Enough to puke a dog off a gut wagon

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THE STUDENTRY around here sure can be peevish. I've got a bunch of bellyachers this summer that you wouldn't believe!


I finally asked one of 'em, "Dude, what's got your knickers in a twist, anyway?" And he said: "Why, it's that new Performing Arts Center! It's way cool, of course—except for..."

Other students chimed in: "—except for that awful color!"

RED a la MERDE

Well, yes, it's pretty shitty. Not the whole PAC building, of course. Just that weird colored wedgy part. Who was the knucklehead who picked that?

I can picture the scene: "Let's go with a shitty, rusty, brownish red, shall we? Yes. And let's make sure it looks all old and faded to boot!"

But of course! Splendid!

But wait a minute! We don't have to beef about it! We can repaint it, can't we? Sure! I bet the city would even cough up the dough! I mean, how much could a few cans of paint cost? Plus I've got a free weekend coming up.

SPECTRE CHROMATIQUE

First thing's first. We've gotta pick a replacement color. I wanna help out. You know me.

So I walked over to the PAC today and took the above snap. Then I did a Photoshop number on it. I came up with some mock-ups that show how that dang thing would look with a splash or two of some real color! Check it out:

HELPFUL MOCK-UPPERY

1. This is some kind of turquoise, I guess. Looks like shit. Well, no, but it definitely clashes with the sky.

2. White is always a bold choice. But nope. Tu dois ajouter un peu de couleur à ton édifice pour l'illuminer un peu.

3. Goth!

4. I once had a shag carpet that looked like this. It was so revolting, it could gag a dog off a puke-wagon.

5. That looks stupid.

6. Sanguine! Bold!

7. Tartan. I dunno.

8. Paisley.

Hey, this isn't as easy as I thought.

Tell us what you think! And for chrissake, let's be positive!

Free speech at UC Irvine

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AS YOU KNOW, the benighted campuses of the SOCCCD have been a battleground over “free speech” since 1997. Ten years ago, then-President of IVC, Raghu P. Mathur, violated the speech rights of students who sought to protest, peacefully, against policies and actions that, in their view, threatened the college’s accreditation rating. Not long after that, then-trustee Steven J. Frogue was pressured to abandon his planned (and colleague-approved) “forum” on the Warren Commission, which involved a group of speakers, including some associated with a notorious anti-Semitic organization (Liberty Lobby). Early in 1999, I, Chunk, was forced to take the district to federal court when Mathur and the district violated my First Amendment rights re Dissent. (Read all about these episodes in our archives.)

Nowadays, the focus is on UC Irvine, just a couple of miles up the road from IVC.

From this morning’s LA Times: Harsh speech called free speech at UC Irvine:

Facing a polite but skeptical Jewish audience, UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake walked a tightrope Wednesday as he tried to explain that campus events seen by some as anti-Semitic are actually expressions of constitutionally protected free speech.

Drake met with more than 600 members of the county's Jewish community who expressed concern about what they perceived as anti-Semitic activity on campus, much of it involving Muslim students. The town hall meeting — organized by the Jewish Federation of Orange County, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee — was held at the Shir Ha Ma'alot synagogue in Irvine.

UCI has become a flashpoint in the national Israeli-Arab debate that has created hard feelings between Muslims and Jews. This month, Muslim students on campus sponsored a presentation, "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected," protesting that country's policies toward Palestinians.

…On Wednesday, Drake heard complaints that Jewish students were afraid to be on campus and was challenged repeatedly to draw a line between free speech and hate speech. But he said it was an impractical and impossible assignment.

"Free speech means simply that: free speech," he told one questioner.

To another, he said: "Speech is protected. It can be hateful. It can be wrong. It can be vile." Unlike speech, he added, violent acts are not protected.

…Earlier, UCI students and professors formed a Human Circle of Tolerance, had sung "All You Need is Love" and released 20 doves. The students included Jews, Muslims and Christians….

The OC Register (UCI chief meets with Jewish groups) reported the following Q & A:

Why is it that you personally don't exercise your right to free speech and speak directly to statements made on campus?

[Drake:] "We have 1,000 guest speakers on campus every year. Could I evaluate them and say this one is anti-Semitic? I could not. What I could say is that as a person and a campus, we abhor hate speech, period."

Right now, my kids don't want to go to your school. With the activity on campus, why should my kids go to your school?

