yanked him all the way into A200. She does that sort of thing. And why not?
Everyone was on their best behavior and seemed genuinely glad to visit with Nancy and Paul. People were smilin' pretty hard, but not in a phony way. I have no doubt that Trustee Padberg, too, was persuaded that she is more than welcome, and that she really ought to visit regularly.
I had to leave for my 12:30 class, but it sounds like the rest of Nancy and Paul’s tour was a great success.
I consulted the grape vine and it's sayin' that Paul caught some administrative flack for failing to inform Roquemore about this little visit. Actually, he tried to inform Glenn, but, as usual, Glenn was out to lunch. But by what logic is Trustee Paul obliged to run things by Roquemore? Or Mathur? Who do these people think they are, anyway?
We at Dissent speak for many faculty, I’m sure, when we say that we welcome visits from trustees. It is unfortunate that the board relies on Chancellor Mathur for information, as it seems to. I do believe that the fellow has convinced several trustees that faculty are lazy and overpaid troublemakers who seek to destroy the college. The truth, of course, is far otherwise.
Trustees, please visit! The truth is out there!
2. AGENDA ODDITIES. I’ve had a chance to look over the agenda for Monday’s board meeting. I noticed two peculiarities. First, it doesn’t seem to mention the new and improved “faculty hiring policy” that was hammered out and agreed upon by a committee representing the district and the faculty. It has been approved by the academic senates. All that remains is board approval.
Why on earth has Mathur left it off the agenda?
Dunno. But consider this. At the December board meeting, the board nominates and selects its new officers. If you put two and two together, then you get: trustee Fuentes might be our next board president. Think about THAT.
UPDATE (Nov. 11): Evidently, board president Lang has been apprised of the omission of the hiring policy from Monday's agenda; I have been told that he has offered assurances that the item will be included for Monday.
Second peculiarity: item #19 is mighty curious:
SOCCCD: CONSULTANT FOR PRIVATE INVESTIGATION SERVICES.
Agreement with Norman A Traub Associates for an amount not to exceed $10,000.
I’ve been told that Traub has been hired to look into harassment complaints. What’s that all about? Could be nothin', I guess. Does anybody know?
UPDATE (Nov. 11): I have spoken with an administrator about this; "they" assure me that the hire of Traub is nothing that warrants alarm. One curious fact though: Monday's item concerns a contract that extends from July of '05 to June of '06. If Traub has done work since July, why is the matter up for approval now?
3. PIPER AGAIN. Back in 1998, Trustee Frogue managed to attract the interest of lots of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the rest of the unsavory Liberty Lobby crowd. That came about because, in 1997, the Board had voted to approve a forum on the Warren Commission that involved inviting four conspiracy nuts, including a reporter for “Spotlight” magazine, Michael Collins Piper. But then the excrement hit the fan, and so Frogue cancelled the forum. That pissed off Mr. Piper, who was desperate for recognition or notoriety. It probably didn't help that, in press interviews, I had called him a "crackpot." [Piper's ultimate fate: HERE.]
Piper then wrote me (and Trustee Michliker) a series of letters. In my case, the letters were punctuated by the colorful noun "motherfucker." In June of '98, I read one of these letters to the board to indicate what sort of “scholar” they had voted to invite to Saddleback College. (See Archives, January and June, 1998.) Upon reading Mr. Piper's colorful prose, I said something like, “I know lots of scholars, and they almost never use the term ‘motherfucker.’” That got a laugh. Even Irv Rubin laughed.
But some of these letters included veiled threats. I told the district about it, and so did Marcia. The district didn’t seem to care. When Raghu told the board that he had received "mail threats" (and about a dozen other threats, none of which he kept, he acknowledged, during a deposition a year or two later), they gave the frightened fellow a "security stipend." Me and Marcia: we got zilch, even though we had real letters to show.
As you know, not long ago, I received a letter from Frogue, inviting me to join him for a fried chicken snack and a beer. He was pretty friendly, not at all threatening.
But now I’ve received a letter from one Joseph Forbes of Pittsburgh, PA. I quickly Googled Forbes with “Liberty Lobby” and found that his name comes up on some of the wackier JFK assassination conspiracy websites.
In his letter, he defends Piper, evidently responding to my having designated Piper a “crackpot.” At one point, he writes: “The Jews are in fact extremely powerful and totally ruthless, and their first loyalty is to Israel. It is entirely plausible that they could’ve killed JFK because he opposed Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. The Mossad is tight with the CIA and JFK wanted to destroy the CIA….” --It's the usual claptrap.
At the end of the letter, he declares, “Bauer’s book is well-researched and not a ‘crackpot’ exercise.”
Bauer’s book?
Why are these people such knuckleheads?
—CW
4. PESKY NEW GOALS (Nov. 11):
CRAPITUDINAL UNDERSCORAGE:
At the last board meeting, the new "Chancellor goals" were not revealed. The IVC Academic Senate Prez asked if the public should not be allowed to see them. The board was dismissive.
To date, no one has seen the chancellor’s goals. They remain a mystery.
Well, here's the latest:
On Thursday (Nov. 10), during the IVC Academic Senate Rep Council meeting, the IVC Senate voted to endorse the Saddleback College Academic Senate’s revisions of the board’s “district” and “trustee” goals. The idea seemed to be that these goals, despite the expense in producing them (a consultant, it appears, was paid $6K to help out), are lousy--they sometimes refer to items already accomplished and they generally look as though they were penned by fidgety third graders. So the Saddleback senate acted to offer revisions (and additions) that underscored the new goals' crapitude. On Thursday, the IVC senate decided to endorse Saddleback’s crapitudinal underscorage.
No doubt, the Board will look at these edits and throw them in the trash: "We don't need no stinkin' edits!"
THE SECRET "CHANCELLOR" GOALS:
But after the IVC Senate signed on to Saddleback's edits/rewrites of district and trustee goals, I raised a question. Have we yet seen the new Chancellor’s goals? Senate Prez Wendy explained that it is evidently the Board’s position that the Chancellor’s goals are “not a public document.” District lawyer Warren Kinsler seemed to be her source.
Some senators opined that, even if there were some legal justification for keeping these goals secret, why on earth would the board choose not to reveal them?
So the IVC Acadamic Senate voted (unanimously, I think) in favor of a motion to ask the Board to make the new "Chancellor's goals" public.
This could turn out to be a juicy little story. Be on the lookout for Red Emma's take on the secret Chancellor's goals! --CW
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2 comments:
For the record, the snazzy A-200 "lounge" no longer has a refrigerator. One was stolen years ago and its replacement met a sad demise.
There is a microwave though and a large plastic tree.
Be grateful.
Strange Bacon:
Thanks for the correction. I made the change accordingly.
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