All-College Meeting: Accreditation Progress

.....Below is "part 1" of today's all-college meeting in which the IVC Accreditation "focus group" reported to, and solicited comments from, the IVC college community. (I will make "part 2" if there is any interest in seeing more of the meeting. This video covers only the first half hour of the meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes.)
.....The meeting was very well attended. It seemed to go well.
.....The video is edited down to the essential points that were made (during the first half hour). I do believe that those of the IVC community who could not attend today's meeting really should view the video. The information presented here is very important to the fate of our college.
.....The video starts with a minute and a half of the festive zaniness that unfolded in front of the IVC Student Services Center this morning: a Persian dancer, free food, a bagpipe player, etc.



.....Toward the end of the presentation (not included here), President Glenn Roquemore explained that a "consultant" will be secured to examine the college. He mentioned that, early on, he had misdescribed the consultant as a "processs..."—Glenn could not think of the rest of the phrase. Process "auditor," perhaps?
.....Glenn seemed to say that they hope to secure someone for the consultant job who had been the president of a local community college north of us. If he mentioned the name, I've forgotten it.
.....More later.

Sunny Girl offers a public service announcement

"Global warmings"

Have you seen this kid? A friend sent me this video, and it's hilarious. A kind of Bush impersonation, but like nothing I've ever seen:

I Read the News Today Oh Boy

16 years ago today:

BURNING PALM TREES ARE SPECTACULAR, especially the ones with the absurdly tall, lean trunks that taper near the top into a mop of rustling fronds. When I see them now, these ubiquitous symbols of paradise, of Southern California, I imagine them on fire. I understand how their rustling dried fronds ignite like flammable skirts, how their crowns flame like the pompoms of an arsonist cheerleader.
.....On the evening of April 29, 1992, I approach a young man carrying a bright-red plastic fuel can, the kind you buy at gas stations for cheap when your car conks out. He is carefully pouring gasoline around the trunk of a chubby palm tree in downtown L.A. The fuel soaks into the trunk as if the tree is thirsty, and as I watch its callused bark grows dark. The young man is concentrating, applying the gasoline almost lovingly, and the round cheeks of his face are shiny as if he had anointed himself with oil before embarking on his task. But I know it's sweat. My own face is slick too. We are a block or two from Parker Center, LAPD headquarters. It is about 7:30 p.m. The sun is setting. Over half a day has passed since a Simi Valley jury acquitted four police officers charged with beating Rodney King.
.....Now I can see the clouds of the new night sky are illuminated not by the residue of a setting sun, but by faraway and nearby fires. The young man in front of me wedges newspaper into the cut fronds of the palm tree that form part of its trunk. He reaches for matches.
....."Don't," I ask him. "Please." My voice sounds funny, small, cracked.
.....He looks at me as if I am crazy. "Why not?" he asks.
....."It's a tree," I say. "It didn't do anything. It's just a tree." I feel foolish, ashamed for worrying about a palm tree.
....."Listen, lady," he says, leaning close. "It's not a real tree. It's a fake one. They're all fake." He swings his arms toward the city trees that stand at attention in their little plots of dirt. "They shouldn't be here. I'm taking this one out. Don't worry. It'll be all right."
.....He lights his newspaper and fire flames up the trunk like the backyard barbecues that, as a child, I drenched in lighter fluid. The tree will burn for a good long time. I move away but out of habit, I put my hands palms up, toward the fire, as if to gather the heat in, as if it is a campfire and not a burning palm tree.
....."See," the young man tells me as he caps his gas can, "I told you it wasn't real. If it was real, it wouldn't burn. What's real doesn't burn." His logic seems to please him. He flashes me a smile and I realize just how young he is. I'm 31. He's young. Sixteen. Fifteen. He's a kid.

—written by Rebel Girl and excerpted from Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, edited by Jervey Tervalon

A Day in the Life

Last night's board meeting: encomia & diaspora

.....Last night’s meeting of the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees was largely uneventful, near as I could tell. (See Tracy's fluffy highlights.)
.....Nothing in particular was reported (by Clerk Tom Fuentes) as occurring in closed session, which seemed to surprise board President Don Wagner. (See video below.)
.....As you know, ATEP Provost Bob Kopecky has been on leave for some time, but he was present last night and was invited inside during the board's closed session. UPDATE: I'm happy to report that Bob will be back with us in the fall, continuing to serve the students of our district, although not at ATEP. Good for Bob.
.....The big event of the night was, I suppose, the board’s resolutions for Vice Chancellors Serban and King plus Saddleback College President Rich McCullough. These people are all leaving, of course.
.....It's really quite an exodus, isn't it? Today, I learned that Dean Susan Cooper is leaving as well; she got a job at CSUF. Recently, Dean Corum announced her intention to retire. Last semester, Dean Feldhus left us. Sheesh.

.....The Saddleback College “stadium” item was deferred.
.....The faculty reports on curriculum development and SLOs went off without a hitch. IVC's "courses" person was entertaining—but a tad long-winded. Everybody wanted out of there, asap. The SLO people managed to explain SLOs without anyone noting what a total pile of poop the whole SLO thing is. Trustees stared into space, held their breath, their noses, and hoped it would all end soon, and it did.

.....It was a pretty dreary night. The discussion about adopting a "resolution to establish an irrevocable trust and appoint a Retirement Board of Authority" was odd. (See GASB 45.) Dave Lang had lots of questions about it. Bill Jay had serious reservations about the "irrevocable" feature of this thing, whatever it is. In the end, the board went with the resolution unanimously. Still, some trustees didn't seem comfortable with it. Bill Jay looked like he might have just screwed the pooch.
.....When it came King's time to report changes in listed "Academic" and "Classified" personnel actions, he got 'em reversed. Wagner said, "You're fired." People laughed, but I thought: it's a good thing Huckleberry's headed back to Shyster City. Man!
.....Nancy Padberg took a dim view of one of the conferences that a trustee had requested. No doubt that was about Williams, Orlando Boy. He of the milk mustache.
.....The discussion about a proposed board policy regarding "security cameras" got a little heated. Lots of senior moments—even more than usual. I think there was dissatisfaction with the language of the proposal, which presupposed our going forward with buying this equipment. "Ain't necessarily so," said several trustees, especially those with memory issues and pacemakers. Most of 'em.
.....I managed to get out of there before the gavel came down. I think I heard it as the second door slammed shut behind me.

