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?)