Orange Coast College on sh*t list; money "falling from the trees"

• MORE ON IVC “HOMETOWN HERO” MIKE (Pal o' Fuentes) CARONA.

The LA Times has a seriously juicy story about Irvine Valley College “Hometown Hero” Mike Carona, the former Sheriff: Carona doled out Orange County reserve badges to 'friends' who donated $1,000, court document says.

The Times includes a link to a pdf file of some eye-opening court documents. (Check 'em out: pdf.)

While being interviewed by federal investigators last September, a month before Carona was indicted, [former Assistant Sheriff Don] Haidl leveled a variety of assertions:

• Carona and another former assistant sheriff, George Jaramillo, thought money was going to be "falling from the trees" once they assumed office.
• Carona wanted Haidl to handle all the business deals that were to benefit Haidl, Carona and Jaramillo, as well as deal with the "rich" people who came in contact with the Sheriff's Department.
• The three men talked about putting money they made in a trust or lobbying company until they could legally take it out after leaving public office.
• When Carona was involved in discussions about illegal topics, he would say, "That's a conversation for the boat" or "a conversation we should have at 40,000 feet," referring to his concern about the government monitoring his conversations.
• Carona often used the phrase "Give me the win," a reference to making sure he received full media credit when something positive happened in the department.

For the OC Reg’s version of this story, go to Carona was a paranoid egomaniac, former friend tells FBI

• MORE ON COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER RUEBEN MARTINEZ.

The Reb came across this CBS Evening News segment (The Stay-In-School Hero Of Santa Ana) about Irvine Valley College’s recent commencement speaker, Rueben Martinez. (It aired June 25.) Martinez is a winner of the MacArthur “genius” prize.

• ORANGE COAST COLLEGE ON SHIT LIST.

According to this morning’s Inside Higher Ed,

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges [ACCJC/WASC] has announced a series of actions involving numerous two-year institutions in California. At its latest meeting, last month, the accrediting group placed Los Angeles Southwest College on probation and continued probation for Lassen College, while it removed from probation and restored the accreditation of the College of Marin and Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health, and removed College of the Redwoods from probation and placed it on warning. The commission also placed seven other colleges on warning — Cerritos, Copper Mountain, Mission, Ohlone, Orange Coast, Palo Verde and San Joaquin Delta Colleges — and continued Mira Costa College on warning. And it removed from warning status five other institutions: Cuesta, Hartnell, Porterville, San Joaquin Valley, and Western Career Colleges.

More specifically, OCC was "Placed on Warning on the Basis of a Progress Report and Visit."

• "OPERATION WHITEWASH" DIDN'T WORK?

Back on April 29, the Coast Report (Faculty Hands Over Complaints:
Teachers give notebook of grievances to state accreditation team) reported that

.....Four faculty members made a special effort this month to ensure their discontent with Orange Coast College top administrators was on the record.

.....The group sought out the ACCJC team during its follow up visit to OCC earlier this month and presented them a notebook filled with documents and emails detailing alleged transgressions of the school’s administration.


.....The delivery of the notebook is a response to some faculty members’ unhappiness about how the school’s accreditation process is being handled after a 2000 evaluation, including suspected censorship of faculty surveys for the accreditation report, the administration’s alleged use of retaliation against faculty for speaking out and how the campus is generally being run.


.....The issues have been building for some faculty members for years but seem to have ratcheted up during the past 18 months.




.....“This started when current administration decided they didn’t want to communicate with faculty about things that are normally considered shared governance,” biology instructor Ann Harmer said.


.....Sources said the issues have been going on since before the accreditation report happened and more than just the four faculty members who gave the notebook to the ACCJC have concerns.
..... The notebook was given to the accreditation committee when it returned to OCC April 15 for a follow up report, which according to technology instructor Ernest Maurer is unusual.


.....The team came to check up on three main issues they had with the school—the completion of student learning outcomes, the broadening of academic student services and administrative planning and budgeting, and the strengthening of its program review, according to a letter to OCC President Bob Dees from the president of the ACCJC. Faculty members said they feared the association’s concerns weren’t addressed by campus administrators.

“(Issues) they brought up we feel were really shoved under the rug by the administration,” Harmer said.


.....Several faculty members said they tried to arrange a meeting with the accreditation committee on April 15, but were stonewalled by the administration, who claimed to be unaware of where the committee would be meeting.
..... When they did find out where the team was, according to math instructor Maurer, the accreditation team leader told them he wasn’t aware anyone wanted to speak with him, but he accepted the notebook.


.....This isn’t the first time faculty members have contacted the accreditation committee. Last spring a letter was sent listing the problems that faculty saw on campus, Harmer said.


.....Vice President of Instruction Melinda Nish said faculty members are always able to give information to the accreditation committee and it is not unusual for information to be passed on.


.....OCC has an accreditation committee on campus made up of faculty, staff and administrators divided up into groups based on the mission statements and goals of the campus, who among their other duties, compile a report that is submitted to the state accreditation team, according to Harmer.


.....Several faculty members have expressed concerns that original faculty comments destined for the ACCJC team never made it into the final report or were censored.