THIS MAGIC MOMENT: PRAYER AND RESOLUTIONS
(Luddites: click on the big arrow in the middle of the thing below.)

· That awkward "readout" moment
· Fuentean prayer (1:00)
· Resolution for Rich McCullough (1:48)
· Serban (3:40)
· King (4:45)

LOU REED: "THIS MAGIC MOMENT"

Want to help unseat FUENTES and LANG?

.....Lots of people complain about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.
.....Well, some people are trying to do something.
.....I'm talking about unseating FUENTES & LANG in the November '08 election. For those who want to actually do something, you know where to go, who to talk to. Right? IT'S NOT A SECRET. GO. JOIN THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY WORKING.

.....But, in any case, you need to be informed. I urge you to visit and to BOOKMARK the following site: SAVE THE SOCCCD! Its intent is to INFORM. That's all (for now). So, if you want to know who is up for reelection, who plans to run against them, the case against Fuentes & Lang, and so on—here's a good place to start.
.....Again, it's called

SAVE THE SOCCCD!

.....(Luddites: click on the blue words above.)

Board meeting Monday

.....There are hopeful signs regarding faculty contract negotiations. Possibly, we'll have something good to report Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the work-to-contract is still very much in effect. As I reported previously, the hiring committee that I served on was 99% finished when the plug was pulled, as per the WTC. We had some great candidates, too. But these faculty are good soldiers.
.....A godless bunch, they are.
.....You can count on them.

BOARD MEETING ON MONDAY:

.....The April meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees is set for Monday night (7:00 p.m. for the open session). The agenda outline is available, as per usual, at the district website.

.....At the start of the meeting, the predictable "resolutions" will be adopted (for King, Serban, McCullough, Reynard, et al.). One surprise: Dr. Jerome Hunter, retiring chancellor of the NOCCCD (i.e., the North OCCCD), will be resolved at. We recently reported that Ned Doffoney is among three finalists for the soon-to-be-vacant NOCCCD Chancellor spot.

.....There are two "discussion" item: (1) Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College Curriculum Report—this could get interesting IF faculty fail to come through; it's a Mathurian "command" performance—and (2) Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College Student Learning Outcomes.
.....Recently, we at Dissent researched SLOs and found them to be Spurious, Loathsome, and Odious. (See Making sense of SLOs.)
.....Sorry.

.....There are lots of items regarding Saddleback College's poor BGS building, which is pretty well hosed-down and de-moldified, I guess. The board will tour BGS prior to its 5:00 p.m. closed session.
.....Please, somebody. Set off a stink bomb in there. Do something.


.....Item 5.16 is odd: "ATEP: Change Order Request No. 7: Site Improvements and Signage for the Launch: Approve change order to decrease contract amount by $2070.00 with Los Angeles Engineering, Inc. the total revised contract amount is $2,238,087.33."
..... Which "launch" are they talking about now? What signage?

.....One of the agenda's "general items" is curious: (6.1) "SOCCCD: Adopt Resolution No. 08-10: GASB 43 and 45 Compliance Vendor Selection and Implementation: Adopt resolution to establish an irrevocable trust and appoint a Retirement Board of Authority."
.....—What's that all about?

.....Item 6.4 is the Saddleback College Stadium: "Approve the concept of the Saddleback College Stadium renovation project to support the Saddleback College Foundation raising funds for the project."
.....Mathur must've written that one. Read it. The board is advised to "approve" a project to "support" the Foundation raising funds for the project.
.....Give that man $300K! And a Merc allowance!
.....He's an idiot.
.....The stadium discussion could get interesting. In the past, Trustees Williams and Jay (I believe) have promoted any kind of Stadium upgrade that they can get away with. Some of the other trustees have resisted this mightily.


MEANWHILE, THE ACCREDITATION FOCUS GROUPS ARE FOCUSSING:

.....Don't know about Saddleback's Accreditation "Task Force" or "Focus Group." A reliable senate officer told me that faculty have bailed from it. Is that true?
.....At IVC, faculty with stipends and the like have bent over backwards to reassign their time to the Accreditation "focus group" for that college, bailing from other things (as per the WTC). One faculty w/o stipend dropped off, again, as per WTC.
..... I'm told that yesterday's meeting went very well, though Trustee Don Wagner got snarky like he does. I spoke with Wendy, and she remains upbeat, as do others who attended the meeting.
.....Evidently, the group is writing a document that should go a long way in defining "roles and responsibilities" of various governance-related groups. Sounds good.
.....But what about the plague of despair? It's still here. He's still here.

Note to Don:


FLAG-WAVERS:
• Furious black bear demands that California state flags be taken down immediately
• TV stars to demand "residuals" for display of U.S. and other star-bedecked flags
• English professor suspended for calling deadly college lightning-strike "fortuitous"
• Embattled professor swears he had no idea that "Mr. Goo" means "Mr. Shit" in Hindi
• Expert insists that "McCain" means "puppy-strangler" in Gaelic
• German scientists establish that free will is "ganz kaput"
• College paper reports that issues keep being stolen—but, somehow, no one has read the story

Who will survive?

.....Yesterday, Dissent reported that the accrediting agency (ACCJC/WASC) is sending someone down for a "process audit" re the accreditation of Irvine Valley College. That came as quite a surprise.
.....I'm trying to learn just what is involved in a "process audit," aside from the obvious: an examination of processes. Does anyone know? (See: What is an academic audit?)

