The Chancellor's opening session: not bad

I attended the Chancellor’s “opening session” this morning. Silly me. I thought it started at 9:00 a.m., but no, it started at 8:45, so I was late. [See also Tracy's update.]

Had they invoked the Lord? Hmmm. I looked over at Karla W, a few rows back, and she seemed serene.

That clinched it. Must’ve been a moment of silence or less.

As I entered the hall, Chancellor Raghu Mathur was blathering like he does, though he seemed somberer than usual, like he had an extra marble in his yap and a pebble in his loafer. He went through the usual factoids and charts. He emphasized the relative fiscal health of the district, owing to its “remaining within its means,” which, he joked, is a “radical idea.” Something like that.

I suspect that most of us are indeed glad that the board has been conservative (an approach eschewed by Republican Presidents, it seems) in its approach to finances in the last decade or so. Remember that board majority of 1996? Williams was in charge of that crew for a while. Nearly ran us into the ground. (See "State Warns It Might Take Over S. County College District Finances," LA Times, December 28, 1997.)

I studied Williams’ face during Mathur’s crowing and his alluding to the bad old days of fiscal, albeit Republican, spendthriftery.

I noted John's blissful visage.

“Lights are on, nobody home.”

(BTW: in attendance were Trustees Wagner, Milchiker, Padberg, Williams, and Fuentes. Didn't see Jay or Lang. Jay might've been sleeping somewhere. Wagner left early. The two Presidents were there, plus the ATEP Provost. The audience was medium-sized.)

Mathur launched into a list of the ten greatest districtular accomplishments of the last decade. Its items were unsurprising: more students, more FTES, less debt, accreditation(!), fewer pesky bees and Nazis, etc. Mathur seemed eager to persuade us that these accomplishments are significant, a reason to be proud.

When he got to ATEP, he was even more insistent. The audience seemed dubious. I looked over at Tom Fuentes, off to the left, in the dark. Poker face, with lower lip droopage, Nixonian jowls.

At one point, Mathur made a point of spotlighting the “two provosts” of ATEP—Bob Kopecky, who was canned (by a desperate, finger-pointing Mathur), and Randy Peebles, who, these days, looks like he could follow in Bob’s cansteps. Those two huddled together as if sharing a trench in the French countryside. Everyone clapped. They smiled. Mathur smiled. I smiled. —Different smiles.

I pitty the poor fool who has that ATEP Provost gig under Mathur. Anything goes south, and the Provester gets canned, i.e., they tie cans to his feet and send 'im out to no-man's land to face the Hun and his MP18.

At one point, whilst discussing ATEP, Mathur alluded to the difficulty the district (mostly Gary P) has had dealing with “a city,” which remained nameless. That drew a laugh. Mathur went with it. Hope no Tustinians were in the room.

Mathur once again declared that the Tustin project could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to the district, a shining city upon a hill. "Keep the dream alive," he seemed to say. He seemed to really mean it—if, that is, he were to say it, which he didn't.

There’d been a rumor that, today, Mathur would announce some sort of personal migration to beyond our district, but, like all good rumors about Mathur, this one proved to be false. (Yeah, but what's with the somberness?)

The “keynote” speaker, Mr. Christopher Harrington (Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc.) was next. He wasn’t half bad. Seemed like a bright guy, albeit a “chamber of commerce” sort. Staunch. Subtly imperious. Republican.

He discussed changes likely to occur in the world economy in the next forty or fifty years—China will be the great power, India will be tied with the U.S. in GDP, Mexico will not be far behind, etc. (Bob K brought up the subject of Mexico during Q&A. Bob's always on top of such things.) Harrington briefly outlined the history of centers of economic power: from Europe to the American Northeast, to the American Southwest, to China—and then (some time in the future) to the south: Mexico and South America, and even Africa.

California, of course, is in a relatively good position to participate in the rise of Asian commerce and power that we witness today.

Harrington seemed to argue a thesis: that colleges should help get people up to speed on the ethical issues involved in today's business environment, e.g., finding the right balance between a corporation’s pursuit of profit and its social obligation regarding the environment. He described Toshiba's efforts to move toward greater efficiency and a smaller carbon footprint, etc. He said that the old Milton Friedman (greed is good) model of the “responsibilities” of a corporation is under attack: no, it is not enough to pay taxes, create jobs, make a profit. Social responsibility has to enter the picture, too. But how do we think about that? There must be a dialogue.