.....“I don’t know if it’s faked, or is cleaned up,” Harmer said. “It (the final report) makes the administration look more favorable.”


.....Astronomy instructor Nick Contopoulos said the final report given to the team doesn’t accurately reflect the sentiments of the entire campus.


.....“I feel they were not represented. Period. They were representative of those who don’t cause trouble. We’re causing trouble,” Contopoulos said. “We’re not trying to cause trouble. We just know the history of the place and how it was at the highest level. I know what it used to be like and how it is now.”


.....Nish, co-chair of the campus’ accreditation committee, said faculty members were encouraged to give input.


.....“Our progress report was drafted and done by a faculty member,” Nish said. “That faculty member, Karen Felts, didn’t edit out or censor out any information.”


.....Some faculty members said the report misrepresents the present climate of the campus and Maurer said they don’t have confidence that faculty viewpoints were accurately represented.


.....One of faculty’s concerns is the administration’s use of retaliation against those speaking out against the administration. Specifically, they say administrators are using the right of assignment as punishment to take faculty off classes they want to teach.


.....“They can specifically tell you what you’re going to teach, if you get overload, or summer school,” Maurer said. “They use right of assignment as a punitive measure.”


.....Maurer said that faculty members are willing to risk retaliation because the issues are affecting the students.


.....“It is always about the students,” Maurer said. “You hear it from the faculty, but not from the administration. They continue to go after people that speak up. They get transferred. Classes get disbanded.”


.....An issue that several faculty members have brought up is the differences between the current president and vice presidents and those of the past.


.....“Faculty loved when administration poked their heads in,” Maurer said. “Now we only see them at an arms length.”


.....Harmer echoed the sentiment, saying the president and vice presidents would be out walking around campus in past administrations.


.....“That doesn’t happen now,” Harmer said. “Our position is that it’s your job. Your job as vice president of instruction is to communicate with instructors. Your job as president is to go out and communicate with the public. It’s not getting done.”


.....Nish said there are many opportunities for communication for faculty and administration.


.....“I don’t really perceive there is a problem,” Nish said, “but, there is a lot of information out there on campus and it can be overwhelming.”


.....Nish said she is always walking around campus, attending faculty senate meetings, or having forums or informal chats.


.....Some faculty members said all the administration needs to do is step out of their offices and sit down and talk.


.....“It wouldn’t take a lot to solve the issues and that’s the sad part,” Maurer said. “It would take open communication, realizing and admitting they’ve made mistakes. They can’t continue to cover some stuff up.”

.....Contopoulos echoed the sentiment, but added that it isn’t going to be an easy process.


.....“It’s not going to be easy for both sides,” Contopoulos said. “We need to find a solution for the students. You want to mend the fences. You can’t pretend like nothing’s happened. You have to face up to the hard things. You need big people to get up and stay ‘enough.’ I’m going to say enough.” [All emphases added.]

• SOCCCD's ACCREDITATION CRISIS:


.....Years ago, Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur (then IVC President) foisted his good pal Ray Chandos onto the college as Accreditation Chair. Chandos' whitewash was so obvious that it attracted the attention of the local news media. It didn't work then either. (See IVC Accreditation Whitewash.) I am not suggesting, of course, that OCC's Karen Felts engaged in a similar sort of whitewash. Don't know. Whitewashery can be subtle and need not be perpetrated by the Accred Chair.
.....Meanwhile, Chandos' program dwindled to almost nothing, but that wasn't a problem. Mathur protected him. Mathur believes in having friends and doing them favors. Know what I mean?
.....As readers of DtB know, the two colleges of the SOCCCD are in an accreditation crisis, for we have been informed by the ACCJC that we must finally fix problems identified by them by the end of this year. There will be no extensions. (See graphic above from ACCJC letter to Saddleback College.)
.....The problems largely concern trustee micromanagement (and micromanagement through the trustees' agent, the Chancellor), a "plague" of despair, a failure to define roles and responsibilities of groups, etc. Like OCC, Saddleback College is viewed as deficient with regard to establishing "student learning outcomes."
.....These difficulties are long-standing. During the last "round" with the ACCJC, the Chancellor and trustees insisted on inserting defensive language into the accreditation reports, contrary to appropriate processes. It is widely thought that that action helped ensure a poor outcome.
.....I am told that Saddleback College has already written a draft of its new report. It is very brief, and it was written without faculty participation. I have been told by those who have read it that it is very unimpressive. This does not bode well for Saddleback College.
.....(Imagine the year 2010. You phone Saddleback College information. You then hear, "Irvine Valley College, Mission Viejo Center.")
.....Irvine Valley College, it seems, has taken the opposite tack. It has worked very hard to produce new regulations and understandings during a lengthy series of meetings that include faculty reps (everyone is represented). I am told that it has sought to create an atmosphere in which participants can speak freely, and they have done so. As near as I can tell, no "censorship" is involved in the process, and all parties have been able to express their concerns, which are to be included in the final report. (IVC's Accred "focus group" met today from 8:00-11:00.)