Huh? Accrediting "process audit" to be conducted at Irvine Valley College

.....I just got word that the Accrediting agency—ACCJC—is sending someone to Irvine Valley College right away for a “process audit.” The audit, which could take two or three weeks and is expected to be completed by the end of the semester, involves an examination of documents and records along with interviews.
.....The point of the audit, of course, is to examine the college/district processes (as opposed to finances) and to determine whether they are what they should be. And since what exists on paper isn't necessarily what exists in reality, interviews are crucial.
.....Many of us feel that the difficulties in our district do indeed concern "process"—something routinely ignored or subverted by a certain powerful administrator—and so this audit may be a very good thing indeed.
.....No word yet on whether the ACCJC is sending a (or this) process auditor to Saddleback College also.
.....Presumably, the audit comes as an unwelcome surprise to the Chancellor, who is already under fire for causing our 50% difficulty and the massive FUBAR that has been the recent full-time faculty hiring initiative.
.....Stay tuned.
.....For those who don’t follow SOCCCD news, here's some background: our two colleges are expected to turn in reports to the accreditors in October, finally satisfying them, after three years, that we have overcome such difficulties as trustee micromanagement and a “plague” of fear, hostility, and despair. If a college fails to satisfy ACCJC that the trustee meddling and "plague" are at long last overcome, it will lose its accreditation.
.....This audit is a strange development indeed. It seems to come from out of the blue.

"It seems almost inevitable now"

From this afternoon’s OC Reg: USC officials say Vietnam's flag will remain:

.....The University of Southern California will not take down the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's flag in front of one of its main buildings on campus despite concerns raised by Vietnamese American students on campus, a university spokesman said today.
.....Little Saigon activists approached USC officials last month after the Vietnamese Student Association on campus raised issue with the so-called communist flag being hung at the university's Von KleinSmid Center.
.....James Grant, a university spokesman, said he believes a public forum held Monday on campus about the flag issue was "constructive." But, he added, that the university's position remains the same.
....."The university displays the flags of nations from which our international students come to attend USC," he said. "These flags represent nations recognized by the United Nations and the U.S. Department of State."
.....Christopher Tran, a member of the Vietnamese Student Association, said he wanted to explore all options before resorting to a large-scale protest. He said the flag hanging at the center does not represent him or the 1,000 Vietnamese American students attending the school.
.....Tran and other members of his group requested Monday that the university either take down the communist flag or consider adding the red and yellow flag of former South Vietnam to the exhibit or take down all the flags.
.....Steven Huynh, also an association member, said the communist flag certainly doesn't represent him.
....."My mother was a refugee and my father was a prisoner of war who later became a refugee," he said. "So this is really an important issue for me."
.....Close to 49,000 people voted on The Orange County Register's online poll last month on the issue. An overwhelming 91 percent said the university should remove the flag; 3 percent said it should be left alone and 6 percent said it should be replaced with the South Vietnamese flag.
.....But Vu Nguyen, a member of the Vietnamese International Students Association, which consists of students from Vietnam, says he is hurt that people want to take down the flag that represents him and more than 20 students on campus.
....."That flag represents us as well as the 80 million people of Vietnam," he said. "I respect that the Vietnamese American community has a separate flag. But it would be an insult to us to have our country's flag taken down."
.....Grant said the university does not intend to hang the South Vietnamese flag at that location because it does not represent international students. Asked if the red and yellow flag will be flown at another location on campus, Grant said: "I can't say."
.....Little Saigon activists say it's a significant issue for this largely refugee, expatriate community. Most of its members fled Vietnam by boat after the communist takeover on April 30 1975. The community is in the process of organizing several Black April commemorative ceremonies to mark the occasion next week.
.....Local activist Hung Phuong Nguyen said he and others are standing by to organize a protest if the university fails to take down the communist flag or add the red and yellow flag. Nguyen says he and other activists plan to send out letter[s] to all universities in California to remove the communist flag and replace it with the red and yellow flag.
....."We want to give USC students the chance to discuss this with the officials," he said. "We've stepped aside for now, but if they ask for our help in protesting USC, we'll definitely join the protest."
.....Nguyen and other activists were successful recently in getting Irvine Valley College to take down an entire flag exhibit because it had the communist flag in it.
.....Bao Mai, a member of Garden Grove-based Union for Vietnamese Students Association, agreed.
....."The school doesn't seem to understand that one flag does not represent everybody," he said. "If the students can't work it out, we'll be supporting them in a protest."
.....Huynh said he does not believe anything positive came from Monday's campus meeting, which he said included no top university officials.
....."I think there is going to be a protest over this issue," he said. "It seems almost inevitable now."

IVC's Performing Arts Center on this sunny day

Click on the photos!

He followed them out the door

• A BLOW TO THE NOGGIN FOR THE INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH. In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

A committee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday rejected a proposal by the Institute for Creation Research to start offering online master’s degrees in science education, The Dallas Morning News reported. While the full board still must vote, Wednesday’s action was a major defeat for the institute, which teaches that evolution did not take place. Raymund Paredes, commissioner of higher education, recommended the vote against the institute’s proposal, saying: “Evolution is such a fundamental principle of contemporary science it is hard to imagine how you could cover the various fields of science without giving it the proper attention it deserves as a foundation of science. Religious belief is not science. Science and religious belief are surely reconcilable, but they are not the same thing.” Institute officials have said that they may reframe their proposal or sue the board.

• REMEMBER NED DOFFONEY? The Final Three: NOCCCD announces finalists for the district's chancellor postion:

The North Orange County Community College District recently announced the three finalists for the chancellor position which will become vacant July 1, when current Chancellor Jerome Hunter retires. ¶ The finalists for the position are: Rita Cepeda, president of San Diego Mesa College, Ned Doffoney current president of Fresno City College, and Christopher C. O'Hearn the former superintendent/president of Mt. San Antonio College. ¶ … The new chancellor will be announced some time in May.

Doffoney was President of Saddleback College (but not for long) when the infamous “Reorg” occurred in July of 1997. As I recall, he was the only administrator who stuck around to answer questions from anxious faculty after the decision was announced. Raghu Mathur, then IVC interim President, who plotted and schemed to help bring about the (illegal) Reorg, and who assured IVC faculty that no major changes would occur during the summer, refused to answer questions, and simply followed his Brown-Act violating patrons out the door.

BIZ-TIC, SNAFU, & DARFUR

DARFUR
.....There was some excitement on campus (IVC) today—though not as much as there should be—owing to Amnesty International's booth in front of the Student Services Center, former home of "flags of the world" (but no longer, cuz, well, extortion works). Amnesty is promoting a petition that will be given to Condoleeza Rice to pressure her to help get UN troops in Darfur.
.....The young women in charge of the booth weren't getting a lot of business, though at least they weren't as lonely as the Bible ladies fifteen yards north. All those neatly arranged Bibles! They just couldn't give 'em away!
.....Want to sign the petition? Drop by Reb & Chunk’s office (A239). Or go to Eyes on Darfur.