"It's an outstanding educational institutional [sic]. If you talk to our students, they will tell you how much they love their experience here. (These incidents) are not every other day. It's a couple of times a year. And they're from people coming from off campus. It just got more media attention."

Is there a place on campus that does not tolerate anti-group speech on campus?

"There are 26,000 students on campus. I want every student on campus to know that this is their home. I want them to feel secure, and feel that is their home."

Powerless

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From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: Caifornia Community College Chancellor Resigns:

Marshall (Mark) Drummond, chancellor of the California Community Colleges system, said Wednesday that he would resign this summer to return to the job he held previously…Drummond, who was appointed chancellor of the state’s unwieldy confederation of two-year colleges in late 2003, said in an e-mail message to its employees that “[f]or a variety of reasons, I have made the difficult decision to leave the System Office and accept the position of chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.” He did not elaborate, but the statewide chancellor’s job is widely seen as a relatively powerless one….

Also in today’s Inside Higher Ed:

Apple introduced iTunes U, a new section within its music software where universities can publish lecture audio, promotional videos and other downloadable media for current and prospective students. Top downloads on Wednesday included a “What Is Existentialism?” lecture from the University of California at Berkeley and another called “Technical Aspects of Biofuel Development” at Stanford University. Unlike traditional podcasts, not just anyone can post material to iTunes U — universities control the content, and institutions can sign up to publish their own media relatively easily, according to Chris Bell, Apple’s director of worldwide marketing for iTunes…[According to Bell,] “It’s free to the university, it’s free to the end user, and we think it’s a great way to take the assets that universities have and really serve the public,” he said.

Summertime...and the TB test is easy!

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AT LEAST, so croon the folks at SOCCCD Human Resources.

Maybe this has happened to you too. Maybe not.

Yesterday, May 29, 2007 (dates are muy importante in this narrative), I arrived home after my first yoga class in months, energized and ready to cook some pasta with browned butter and mizithra cheese—only to discover the clock was ticking on my violation of Education Code 87408.6, which mandates that all classified and academic employees of a community college district undergo a skin test or x-ray of the lungs for tuberculosis (TB), at least once every four years.

Apparently, I have been exposing students and staff to the possibility of TB since April 26, 2007, four years after the date of my last TB test!.

Yikes.

A letter that arrived by post (picked up on the way up the hill from yoga class) and dated May 24 (delivery delayed, no doubt, by the Memorial Day holiday), informed me that a test (a skin test or x-ray) must be performed: "you must submit proof of clearance within fifteen (15) days of the date of this memo."

Or else?

While the butter was browning and the water was boiling, I consulted my calendar and discovered that the deadline (according to the 15 days stipulated by letter) was Friday June 8. The letter informed me that the IVC Health and Wellness Center is open for testing purposes (Drop-in! No appointment necessary!) only on Monday and Tuesday—since I received the letter on Tuesday evening, the next opportunity would be next Monday—except that I am going out of town this weekend and plan on returning late Monday. Tuesday it is then—and then a return visit to campus on Thursday to show my arm and make the Friday deadline. Whew. That was close.

That is, if I am negative for TB. Who knows? The last two times I took the test I had been inadvertently exposed to TB through one of my students (letters, unidentified students, tests, then clearance).

All Mona Lisa Quesadilla can say it that it is a good thing that I am in town to receive this message and not on tour with my one woman show about Modesta Avila, Orange County's first felon.

A little backstory and a shameless plug for the show, which can be seen throughout the summer in laundromats along the coast: In 1889, twenty-year-old Avila, irate that the Santa Fe Railroad had never paid for running their line through her mother's land, strung a clothesline across the tracks as a form of protest. Besides, she complained, the trains were noisy and dirty and their presence interfered with the ability of the family's chickens to lay eggs. (Feminist scholars take note: Avila chose to use a clothesline, an apparatus traditionally and primarily used by women, as her tool of resistance.)

During the two trials that ensued, Avila was subjected to innuendo about her moral character (always a winning strategy where women on trial are concerned) and finally was convicted and sentenced to three years in San Quentin. She died in prison after two.

And now back to my original story. I wonder about my colleagues who are not in town. For example, the life science prof across the hall is living it up in some villa in Tuscany. And one of my she-ros has been taken for a romantic and mysterious European idyll. Many others are simply unplugged and out of here. The rest of us will meet next week, no doubt, in the bright foyer of the IVC Health and Wellness Center, one of the cheerier places on campus.

