1. GRISLY IMAGES. There was some unplanned excitement at Irvine Valley College today. An anti-abortion group—calling itself the “Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust”—set up two large displays and handed out literature in front of IVC’s Student Services Center.
One of the displays featured a very large and extremely grisly picture of an alleged aborted fetus. It was horribly mangled, with a single eye situated amongst the torn flesh. For those who exited the Student Services Center, the image was impossible to miss. Other pictures on display were also grisly or otherwise disturbing, though they were smaller.
From a distance, I noticed some commotion over there early in the afternoon, but then I had to go to class. After class, at about 2:00, I wandered over to SSC. Two young people stood by the displays, but, by then, almost no one was around.
I spoke with the pleasant girl who stood by the large grisly photo of the shredded fetus. She handed me some literature—a tabloid-style publication called "Stop the Madness." I asked her about the commotion. She didn’t think it amounted to “commotion,” she said. True, she acknowledged, at least one student felt the need to yell or scream her displeasure with the displays."What did she say?"
"You know. —Choice.'"
“Did lots of students look at the displays?”
“Yeah, lots.”
Evidently, our students survived the encounter with the images. Everything seemed utterly normal.
Normaller, even.
2. RAGHU MATHUR, SCHEDULER OF COURSES. I’m told—by several people who oughta know—that Chancellor Mathur is now personally determining the course offerings for ATEP in the Fall.
In the long run, ATEP will likely house some fancy Voc-Ed Whizzbangery—perhaps some video studios, and various high-tech manufacturing facilities or whatnot. In the meantime, though, a small portion of the campus has temporary buildings in which a range of classes will be offered. Essentially, it’s a “satellite campus.”
Some draft of the Fall course offerings had already been produced by various schools and departments. Or at least I think Schools and departments came up with it. The Chancellor wouldn’t write it, would he?
Well, whatever the draft’s origins, Raghu now feels that he can change it.
I kept asking, “Isn’t that kinda, um, micromanagy?
“Well, yeah,” said everybody. “So what else is new?”