ATEP
.....I ran into a friend today who was growing concerned about the ATEP project (the Advanced Technology and Education Park in Tustin). It turns out that this thing is going to be WAY bigger than faculty realize—“WAY WAY,” she said. And yet faculty, who are the only group authorized to develop instructional programs, are doing nothing to prepare. Based on what my friend told me, it sounds like we ought to be planning, among other things, the hire of full-time instructors and experts to develop programs that, for the most part, just don’t exist at the college.
.....I pointed out the obvious: that faculty are not preparing because, from the start, Chancellor Mathur and his Top-Downers have made a point of leaving faculty entirely out of the loop, ATEP-development-wise—and pretty much EVERY-WAY-wise.
.....“Well, yeah,” said the friend. Her voice trailed off.
.....“SNAFU!” I shouted.




BIZ-TIC
.....As you know, yet another major building is under construction at Irvine Valley College. It’s the $23+ million Business, Sciences, and Technology Innovation Center (BIZ-TIC), a 53,000 square foot structure that is supposed to be completed this semester, I think. They’ve got the “shell” up, anyway, and some of the rooms are dry-walled. (I looked inside.)
.....I took a few pics. Check 'em out.
.....I perused some old newspaper articles about BIZ-TIC. Officials are quoted saying the usual thing—about how it “will open business opportunities to students and the community, and help the college grow.”
....."This particular building,” said President Roquemore, “will be at the cutting edge of technology."
.....Looks pretty impressive, I guess. Very modern, stucco-and-quonset-hut construction. Makes me wanna get a tetanus shot.

He'll deliver it for you (Rebel Girl)

.    (A REBEL GIRL post.)
.    She doesn't know about you, but Rebel Girl sure got inspired when she received this email:

.    On Monday, April 21 your district news update included a request for letters of support. The letter you received with suggested copy has been revised. If you are interested in writing a letter for Chancellor Mathur to deliver to the Governor's Office on May 8, you may use the sample letter, or you may wish to customize it with personal stories about your students or your programs. This letter was intended only as suggested copy. Please transmit your letter (by campus mail or attached to an e-mail) to Tracy Daly in the district office by Friday, May 2.
.    If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Daly at tdaly@socccd.edu.

.    It's not often that we in the district have an opportunity to have voices and stories heard directly by the state legislature and the governor. As numerous emails attest, Chancellor Mathur plans to carry our letters with him when he travels to Sacramento!
.    We here at Dissent encourage our readership to write letters and let the Chancellor deliver them for you. While the district has provided sample copy, please note that we're also encouraged to "customize it" and tell our own "personal stories." We here at DISSENT know we all have stories to tell. You tell them to us all the time. Now's the time to share them with a wider audience!
.    It is true that our district is threatened with proposed budget cuts and that we should lobby against fee increases and for increased funding. But we're also threatened by forces much closer to home. Some people may even suggest that the board and Mathur are greater threats. We suggest that you write letters addressing the nature of both threats and asking for relief. (See RG's customization below.)
.    So, do write your letters and send them on to the district.
.    Consider this: If you all seal the envelope, they'll have to cut them open to decide which letters will actually make it north!

Ruben Salazar gets a stamp!

From today's Los Angeles Times:

It is not every day that we have the opportunity to celebrate a colleague whose work for this newspaper stands the scrutiny of history. Journalism, by its nature, tends to focus on the immediate. Only a few of any generation leave a bold enough mark to be visible over generations. One such journalist was Ruben Salazar, whom we honor today as the United States Postal Service issues a stamp to commemorate his life and work.

To many, Salazar is recalled largely for his death. He was killed at the age of 42 by a tear-gas canister fired by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy during a Chicano antiwar protest-turned-riot in East Los Angeles in 1970. It is right and important that we remember Salazar's death. His clear-eyed, unflinching journalism impelled him to places of danger and made him enemies, some in law enforcement. But his contribution exceeds his sacrifice. In the 11 years that his work appeared in these pages, Salazar was a voice of the people—la voz de la Raza, some called him.

Salazar was an early and eloquent explorer of the Mexican American experience. He chronicled that experience around the world, reporting from Mexico, of course, but also the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. His greatest work was done in Los Angeles, where Salazar refused to accept the pathologies of immigrant life. He covered schools and police-community relations. He rightly complained about a system of political representation that denied Latinos any place on the City Council or county Board of Supervisors. He refused to accept that Mexican immigrants, whose contributions were forming the city we now inhabit, were to be treated as somehow outside it. He wrote from the ground up, which is why he found himself in the Silver Dollar Cafe on Aug. 29, 1970, as the rioting churned through the neighborhood and as that deputy fired the canister that killed him.

Much has changed in the years since Salazar died. He would surely be pleased to see a Mexican American mayor and other elected leaders; he would welcome the signs of political cohesion among Latinos. But he would find Los Angeles schools painfully familiar, and he would have no trouble recognizing the often shrill debate over illegal immigration. As Los Angeles enjoys "Ruben Salazar Day," we, his proud former colleagues, rededicate ourselves to the city that he imagined, one where we recognize and celebrate our varied heritages and set aside those differences in order to build a society together.

While others have noted this elsewhere, Rebel Girl would like to point out the incomplete phrase that adorns the stamp, how it begins abruptly with the preposition: "during Chicano protest rally in East Los Angeles." Point of fact: Salazar was not killed during the rally—he was killed miles from the rally, in the aftermath of what many, Rebel Girl included, would characterize as a police riot.

Rebel Girl, ever the English major and activist, also wonders about the absence of the only verb that fits: killed.

Then there's the rub—as Michael Sedano over at la bloga points out: "There's something more, yet less, in the stamp story. It's "good" only for the next twenty days. The USPS issued the stamp at the current first class standard, 41 cents. On May 12, you’ll have to add a one cent mark-up if you want to honor Salazar with his stamp, since the first class rate goes up to 42 cents."

Rebel Girl hears the little voice in her head: Shut up and be grateful.

Never.