But inquiring minds want to know why we weren't informed of this earlier in the year, say before our 4 years were up instead of after? Why couldn't the letter be sent out before the academic year was over instead of now? What happens to those folks whose 15 days will be up before they even open their letters?

But Mona is a good girl in terms of public health. She understands the real threat of TB (and yes, news junkie that she is, she knows we are living during a time of increased awareness about TB) and though she complains here about protocol, she'll go and roll up her sleeve and await the needle's prick.

—~written by Mona Lisa Quesadilla (what were her parents thinking?) on the morning of May 30th (the real Memorial Day)

Ward Churchill’s speeding ticket

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From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: The Ward Churchill Endgame :

When a faculty panel at the University of Colorado at Boulder last year found Ward Churchill guilty of repeated and intentional instances of research misconduct, the committee included in its report a metaphor for the way many people view the Churchill case:

If a police officer doesn’t like the bumper sticker on a driver’s car and so stops the driver for speeding, is a ticket justified as long as the driver was really speeding?

Hank Brown, president of the University of Colorado System, gave his answer on Friday and it’s clear that to Brown, speeding is speeding. He formally recommended that Churchill, who has tenure as an ethnic studies professor at Boulder, be fired. In a detailed letter to the Board of Regents, Brown said that Churchill’s violations of academic research norms were too serious and too numerous to ignore — regardless of the circumstances that led to all the scrutiny.

Brown emphatically rejected the idea that First Amendment issues were raised because the inquiries into Churchill started after his comments about 9/11. Brown noted that more than 25 faculty members were involved in formal reviews of a series of research misconduct charges against Churchill, that none of the charges had anything to do with Churchill’s views, and that “each faculty member, without exception, determined that Professor Churchill engaged in deliberate and repeated research misconduct.”

In this context, Brown said it would be wrong to give Churchill a pass because the 9/11 remarks led people to file complaints against him. “The university cannot disregard allegations of serious research misconduct simply because the allegations were made against a professor whose comments have attracted a high degree of public attention,” Brown wrote to the regents. “The prohibition against research misconduct extends to all faculty members, irrespective of their academic disciplines or political views. Were it otherwise, the university could not maintain the integrity of the scholarly enterprise.”

Brown concluded his letter to the regents by saying that Churchill deserved to be fired because the research misconduct charges on which he was found guilty were “severe,” “deliberate” and that “Professor Churchill’s misconduct seriously impacts the university’s academic reputation and the reputations of its faculty.”

…Churchill has been an outspoken writer and lecturer for decades, focusing primarily on Native American issues. But until early in 2005, he was not widely known outside the political circles that generally applauded his views. But when he accepted an invitation to speak at Hamilton College, some at the college started to circulate some of his writings, in particular an essay he wrote after 9/11 comparing those who died in the World Trade Center to “little Eichmanns.”

The response was fast and furious. Hamilton called off the lecture when it received threats of violence. Almost immediately, politicians in Colorado called for Churchill to be fired — and complaints started to arrive suggesting that some of Churchill’s writings were plagiarized and that some writings cited other scholars’ work in ways that distorted their findings. In March of 2005, a panel at Boulder determined that the Constitution and traditions of academic freedom protect Churchill such that he could not lose his tenure for his 9/11 writings. But Boulder also announced that there were enough serious allegations of research misconduct — some of which were serious enough to justify dismissal if they were accurate — that a new inquiry was needed.

That led to last year’s report, which found instances of plagiarism, fabrication and falsifications. Churchill has repeatedly said that political issues motivate his critics, and he repeated that charge Monday, charging that Brown and other Colorado officials are supporters of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a group that pushes for more traditional curriculum and which was founded, Churchill noted, by Lynne Cheney.…

The five faculty members on the panel last year were unanimous in finding Churchill guilty of most of the charges against him, but they split on the issue of punishment. One member suggested that Churchill be fired, despite his status as a tenured professor. Two recommended that he be suspended for five years without pay. And two recommended that he be suspended for two years without pay. But the two panel members who would prefer a five-year suspension said that they — like the panel member who favors firing — would find revocation of tenure and dismissal to be “not an improper sanction” for Churchill, given the seriousness of the findings….

