It’s been a wild week. On Tuesday, I heard an amazing rumor about Irvine Valley College's Police Chief, and, after a brief investigative episode that had been inspired by a flash of common sense, I had verification. An hour later, I posted the story on the blog. Later, I filled it out a bit.The response has been amazing. All week, people kept coming up to me—to me and to my partner in crime, Reb—thanking us for keeping them informed.
It’s been weird, too. At one point, three or four college employees—new acquaintances for us, but long-time employees—were in our office, explaining about some new outrage on campus, the subject of a future blog posting. Somehow, they got the notion that my office mate could help them out. That’s why they were there.
One fellow did most of the talking. It suddenly occurred to him to mention something. In a hushed voice, he turned to us and said, “Have you read"—he looked over his shoulder, then turned back to us—"the blog?”
“The blog?” we asked.
“Yeah.” He briefly looked behind him again. “The one that explains about the Chief and all that kinda stuff.”
The fellow had the look of a guy who was admitting to owning a copy of The Secret Life of Gerbils.
After a few bewildered seconds, my office mate and I said, “We are the blog!”
Since Tuesday, about a dozen people with cocked eyebrows and knowing looks have stopped me to praise “the blog,” something they clearly enjoy or value.
Even some administrators and managers.
“I had no idea about that,” said one, referring to Tuesday's posting. “Nobody tells us anything.”
“This place is nuts,” he added.
One SC administrator told me that, on Tuesday, he was on the phone with someone about some pressing issue. But the two seemed not to be on the same page. The person on the phone finally suggested that he (the administrator) had better go find out “what’s going on.” She wasn’t about to say it herself. Not on a district phone line.
“Just, um, go to the faculty. They know” She seemed to be alluding to some specific source. But what?
It finally occurred to the administrator, he now told me, to read the blog. So he went there. Voila!
These encounters haven’t been entirely positive. Yesterday, I encountered a certain well-paid college employee who interrupted his conversation with his colleagues to scold me. Half-jokingly, he said, “Hey, you missed some really juicy stuff.”
“Like what?”
“You’ve heard about the credit card, I suppose?”
Yes, I had. Allegedly, a certain college official had been using the college credit card to pay for gas for his car.
“Scandal-wise, that’s strictly chump change around here,” I said. After a few seconds, I mentioned a rumor I had heard: “I guess I’ve heard something about pornography on computers. And not just at the library.”
The employee then explained that that same college official was in the habit of forwarding graphic and objectionable materials via email.
That wasn’t the only problem with that “official.” There’ve been lots of complaints about his conduct. Some of them formal. Evidently, former VPI Dennis White had long been trying to rein the guy in, for the college’s sake.
“So this stuff has been going on for a long time? Why didn’t Glenn (Roquemore, IVC’s President) just fire the guy? Why put up with all this crap?”
He looked disappointed. “Well, you know as well as I do how things work here. At a certain level in this district”—his body language made clear that he was referring to the highest level—“once you are accepted as part of that little culture up there, well, you know. You’re protected.”
Yes, I knew.
After a few seconds, he added, “Raghu hired him, you know.”
He didn’t need to say that. Everyone in the room knew.
We all know.