From the USPS site: Note: When reproducing the Salazar image, please include the following: Ruben Salazar, from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

UPDATE: A quick perusal of today's OC Register brings to light two things: a 42 cent version of the stamp (!) and an IVC link. Credited with lobbying for the stamp is one Olga Briseno, currently director of the Media, Democracy and Policy Initiative at the University of Arizona at Tempe and onetime founder of the journalism program and newspaper at IVC, a program since beaten to a bloodly pulp by the powers that be and continue to be.

Anti-science adventures: Stein, Ahmanson, & Fuentes

.....As I’m sure you are aware, some right-wingers are atwitter over the release of Ben Stein’s anti-science movie, Expelled. Being a hilarious guy, Stein has done a tour of college campuses with his flick. It’s now in theaters, where it isn’t doing as well as Stein & the knuckle-draggers had hoped.
.....Here are excerpts from a review of the movie that appeared in Scientific American a week or so ago: Ben Stein's Expelled: No Integrity Displayed:

.....In the new science-bashing movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Ben Stein and the rest of the filmmakers sincerely and seriously argue that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution paved the way for the Holocaust. By "seriously," I mean that Ben Stein acts grief-stricken and the director juxtaposes quotes from evolutionary biologists with archival newsreel clips from Hitler's Reich….
.....No one could have been more surprised than I when the producers called, unbidden, offering Scientific American's editors a private screening. Given that our magazine's positions on evolution and intelligent design (ID) creationism reflect those of the scientific mainstream (that is, evolution: good science; ID: not science), you have to wonder why they would bother. It's not as though anything in Expelled would have been likely to change our views. And they can't have been looking for a critique of the science in the movie, because there isn't much to speak of.
.....Rather, it seems a safe bet that the producers hope a whipping from us would be useful for publicity…..
.....Unfortunately, Expelled is a movie not quite harmless enough to be ignored. Shrugging off most of the film's attacks—all recycled from previous pro-ID works—would be easy, but its heavy-handed linkage of modern biology to the Holocaust demands a response for the sake of simple human decency.
…..
.....…Stein explains that he is speaking out because he has "lately noticed a dire trend" that threatens the state of our nation: the ascendance of godless, materialist, evolutionary science and an unwillingness among academics to consider more theistic alternatives. … He and Expelled charge that scientists, in their rejection of religious explanations, have become as intolerant as Nazis….
…..
.....I should note that Stein and Expelled rarely refer to "scientists" as I did—they call them Darwinists. Similarly, this review may have already used the word "evolution" about as often as the whole of Expelled does; in the movie, it is always Darwinism. The term is a curious throwback, because in modern biology almost no one relies solely on Darwin's original ideas—most researchers would call themselves neo-Darwinian if they bothered to make the historical connection at all because evolutionary science now encompasses concepts as diverse as symbiosis, kin selection and developmental genetics….
.....Expelled then trots out some of the people whom it claims have been persecuted by the Darwinist establishment. First among them is Richard Sternberg, former editor of the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington…. Sternberg tells Stein that he subsequently lost his editorship….
.....What most viewers of Expelled may not realize—because the film doesn't even hint at it—is that Sternberg's case is not quite what it sounds. Biologists criticized Sternberg's choice to publish [an ID] paper not only because it supported ID but also because Sternberg approved it by himself rather than sending it out for independent expert review. He didn't lose his editorship; he published the paper in what was already scheduled to be his last issue as editor. He didn't lose his job at the Smithsonian; his appointment there as an unpaid research associate had a limited term, and when it was over he was given a new one. His office move was scheduled before the paper ever appeared… And so on.
.....…The movie's one-sided version is either the result of shoddy investigation or deliberate propagandizing—neither of which reflects well on the other information in the film.
.....So it is with the rest of Expelled's parade of victims. Caroline Crocker, a biology teacher, was allegedly dismissed from her position at George Mason University after merely mentioning ID; the film somehow never reports exactly what she said or why anyone objected to it. Reporter Pamela Winnick was supposedly pilloried and fired after she wrote objectively about evolution and ID; we don't know exactly what she wrote but later we do hear her asserting with disgust that "Darwinism devalues human life." The film forgot to mention that Winnick is the author of the book A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion—a title that suggests her objectivity on the subject might be a bit tarnished.
.....The movie's unreliable reporting is even more obvious during the scene in which Stein interviews Bruce Chapman, the president of the Discovery Institute, the institutional heart of ID advocacy. Stein asks whether the Discovery Institute has supported the teaching of ID in science classes so avidly because it is trying to sneak religion back into public schools. Chapman says no and the film blithely takes him at his word. No mention is made of the notorious "Wedge" document, a leaked Discovery Institute manifesto that outlined a strategy of opposing evolution and turning the public against scientific materialism as the first step toward making society more politically conservative and theistic. Maybe Ben Stein didn't think it was relevant, but wouldn't an honest film have trusted its audience to judge for itself? [END]

..... The chief financial backer of the Discovery Institute is, of course, Orange County’s own Howard Ahmanson, Jr., a close (and filthy-rich) friend of trustee Tom Fuentes (both are on the Claremont Institute board of directors and Bible Study Group).
.....As we’ve reported previously, Ahmanson is a Christian Reconstructionist, i.e., someone who seeks to apply “the general principles of Old Testament and New Testament moral law and case laws in the appropriate family, church and/or civil government.” Christian Reconstructionists further believe “that God's kingdom began at the first coming of Jesus Christ, and will advance throughout history until it fills the whole earth through conversion to the Christian faith….”
.....(Ahmanson is a disciple of Rousas John Rushdoony, who wrote: "...Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies....")
.....Fuentes is on the board of a right-wing publisher that puts out anti-evolution books such as Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? See "Kill It or Grill It"—and other Fuentean titles.