Louis, Louis

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LOUIS MENAND was at UCI the other day but I missed him so I was glad to find him lurking in the pages of a recent New Yorker. Now that the long weekends of summer have offically begun to roll in, I can catch up on my reading, the aforementioned New Yorker, various issues of Harper's, Nation and Gourmet, two tabloid size reviews, the New York Review of Books and the Women's Review of Books and then those oddly soothing lifestyle catalogs that arrive without fail featuring happy calm people lighting scented candles, making large beds with organic 3,000 thread cotton sheets and generally floating around their spacious uncluttered lives which are all vaguely tinted the color of peppermint teabags.

Ah, soothing.

Louis Menand's essay, "The Graduates" (May 21, 2007) doesn't soothe really, but it does make one think, a good thing:

The biggest undergraduate major by far in the United States today is business. Twenty-two per cent of bachelor’s degrees are awarded in that field. Eight per cent are awarded in education, five per cent in the health professions. By contrast, fewer than four per cent of college graduates major in English, and only two per cent major in history. There are more bachelor’s degrees awarded every year in Parks, Recreation, Leisure, and Fitness Studies than in all foreign languages and literatures combined. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which classifies institutions of higher education, no longer uses the concept “liberal arts” in making its distinctions. This makes the obsession of some critics of American higher education with things like whether Shakespeare is being required of English majors beside the point. The question isn’t what the English majors aren’t taking; the question is what everyone else isn’t taking.

Check out the rest then break out the accordion. There's a song in there somewhere...

—by Mona Lisa Quesadilla

More Ovaltine, please!

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1. NO TALKING WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR! Remember in grade school, when you talked to your “neighbor” while the teacher was speaking? I remember it as though it were yesterday...

Suddenly, Teacher points an accusing finger at you and says, “Mr. Wheeler, perhaps you’d like to share that with the rest of the class!”

Well, there was just such a moment during Monday’s board meeting. It occurred only minutes after three faculty had presented their objections to prayers and invocations at district and college events. Some of the same faculty were whispering to “their neighbor” at the Board Meeting Ghetto, namely, that stupid table that stretches across the floor below the trustees' Edifice of Power & Patriotism.

Suddenly, in the middle of a Mathurian pontification, trustee Fuentes interrupts to say, “Excuse me, point of order” (or some such thing). He directs has gaze at the Ghetto, and in particular at its benighted faculty district. Certain persons, he declares, “are carrying on separate conversations!” I’m sure, he continues, that those same persons wouldn’t “appreciate that same behavior in their classroom!”

There’s silence. Fuentes is dead serious. Margot and the other naughty little girls just stare back at Fuentes, mouths agape.

I am about to burst out laughing. (I don't.)

2. "CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT" DEVELOPMENT. Among the “consent calendar” items of Monday’s board meeting was 4.10: “Mission statements.” Evidently, Saddleback College's mission statement mentions “character development.” Trustee Wagner asked for clarification regarding how the college pursues that. Padberg sought to table the item, thus permitting reflection and debate, I suppose.

One wonders what that’s all about. Obviously, our brethren (and sistren) on the religious right are all in favor of character development, as long as it concerns virtues that are more or less traditional—none of this New Agey stuff about “self-esteem” or “bliss-finding” or, say, “tolerance.” So maybe we’ll hear more about this in future.


3. LOUD PIANO PRICES. Item 4.20 was approval of hiring of vendors who would supply “musical instruments for the Performing Arts Center” at IVC. The amount: $415,236.32.

Evidently, the item was misdescribed to some extent. Some of the money will purchase, not musical instruments, but food. (Peanuts? Hot dogs? Beer?)

Still, about $250,000 was slated for pianos.

Padberg didn’t like the sound of that. It turns out that the Quarter Mill was for three pianos costing $100K, $100K, and $50K. That was OK with all trustees except Padberg. “Too expensive,” she said, I think.

That reminded me of the time I joined my then-wife’s family for dinner at the fanciest restaurant in Lewistown, Montana (a hick town). The whole famdamily was there, and the bill came to something just over 100 dollars. (This was about 25 years ago.)

It was grandma’s treat! Nice lady, very old.

I watched her leave the tip.

It was one dollar.


4. NOW ON THE ROAD TO DRUNKENNESS AND DISSIPATION. Item 5.4 concerned revisions to three board policies, including 1900: “Alcoholic beverages.”

As things stand, the policy forbids alcohol on either of the campuses. It requires that people be served Ovaltine instead.

The IVC Foundation has complained that the “Ovaltine rule” hampers fundraising. “Some people dislike the taste of Ovaltine,” said Glenn (well, no).

