The Devil's droppings

Ran into a coupla faculty leaders yesterday, who told me about their big meeting with Chancellor Mathur down at the district.

They were meeting with him ‘cause Title 5 and district bylaws say that the faculty (faculty senates) should be relied upon primarily in developing the planning process(es). Nevertheless, Raghu went ahead and developed his own process and then showed it to everybody like it was a done deal. And, like always, it’s a doozy.

Remember the “faculty hiring policy” rumpus? That was pretty much the same situation. The law says that the faculty are supposed to be in on the development of faculty hiring policies, and so, naturally, Mr. Goo went ahead and developed a policy on his own—and it was another doozy!—and then he informed everybody, including faculty. “Here’s our new policy; deal with it.”

We told ‘em then like we’re tellin’ ‘em now! Hey, we’re supposed to be in on this, so back off! But no.

We tried and tried to get ‘em to change their minds, but it was no good.


So we went to court, and the judge said right off that the district is supposed to include faculty in developing these policies, so there. There were a coupla more legal adventures—they took two years—but, in the end, the faculty fully prevailed, and the district had to return to square one developing a hiring policy, only, this time, faculty had to be at the table.

Like we always said.

Now, the rules regarding the development of a planning process are as clear as a bell. They say that the district is supposed to rely primarily on faculty. (See They violate Title 5.) But Raghu and his trustee pals say No.

Are they stupid or what? Just how hard is this to understand?

It appears that Raghu keeps telling trustees that faculty want to do the planning for the district all by their little lonesome, but THAT’S NOT THE POINT AT ALL. No, the point is that, according to the rules, including the district’s own policies, faculty are supposed to be primarily relied upon with regard to developing a planning process.

(If you’ve got a brain, you’ll notice the difference between “developing a planning process” and “doing the goshdarn planning.” It’s not rocket science!)

Hell, and we’re not even insisting on being the sole developer! We’re happy to share this developmental gig with the district! “Let’s get together and do this right!” That’s what we’re saying!

But these trustees can’t read or can’t think, I guess. They’re thick. And they’re always thick in the particular way that makes them bigger, stronger—until we go to court and have judges smack ‘em down to size.


Anyway, so I ran into these faculty leaders, and they told me about this meeting they had with the Chancellor. The two Academic Senates have told their leaders that, if the district doesn’t back off, then we’ll have to take the matter up with the State Chancellor’s Office. That is, in that event, we oughta file a “minimum conditions complaint” (MCC).

So Wendy and Claire, et al., try to get the district—including head trustee Dave Lang—to show up to a meeting so that the matter can be cleared up and no MCC will be necessary. (We’re so cooperative!) But that’s like pulling teeth. Mathur gets all squirrely. Lang won’t show because he’s got his head up his a** as usual.

What’s the matter with the guy?

But, at long last, Mathur agrees to a meeting, and so one gets set up for two days ago. Now, when you meet with Raghu, you’ve gotta bring friends, because he’s wily and he’s a liar, bigtime. And so you’ve always got to bring witnesses. So maybe that was the thinking—I dunno—behind Wendy and Claire’s idea that they should show up with their respective cabinets—and that’s, like, ten people or so.


So, anyway, they drive over to HS, and they go through the special sentry and whatnot (you can’t just enter the district offices—even the door from the stairs is locked! What's a taxpayer to do?), and they finally make it to Rubina, the gal outside the Great Man’s enclave. They say, “well, we’re here for the meeting,” and Rubina tells Raghu over the phone. So, soon, they’re heading in there, all ten of ‘em! Raghu’s jaw drops, and then he starts in on his rat-faced look. You’ve seen that, I’m sure.

But he mostly keeps his cool, except when people call him “Raghu,” cuz he thinks he’s better than faculty, and he oughta be called “Chancellor Mathur” or “Herr Doktor Mathur” or whatnot.

Well, he loses it in a coupla places, but mostly things go OK and it’s decided that there’s gonna be A TASK FORCE. That’s right, a task force.

Well, we all know what that means. This thing is gonna be talked to death for a few weeks. But, in the end, Raghu and his pals will do like they always do: they’re gonna flout the rules and do just what they wanna do ‘cause they’re law-breaking *** *******s. And that’s the way it is, and that’s the way it’s been, and, well, too bad there’s no God to swoop down and smite these people (not too hard) and then announce on His Divine bullhorn that “here stand some *** *******s who think they’re My people when in fact they’re just the devil’s droppings stinkin' up My World!.”

“—Or worse!”