1. Yesterday, at the IVC Academic Senate meeting, Senators were shown drafts of new board policies that are up for approval (on Tuesday, I think). Among them is a policy permitting alcoholic beverages at Foundation functions held on campus. That's good. Punch and cookies are gettin' mighty old.
The writing of the policy isn't so good, though. The policy reads, "The Chancellor...is authorized to approve...the serving of alcoholic beverages...if the alcoholic beverages is for use at foundation...events."
It gets worse. Really.
Baboons run this district.
2. A member of the Commencement Speaker task force solicited suggestions for a speaker. I think the last speaker was a successful bodybuilder/fitness guru. (Faculty on the committee wanted a writer; students wanted the muscle guy.) The speaker before that, I think, owned a successful chain of fish taco restaurants. He wore a colorful shirt. Nice guy.
During the meeting, one senator, a member of the PE department, suggested that we secure an Orange County Olympic gold medalist. I guess they could do curls or something. Or just stand there with their gold baubles.
I opined that, though I was not necessarily opposed to muscle or fish speakers, it would be refreshing if, for once, we could secure a speaker who represented intellectual attainment. Years ago—i.e., anteGoo—our commencement speakers included writers. Now, they're all Republican politicians or businessmen.Some senators worried that Chancellor Raghu "Micromanager" Mathur might fix the selection. What's the use of having a task force if the fix is in? Yeah, well.
How about writer Gustavo Arellano? He's swell! I can just see it. We'll ask Gustavo, and, Gustavo will say yes (how could he resist?), and then Mathur will step in to give the job to Lou Bone.
That is my prediction.
3. There are indications that Mathur has joined HR in boldly violating district hiring policies. One persistent story is that he "directed" the two college presidents whom to select for the various faculty hiring committees—and he did so in a manner that violated the policy's provision according to which two-thirds of each committee must be faculty. When this became clear, vigilant faculty (who have made an effort to bone up on the details of our hard-won hiring policy, the result of a successful lawsuit) blew the whistle. Nope, you've got to follow the policy.
As you know, owing to a gigantic SCREW UP by the Chancellor, we are now compelled to hire 45 faculty ASAP (in order to increase the proportion of spending on instruction, which is supposed to be at least 50%). Each college president is entitled, as per board policy, to select three members for each hiring committee.
Unless, of course, Raghu P. Mathur is the Chancellor. Then they're not. He is.
Or so he seems to think.
4. Don't forget! There's a meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees on Tuesday. I'm bringing my camcorder.5. Have you been following the Janet Nguyen case? The OC Weekly is all over her victory over Mike Schroeder and Co. (the Fuentesphere). See NGUYEN VS. NGUYEN: JANET WINS!
I do have one complaint, though. The OC Weekly stole our Carona/Knack joke. See THE BALLAD OF MIKE CARONA. I think their graphic (above) sucks, compared to ours (below):
Plus, Rebel Girl was singing "My, My, My Carona" back in early November! (Did I miss an email?).We'll let it go this time!