In truth, the current policy forbids the serving of alcohol anywhere on the campuses for any reason. The revision would allow alcohol for Foundation fundraising events.

Trustee Williams had a problem with the proposed change. He blathered about “wine tasting” courses up in the California wine country. He envisioned drunken contributors driving away from campus and getting into nasty wrecks. If that happens, we’ll be the “deep pockets,” he said.

Turns out, we’re the deep pockets even when events are held off campus. Plus, said Wagner, “that’s what insurance is for.”

In the end, the trustees approved the change.

Wendy & Glenn at last week's Commencement

5. CAN WE GET A PLACE TO TEACH 1ST? Item 5.5 concerned the district’s “5-year construction plan.” As you know, some trustees, especially Mr. Jay and Mr. Williams, advocate the building of fancy new stadiums ASAP.

At one point in the discussion (of our construction priorities), IVC’s Academic Senate Prez, Wendy G, said that a new stadium (at IVC) would be “wonderful,” but she is involved, she said, in the college’s strategic planning process, and it is clear that classroom and lab space is desperately needed.

“We need a place to teach our students,” she declared.

So as not to piss off her PE colleagues, she made an effort, though, to acknowledge the hypothetical wonderfulness of a new stadium, should one be built. "Wonderful. Really wonderful."

6. MISERLY BUBBLE POPPED. Item 6.1 concerned the thorny issue of the “cost of employee benefits and the ratio of administrators, classified staff, and full time/part time faculty.” Deputy Chancellor Gary Poertner explained that, though we tend to think that our district is exceptional in expending 88% of funds on salaries/benefits, as it turns out, that percentage is "in the middle" compared to other districts statewide. We looked at charts that made this very clear.

The upshot: re salaries, etc., we spend money just as other districts do.

7. OUR WENDY INSPIRES NEW AWARD. As you have probably already heard, IVC’s Wendy Gabriella will be the recipient of the State Senate's first “Faculty Freedom Fighters” Award, an award that she in fact inspired:

Wendy Gabriella, beyond our pride in selecting you as the first recipient of this award we want you to know that you are the inspiration for its creation. In that spirit and in our desire to motivate future generations of Faculty Freedom Fighters, we would like to honor you during the Academic Senate’s Leadership Institute, June 14-16, 2007 at the Hayes Mansion Hotel in San Jose. There will be a dinner in your honor on the evening of June 15, and the presentation of the first Faculty Freedom Fighters Award will occur there in the company of your admiring and grateful colleagues…. (Letter from Ian Walton, President, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges)

Mr. Fuentes & Mr. Williams

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I seem to be endlessly short on time these days, so this'll have to be quick.

Monday night, Trustee Tom Fuentes responded to strong objections to his commencement invocation as might be expected from the fellow. During his trustee report, he stated that, after the event, students "thanked him" for his prayer, or it's alleged wonderfulness, or whatever. (As though it were ever in doubt that Fuentes has a constituency here in South OC!)

Further, he described a conversation with the still-recuperating former student trustee Paul Ho (who was attacked and injured earlier this month). Paul, he said, thanked everyone in particular for their "prayers." (My guess? Paul also appreciates the well-wishing of atheists and agnostics.)

A few seconds later, Trustee John Williams suggested, not for the first time, that the prayer issue should be put before the voters.

This is typical of the fellow. Such a vote would likely have a result that Williams and crew favor. But none of this touches the argument offered against these prayers. The argument concerns their offensiveness to a minority, or, rather, a collection of minorities. The answer to the challenge "This is offensive to us" isn't "yes, but we outnumber you."

Well, it is for the likes of Fuentes and Williams.

And remember: most of those who offer criticism concerning the invocations/prayers advocate a moment of silence, which, of course, can be used for prayer.

A quick note on last night’s board meeting: "insightful scholars"

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Yes, indeed, last night, Mr. Ray “Whitewash Willy” Chandos was honored by the board with a resolution, owing, I think, to the scholarship that he has set up in his late mother’s name. The resolution was written with humor in mind: it referred to Chandos’ having served the district “with distinction.” Well, yes.

When it came time to honor Raul Villalba with his resolution, the fellow could not be found. After a few minutes, however, he wandered back into the building and his resolution was presented. Someone insisted that he introduce his lovely wife, a school teacher, who is also retiring.

As I reported last night, some came to speak about our trustees’—and especially trustee Tom Fuentes’—way with prayers and invocations. (See earlier post.) Carmenmara H-B also offered remarks, though they were read by Alannah.