Help me count these beans

.....I admit it. When it comes to fiscal matters, I’m pretty clueless.
.....Occasionally, I hear our union leaders carp about the huge pile of money the trustees are sitting on, thanks to our “Basic Aid” gravy train—apparently, the SOCCCD is nearly unique among cc districts with regard to funding. We’re rolling in dough, they say, and yet the colleges are kept on miserly budgets. And why no raises for faculty? And why are these trustees squirreling away so much of the taxpayers’ money? “It’s obscene,” they say.
.....I guess so. I’m trying to find somebody to explain all of this.
.....I try to follow the bouncing Basic Aid ball, but it isn’t easy. Every time somebody explains that funding model, they make it sound as though budget cuts in Sacramento don’t affect us, since we get our money from local property taxes, not as an allocation from state budget money earmarked for community colleges.
.....OK. I get it. Or do I?
.....A few days ago (April 14), we received state budget news from Tracy Daly. Evidently, the district has been sent an “update” written by Robert Blattner, which was attached to Tracy’s email. The upshot seems to be that April tax collections are “down.” The news is bad and will continue to be bad, budgetwise.
.....But wait! The SOCCCD is a Basic Aid district. That means we get most of our funding from local property tax, not from the state via money budgeted for community colleges. Isn’t that how it goes?
.....Maybe so. After laying out the grim April tax facts, Blattner presents what he takes to be an even more “solid” fact:

According to a just-made-public survey of County assessors…, statewide growth in local property tax revenue for the budget year is sharply below earlier projections. The survey, which included most of the state’s counties and all of its large ones, projects a 4.5 percent growth between current and budget years, compared to the 7 percent forecast by the Administration…. This news doesn’t affect school districts directly (except for Basic Aid districts, which receive their local property taxes instead of revenue limit funding).

.....Blattner is saying that the bad news about property taxes does directly affect us. OK, I get that.
.....In her email, Tracy quotes the Chancellor:

“At this point, the State budget shortfall is being projected at $22 Billion. It is anticipated that the budget will get worse as the State receives the tax filings by April 15 and homeowners increasingly request reappraisal of their property taxes due to the declining housing market.”

.....--OK, I get the “homeowner” part. We’re Basic Aid. But is there any reason why the budget Stinkeroo should affect us, beyond the property tax situation?
.....Tracy (Mathur?) goes on to say:

The Orange County Community Colleges Legislative Task Force is working to communicate to legislators our concern over proposed cuts to community colleges, and gathering support letters to present to the Governor. More information will be sent out on this campaign soon.

.....--Yeah, but we’ve gotta be the odd duck in that crowd, right? These other districts aren’t Basic Aid, and so they’ve got to worry about these cuts. Not us. We are Basic Aid. What we want isn’t quite what everybody else wants, right?
.....Help me out here.
.....Tracy finishes with:

Board Vice President John Williams and Chancellor Mathur will be in Sacramento tomorrow [i.e., on the 15th, last Tuesday] to join the Community College League of California in speaking with legislators about the budget.

.....But, again, among this delegation, we’re odd man out, right? Insofar as SOCCCD is concerned, we don’t care about no stinkin’ state budget, right?
.....I figure that, if this is confusing to me, it’s likely confusing to other folks too. So maybe some of you out there can enlighten the benighted—in plain English. I’d appreciate it.

13 STOPLOSS

.....☺ Sheesh! The students we get!
.....A quiet but interesting student friend has started a blog about his ARMY EXPERIENCES, especially as they concern Iraq and the war. He's a very good writer—there's something about him—and he seems to have a special perspective. See for yourself.
.....Give his blog a visit, will you?
.....It's called 13 STOPLOSS. (Luddites: click on the blue letters.)
.....Encourage him, if you're so inclined. Leave a comment on his blog.
.....According to Wikipedia, "Stop-loss, in the United States military, is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date. It also applies to the ceasing of a permanent change of station (PCS) move for a member still in military service."

☺ On a lighter note, check out....

AN ENGINEER'S GUIDE TO CATS:


Thanks Myland & Kathie for sending it. It starts off kinda lame, but it gets funnier and funnier. Any cat person will love it. Normal persons, too.

☺ Exene Cervenka rules! You remember X, right?

☺ Ben Stein's "intelligent design" flick is getting sh*tty boxoffice. Nya.

☺ Have you read the Lariat's review of the IVC Performing Arts Center's first musical? Check it out: Performing Arts Center fails to impress with inaugural musical. It's panular.
.....They throw in a review of the building, too, just for good measure. Ouch.

☺ The OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano comes through again, this time with: The KKK Took My County Away: Meet the Klansman Who Helped to Found Orange County. It's the amazing, and usually bowdlerized, story of early OC big cheese Henry William Head. An excerpt:

It’s not known if any other of Orange County’s pioneer Confederates—among them early county Treasurer Josiah Clay Joplin and John Alpheus Willson, who was a pallbearer at Robert E. Lee’s funeral before becoming an OC judge—ever joined the Klan, but circumstantial evidence places at least one other fairly prominent figure in the KKK. Victor Montgomery was one of Orange County’s first lawyers and the man who wrote the bill that eventually allowed Orange County to win independence from LA. He also happened to be a Nashville native who served as Forrest’s scout and fought in two battles alongside Head. In the 1890s, long after the War Between the States, Montgomery fretted to a friend that California was “becoming Yankeeized.”

You remember how the KKK dominated the Anaheim city council? Well, I'll save that for another day.

Don't know much about anything: directionless youth

.....In this weekend's New York Times (Growing Up for Dummies), Charles McGrath reviews three new books about the current generation of high school and college kids. A grim subject, mostly.
.....Some exerpts:

........Mark Bauerlein has a catchall term for all these young people, especially the ones now in high school: he labels them “the dumbest generation,” which is also what he calls his new book, subtitled “How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.”
.....…[M]ost high school students, Mr. Bauerlein says, don’t really do a whole lot. They don’t read, they don’t go to museums or get involved in community life, they don’t do much homework.
.....And according to Mr. Bauerlein, they know next to nothing. … They’re six times more likely to be able to name the current American Idol than the speaker of the House of Representatives. On tests of competence in math and science, American high-schoolers do worse than students from countries that we used to think of as backward.
.....In fact, that’s the great paradox of the dumbest generation, Mr. Bauerlein says: never have American students had it so easy, and never have they achieved less. Material gains and intellectual performance seem almost inversely related….
.....As you read along, it all seems pretty convincing (if depressing), especially when he gets around to naming a culprit: the digital revolution, which he says has empowered students in certain ways while also eroding their attention spans and analytical abilities. Sounds about right. But then you pick up William Damon’s book, “The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life.”
.....Mr. Damon, director of the Center on Adolescence at Stanford, says that students today are “working harder and learning a bit more, at least judging from the most recent test-score results.” (Not the ones Mr. Bauerlein has been reading.) But he also says that most of these students are drifting aimlessly, with no clue as to what they want to do or become in the future. The only thing they seem to know for sure is that they don’t want to run for public office….
.....Young people are now so purposeless, Mr. Damon says, so uncertain and fearful of commitment even when it comes to finding mates, that many of them may never marry, and they’re so hesitant about picking a career that they may wind up living at home forever….
.....According to Christine Hassler, author of “20 Something Manifesto: Quarter-Lifers Speak Out About Who They Are, What They Want and How to Get It,” they’re not just floundering, they’re often anxious and miserable, suffering from something like menu overload: there are just too many choices to make. The result is often a feeling of stasis and letdown that Ms. Hassler calls Expectation Hangover, a phrase she is so fond of she has trademarked it.
.....“20 Something Manifesto” is actually less a manifesto than a breathlessly optimistic self-help book designed to help its audience peel back the layers of their “identity onion” and sort out the poles of the “20s triangle”: “Who am I, what do I want, how do I get what I want?” She talks a lot about the need for the floundering to feel self-gratitude and spend “quality time” with themselves; for the lovelorn, she suggests palliative remedies, like sending yourself flowers and writing yourself a note of appreciation.
.....In fact, “20 Something Manifesto” is an almost perfect illustration of the kinds of things that both Mr. Bauerlein and Mr. Damon are worried about. It’s a book about purposelessness that’s written not just for dummies but for people who are practically comatose….
…..
.....It stands to reason … that parents must be part of the problem. Some of us have raised dummies and the disengaged not on purpose, surely, but perhaps because we listened to Mr. Rogers and told them too often that we liked them just the way they were.

Query (re accreditation)

.....As you know, each of our colleges has established a "focus group" (task force? committee? coffee klatch?) to tackle accreditation. .....I know that IVC's group had its second meeting this morning. Don't know about Saddleback College's group. .....Does anyone know how things are going on these committees? Any progress? Inquiring minds wanna know. .....Faculty who serve on IVC's committee have offered brief reports (of the first meeting) at a recent senate meeting. (These meetings are open to the public.) According to those folks, the right note of openness and frankness was struck right from the start. They praised the effort and the participants. .....On the other hand, it was reported that trustee Wagner discouraged the notion that "personnel changes" might occur to deal with our accreditation difficulties (fear, despair, hostility, etc.). .....The group considered models of "collegial consultation" that are used at such colleges as Chabot and College of the Canyons. .....Evidently, our district operates sans model. P.S.: .....Someone commented, writing that "Inquiring minds should contact their shared gov representatives on the committee." The writer in effect cautioned us to be "careful." .....Excellent advice. If information won't be brought to us, then we need to seek out the information ourselves. Luckily, we have knowledgeable people to contact. (Note that the Accred focus groups have lots of representation, including classified.) .....We at Dissent always try to be careful, which isn't always easy. We make mistakes, but we always try to acknowledge them asap. .....IT SEEMS TO ME THAT, in general, as far as district administration is concerned, the college and district communities should be left in the dark, even about events and processes of crucial importance to the colleges' futures, such as our accreditation project (or the development of ATEP, or the sudden removal of the students' flags in the Student Services Bldg. as a response to de facto threats of protests). Given these near "blackout" conditions, Dissent, which is after all a kind of newsletter, cannot simply remain mute about known factoids, especially when they are provided at venues that are open to the public. .....I should add that our Academic Senate leadership has consistently informed senators of events and processes, to the degree possible or permitted. Clearly, our senate values openness and "transparency." Senate leaders deserve praise. ..... And openness seems to characterize their dealings with college administration as well. That's great. .....Again, the information void to which I am referring largely concerns district—and to some extent, college—leadership. When decisions are made, we should be informed. When important processes are under way, we should be kept apprised of progress. .....I should mention that a meeting for the purpose of informing the IVC community of the Accred focus group's progress is scheduled for a week and a half from now. ..... But, by then, the process will be over a month old. Shouldn't we be apprised about so important a matter sooner and more regularly? .....And what on earth is happening with ATEP? And will we make it over the 50% line (for instructional expenditures) given the current "pause" in new faculty hiring? .....And what's with this exodus of college presidents, provosts, and Vice Chancellors? .....Inquiring minds wanna know! —CW, 4/19

Grossmont's work-to-contract action

.....Yesterday, after the senate meeting at Irvine Valley College, I overheard a reference to a “work-to-contract” (WTC) action at Grossmont College. That's in El Cajon (San Diego area).
.....Naturally, I was interested, for, here in the SOCCCD, the faculty union has called for a “work-to-contract” action, which entails faculty refraining from the large amount of extra-contractual work that is traditional for college faculty, but which is so often underappreciated or even unrecognized by college boards.
.....So, this morning, I did some Googling. I came up with this article from the March 29 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Dispute over pay roils two campuses

