Thursday, September 4, 2008

Who made the decision to pull the plug? —Not Mathur

Earlier today, I forwarded, to Dr. Bill Vega, Chancellor Mathur’s recent email announcing Vega’s sudden “discontinuance” as consultant. As you know (see yesterday's post), in that email, Mathur declared that he, Mathur, made the decision to discontinue Vega’s work. Mathur’s exact words were:

I’ve decided to discontinue the work of the consultant, Dr. Bill Vega, effective immediately. He has graciously concurred.

Oddly enough, Vega offers a different account of the "discontinuance" decision, for he wrote back to me, saying, “Roy, no, it was my recommendation.”

He then explained that he was struck by the trust established among the members of the IVC Accreditation Focus Group and the progress that they believe that they have made. Evidently, this persuaded him that there is no need for the report that he was being asked to write. And so he recommended discontinuance.

That is, it was Vega's recommendation, not Mathur's.

In fact, during Vega's "open forum" at IVC on Tuesday, he hinted that he might well pull the plug on his consultation gig. He also clearly implied that he agreed with the strong objections that were voiced during the forum to the Chancellor's involvement in or interference with IVC decision-making.

Nevertheless, in his email yesterday, Mathur attributed to Vega the judgment that "the decision-making process seems to be working well and any further assessment work is not necessary at this time."

Mid-Morning Matinee: Hypocrites on parade! A musical comedy.


(The first few seconds are a bit like an abstract painting but then it comes into focus. Be patient.)

Rejecting Fishy Advice

‘Teach Them to Challenge Authority’: “Stanley Fish may be telling academics to keep their opinions to themselves, but Gregory S. Prince Jr. thinks it is time for colleges to stop trying to make their classrooms neutral. Prince, the former president of Hampshire College, argues for professors to take all kinds of positions — as a tool for challenging their students….” (See my Mr. Fish is all wet)

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...