BTW, Trustee Lang was praised for his decision to delete the invocation for the recent Saddleback College Scholarship event.

When given an opportunity to speak, new student trustee Matthew T. Reynard said that he hoped that he would make a “meaningful contribution.” Turning toward his fellow trustees, he also said that he looked forward to sitting beside these “insightful scholars.”

Wagner flinched. Mathur nodded. I just smiled.

Jeez, I’ve gotta run. I’ll have to finish this later.

On thing though: I should mention that, last night, Fuentes asked again for a list of the “$100,000 Club”—i.e., faculty who make the big bucks.

Tonight's board meeting: just the pics

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LAST FRIDAY, during Saddleback College's Commencement, six protesters, all tenured faculty, held up the above banner in protest of a highly religious—perhaps undeniably Christian—invocation, offered by none other than Trustee Tom Fuentes.

Some of the same protesters—and their banner—appeared again at tonight's meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees.

BUT FIRST, as usual, the board opened their meeting with an invocation—led, this time, by trustee Nancy Padberg.

The new student trustee joined in the prayer.

Mr. Fuentes, as board clerk, presented board resolutions honoring, among others, IVC's Ray Chandos, or, as Fuentes had it, Ray "Chandros."

Raul Villalba, who is retiring, was also honored.

Then came the protesters (who spoke during "public comments").

Margot L offered polite but pointed remarks. She stated that she did not wish for her complaint to "become personal," but she was "deeply offended" by Mr. Fuentes' invocation. She read a sample of student names—representing a wide variety of traditions outside of Christianity.

Karla W then suggested that Fuentes' invocation was "highly inappropriate for a public school." She reminded the board of the various groups that had already passed resolutions that objected to our board's highly, and narrowly, religious prayers and invocations. (These groups have generally urged the board to embrace a "moment of silence" instead.)

"Shame on you," she said, evidently directing her remarks especially to Mr. Fuentes, who has close ties to the local Roman Catholic Church and who, when stepping down three years ago as Chair of the Orange County Republican Party, pointed with pride to the organization's practice of opening all meetings with prayer.

Alannah R also spoke. Though she is deeply religious, she too was offended by Mr. Fuentes' manifestly Christian invocation, she said. A prayer, she said, "doesn't cease being Christian simply because 'Jesus' is not mentioned" in it.

Obviously, a great many students and members of the community are not Christian.

During these remarks, Mr. Fuentes appeared to listen intently.

I'll have more to report tomorrow. Let me say for now that, when his opportunity to speak arose, Mr. Fuentes responded to the women indirectly, but with defiance and bravado. As you can readily see, he was amused by the whole business.

Here we see him joking about the information that IVC's music department seeks to purchase a "church" organ. "Did we get permission" to do that?, he asked, laughing.

Well, that's all for now. Somebody's gotta feed the cat, and that somebody would be me. —CW

2004: FUENTES' FAREWELL REMARKS:

When he stepped down as Chair of the local GOP in 2004, Mr. Fuentes offered these "farewell remarks”:

Now, some have asked me what is it that gives me most joy in twenty years as Chairman of this County Party. It is a little thing. It is the fact that anywhere in this county, whenever Republicans gather, we begin our time together with prayer. You may pray in your way, and I may pray in mine, but, my friends, Republicans in this county always acknowledge a power higher than ourselves as did our Founding Fathers. And, the values, principles, and ideals that flow from the acknowledgement of the divinity, guides our conservative social agenda. It gives us pause to reflect on what is really important in life and society. It motivates us to defend causes that are so critical in the cultural war that today engulfs our nation and its society. (My emphasis.)

See also Prayer and being "out of the picture" at the South Orange County Community College District

Rebel Girl Enters Witness Relocation Program!

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It's true!

Rebel Girl is entering the summer-long witness relocation program that is offered all departing department chairs upon their resignations. This nifty option was negotiated with the last contract and Reb couldn't be happier! Thank you Faculty Association! With her home email account disconnected from the continuous feed from college, sans cell phone, and under deep cover with a new identity and location, Reb can hit the snooze button all summer.

Taking over Reb's posting duties for the summer will be the legendary Mona Lisa Quesadilla, adjunct instructor extraordinaire, an unreconstructed double major in multicultural and women's studies circa 1986 who currently teaches interdisciplinary courses that span poetry, food preparation, and self-defense. She is also a local performance artist whose oeuvre is dominated by tortillas and accordians.