.....Labor unrest has escalated at Grossmont and Cuyamaca community colleges, where faculty members are protesting stalled salary negotiations by refusing to volunteer for activities at their campuses.
.....Since the United Faculty union called for the job action March 4, faculty members have stopped advising student clubs and serving on committees, including those dealing with accreditation. Some events have been postponed as a result, including Women's History Month presentations, which had been scheduled to begin Monday at Grossmont College.
.....“We hate to do anything like that,” United Faculty President Zoe Close said. “(But) it's a tool that is available to us to make a statement.”
.....The district's 1,300 full-and part-time faculty members haven't received a raise in two years, Close said.
.....The district filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint against United Faculty with the state March 14, claiming the job action is illegal and not in good faith because the two sides are trying to work out an agreement through the state's labor process.
.....“They're hurting their institutions and students by jeopardizing their accreditation,” said Omero Suarez, chancellor of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.
.....The labor dispute is heating up at a time when the district is dealing with other crucial issues.
.....The district is getting an unexpected, midyear budget cut of $1.3 million, part of an $84.4 million statewide loss for colleges because of a drop in property-tax revenue. Also, Suarez announced he will retire next summer with one year left on his contract, and the governing board wants to start looking for a new chancellor soon.
.....The district also is locked in a different contract dispute with administrators who formed a union two years ago. The 64-member Administrators Association consists of vice presidents, deans and supervisors, but the pay dispute concerns only supervisors.
.....“We wish we could wrap this up and move on to other issues,” said Jim Fenningham, president of the Administrators Association and a dean at Grossmont College. The association's members aren't participating in the faculty's work-to-the-contract job action, he said.
.....This isn't the first time faculty members have dropped out of their committees and advisory posts. In 2005, faculty members also refused to volunteer for assignments to protest a labor impasse. The issue was settled four months later.
.....The district and faculty union reached another stalemate last year while negotiating a salary agreement for 2006-07 and had been meeting with a state-appointed mediator.
.....On Feb. 29, the mediator declared that the two sides couldn't come to an agreement. They're now in the fact-finding phase of the state's labor dispute process.
.....In fact-finding, a three-member panel, including a state-appointed arbitrator, investigates each side's proposals and makes a nonbinding recommendation. The district can reject the panel's recommendation and impose its last offer. If the union doesn't agree with the district's offer, it can call for a strike.
.....The fact-finding process could take up to eight weeks to complete, said Roger Smith, spokesman for the state's Public Employment Relations Board. The administrators association is also in the fact-finding stage.
.....Close declined to discuss the faculty union's salary demands until the fact-finding process is completed. The district posted the last salary proposals on its Web site.
.....The United Faculty union is seeking a 5 percent salary increase for the district's 400 full-time faculty members and a 6 percent bump for 900 part-time faculty members for 2006-07. It's seeking a 3.5 percent increase for full-timers and a 4 percent increase for part-timers for 2007-08.
.....The district is proposing an increase of 4 percent for full-timers and 5.5 percent for part-timers for 2006-07, and 3 percent for full-timers and 3.5 percent for part-timers for 2007-08.

As the above article indicates, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Omero Suarez plans to step down before his contract expires. According to another recent Union-Tribune article (Chancellor stepping down),

.....…[I]n 2006, [Suarez’s] reputation suffered when he admitted deleting the buyout clause in his contract without board approval. Suarez was not disciplined but his relationship with board members has not been the same since, board president Bill Garrett said.
…..
.....Suarez had a well-documented falling out with faculty leaders at Grossmont College in recent years. He said they were unhappy that their campus did not get more construction dollars and took their frustrations out on him.
.....In 2005, Suarez was the target of a no-confidence vote by the Grossmont College Academic Senate over funding and other issues. The senate questioned the data that was used to allocate funding for the two campuses….

Dissent has noticed Suarez before. See What's with these community college trustees?.

ALSO:

• I came across a seemingly helpful bulletin (See) put out by the Santa Monica College Faculty Association in 2006. It attempts to explain work-to-contract. It mentions Foothill DeAnza's then-recent and successful WTC.

• For an example of a recent (year-old) ACCJC (Accreditation) report that takes note of the effects of a work-to-contract action see Hartnell College Evaluation Report.

• Check out the Mission College Academic Senate website. Under "documents," read in particular the senate's "behavioral objectives." Ours is not the only faculty treated and thought of badly by trustees.

A new feature! Rebel Girl's book club!

.....Below is an excerpt from the first chapter of Richard Russo's "Straight Man," a novel in the tradition of academic satires. In this scene, the narrator, the chair of the department of English, is speaking with one of his colleagues, Teddy.
.....It's a hilarious, anarchic book that Rebel Girl invariably re-reads at least once a year just to recalibrate herself.
.....Perfect for this season of WTC.

.....I know what's coming. For the last few months rumors have been running rampant about an impending purge at the university, one that would reach into the tenured ranks. If such a thing were to happen, virtually everyone in the English department would be vulnerable to dismissal. The news is reportedly being broken to department chairs individually in their year-end conferences with the campus executive officer. According to which rumors you listen to, the chairs are being either asked or required to draw up lists of faculty in their departments who might be considered expendable. Seniority is reportedly not a criterion.
....."All right," I tell Teddy. "Give it to me. Who have you been talking to now?"
....."Arnie Drenker over in Psychology."
....."And you believe Arnie Drenker?" I ask. "He's certifiable."
....."He swears he was ordered to make a list."
.....When I don't immediately respond to this, he takes his eyes off the road for a microsecond to look over at me. My right nostril, which has now swollen to the point where I can see it clearly in my peripheral vision, throbs under his scrutiny. "Why do you refuse to take the situation seriously?"
....."Because it's April, Teddy," I explain. This is an old discussion. April is the month of heightened paranoia for academics, not that their normal paranoia is insufficient to ruin a perfectly fine day in any season. But April is always the worst. Whatever dirt will be done to us is always planned in April, then executed over the summer, when we are dispersed. September is always too late to remedy the reduced merit raises, the slashed travel fund, the doubled price of the parking sticker that allows us to park in the Modern Languages lot. Rumors about severe budget cuts that will affect faculty have been rampant every April for the past five years, although this year's have been particularly persistent and virulent. Still, the fact is that every year the legislature has threatened deep cuts in higher education. And every year a high-powered education task force is sent to the capitol to lobby the legislature for increased spending. Every year accusations are leveled, editorials written. Every year the threatened budget cuts are implemented, then at the last fiscal moment money is found and the budget-most of it-restored. And every year I conclude what William of Occam (that first, great modern William, a William for his time and ours, all the William we will ever need, who gave to us his magnificent razor by which to gauge simple truth, who was exiled and relinquished his life that our academic sins might be forgiven) would have concluded-that there will be no faculty purge this year, just as there was none last year, just as there will be none next year. What there will probably be next year is more belt tightening, more denied sabbaticals, an extension of the hiring freeze, a reduced photocopy budget. What there will certainly be next year is another April, and another round of rumors.
.....Teddy steals another quick glance at me. "Do you have any idea what your colleagues are saying?"
....."No," I say, then, "yes. I mean, I know my colleagues, so I can imagine what they're saying."
....."They're saying your dismissing the rumors is pretty suspicious. They're wondering if you've made up a list."