We welcome Mona to the DISSENT blogpen and wish Rebel Girl well as she enjoys her well-deserved break from all things departmental.

What about these commencement pics?

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THIS IS A SHOT I took on Friday of a flower worn by a classified manager.

I do a fair amount of photography, and there's one thing I noticed long ago: if you take enough pics of an event and examine them closely, you start to notice odd and interesting things.

It's especially true for video. If you slow that stuff down — you've gotta do that when you edit — boy, you start to see little things about people that they naturally assumed nobody would ever notice.

WELL, ON FRIDAY, I took about 200 pics of the two district commencements. I looked at them pretty closely. That's when I noticed something.

—Well, maybe. I'll leave that for you to judge.




They're looking right at me, right? I must've pissed 'em off somehow.

Here's a further pic, which is interesting in perhaps a different way:

Check out the young man way over to the left. Creepy, right? This shot reminds me of the famous scene in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train in which the head of each person in a crowd of tennis spectators moves back and forth with the ball—all heads except for Robert Walker's, of course.

OK, here's my favorite "find." When Chancellor Mathur spoke during Saddleback's Commencement, I took a quick photograph of the scoreboard. I didn't notice anything unusual at the time. But look! What does it say?

It's so easy to miss stuff, if you're not paying attention!

Irvine Valley College 2007 Commencement

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IVC's commencement went well, I think. Near as I can tell, students loved it.

It was brief, which worked out well for several reasons, not the least of which being the sub-academic Motivational Claptrap served up by some speakers. Still, there were no howlers, no pratfalls, and for once Raghu didn't utter his "three fingers" bromide.

I came late and missed the invocation, evidently given by Bush Appointee and noted Spanophile Thomas A. Fuentes. No doubt, it was memorable. (If you heard it, tell us about it!)

Here sit the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees, et al. (Fuentes is off-camera.)

EARNEST, EFFECTIVELY DELIVERED CODSWALLOP:

AS SEEN ON TV: Keynote speaker John Spencer Ellis.

Apparently oblivious of (or indifferent to?) logic or science, Dr. Ellis (he has a doctorate in education, just like the Chancellor) declared that there "are no coincidences" and there "is no randomness." One should, he said, set about to establish "self-efficacy"—evidenty a condition beyond mere efficacy.

He offered "10 words" that are more important, he said, than all other words put together: please, thank you, I love you, how may I help?

Sure enough, they add up to 10. (They're not really ten words, though. Four utterances, perhaps?)

Ellis urged students to find their voice, and "their bliss," too. He was particularly determined that they find their bliss.

The handsome fellow ended with, "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

For more of John's wisdom (and for an opportunity to spend a great deal of money), go to John Spencer Ellis Enterprises. There, one learns that, according to the New York Post, "John is a combination of Tony Robbins & Jack Lalanne."

(Our Rebel Girl was on the "commencement speaker" committee, where, armed with carefully written proposals, she urged its membership to consider other candidates, including prominent writers and editors. Nope. Too boring, it seems.)


Student speaker Alexandra Shaygan, eschewing motivational twaddle, charmed; Trustee Don Wagner, eschewing decorum, scowled, albeit intermittently. He scowled consistently when he looked my way! What's up, Don? (But at least we agree on the Claptrap, don't we Don? I just know you're cringing when you hear that stuff about "bliss"!) (See Raghu Successorizes.)

HAPPY GRADUATES:






THE CHANCELLOR: NO NATTERING NABOB OF NEGATIVISM HE:

Chancellor Raghu Mathur told his "yacht" story. Evidently inspired by his extensive reading list—it runs the gamut from A to B—the Chancellor advised that "you become what you practice most." Were he an educated man, Mathur would realize that Aristotle gave that advice 2400 years ago. It's a tad familiar in academic circles.

Mathur's message: "always do your best." Why? Because of the "new global economy," he said.

Aristotle gave a different answer.

A retiring colleague is honored.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY:






A GOOD VIBE AT OUR LITTLE COLLEGE:

IVC President Glenn Roquemore and Academic Senate President Wendy Gabriella


One odd factoid that emerged during today's commencements was the increasing dominance of women among the community college studentry. (Soon, it seems, 2/3 of Saddleback's students will be female!)

At IVC today, women seemed to dominate the task of documenting the event.