That sounded pretty good, especially coming from a Republican. He really did seem to want academia to step up to the plate to provide the kind of understanding and dialogue necessary to prevent the kind of disastrously narrow thinking that brought us Enron, the recent mortgage fiasco, etc. (On the other hand, it seemed to me that he was also saying: you guys aren't stepping up to the plate. So get with the effing program!)

All in all, Harrington's presentation was successful and well received, I think.

Fuentes, our MC, got up to do his thing. He seemed on his game. It seemed to me, though, that he left the distinct impression that that was it. I started to get up.

But wait!

Next came our own David Bugay, VC of Human Resources. He was charming, entertaining. He managed to provide the highpoint of the session, I believe. He spoke of the very point of our institution and our jobs—the good that we can do for students. And he noted the gap between instructors being “good” and being “great.” Great instructors, he said, are a total pain in the ass (he did everything short of using those words). But they’re worth it, he said. Teaching well is the thing. He had some anecdotes.

“Goodness is the enemy of greatness,” he proclaimed (quoting someone). He spoke of burnout and other syndromes of decline and crummitude.

He then spoke of his own adventures as an (initially) “wayward” student, starting at a community college thirty years ago. There he was, not knowing his butt from a hole in the ground. He described two teachers who really turned him around, about reading, writing, and the purchase of ties.

His anecdotes were nicely compelling and entertaining, and so that was that, I thought. Good for you, Davey-Do. Who'd of thunk?

But no! Suddenly, he invited these two geezers—one was maybe in his late sixties, the other was in his seventies—to come on out. And so they did, to big applause. They immediately found their places in a faux living room with couch, chair, lamp, and coffee table. Bugay sat in the stuffed chair and pretend-smoked a large Sherlock Holmesian pipe, à la a dignified and petrified host of a TV series on the dead-'n'-somber classics. Funny. His nervousness really worked for him. I guess he's a nice guy.

These two old dudes were quite good. I don’t know how Bugay pulled it off, but his and their spontaneous-but-scripted dialogue went off perfectly. Each geezer told his stories and described his values and whatnot. It was a home run.

What about burnout?

"Well, you can do this; you can do that; but, hey, sometimes there's nothing you can do."

Big laugh.

At one point, Bugay insisted that “motivational speakers don’t work.” But I do think that he did a decent job motivating us to be mindful of this phenomenon—that the things we teach and do for our students can have a lasting impact that can change lives for the better.

OK, clearly I’ve gone too far here. I'm being much to positive. Corny, even.

Ummm....

Oh yeah. As I was leaving, Tom Fuentes made a big point of reaching out his hand to me and saying “Happy New Year, Roy.” OK. So I grabbed his hand, shook it, and said the same.

I think Gary P was standing next to him in some sort of fuzzy-but-sharp jacket. (He’s a bit of a dandy. Ever look at his shoes?) I shook his hand too. He was friendly, as always.

Then I stroked the fuzz, and said, “nice, dude.” I booked. Whew!

(My back was killing me, so I blew off the Faculty Association lunch and gabfest. Did anyone go to that? Anything worth reporting?)

COMMENTS:

Anonymous said...
The FA Luncheon opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a full-throated rendition of God Bless America. Then we all square-danced and ate some Apple Betty.
4:34 PM, January 06, 2010

B. von Traven said...
Apple Betty? Am I the only person on earth who has no idea what "Apple Betty" refers to? --I googled the phrase, fully expecting it to refer to a popular porn star. But it's just some goddam pie.
4:56 PM,

DoeSeeDoe said...
I could have sworn it was a Sour Berry Slump.
8:19 PM,

Anonymous said...
Gary P has to work at being sharp; he's color-blind. And yes, he is a nice guy. Likes jazz too.
9:20 PM,

alannah said...
You forgot to mention Bugay's fondness for Jerry Garcia ties. A very big plus in my opinion, at least until somebody tells Tom Fuentes who Jerry Garcia is.
9:22 PM,

B. von Traven said...
Re Jerry Garcia ties: I alluded to that, referring to what Bugay learned from his cc mentors (see).

I played along with the Jerry Garcia tie thing. But, in truth, wasn't Jerry just a hippie with good guitar technique? Never heard a Grateful Dead song that remotely interested me. And that whole fuzzy-headed drug scene leaves me cold.

If you're gonna listen to a Bay Area band (of that era), I say: consider Moby Grape. Or CCR! Both bands infinitely more accomplished, in my opinion. Moby Grape is a gold mine of listenability, if you've not heard them. Check it out.

OK, now I've violated my New Year's resolution: not to make enemies. I take it all back. Loved what Jerry did on "Teach Your Children," BTW. (I can do without the rest of his noodling, however. D'oh! did it again!)
9:34 PM,

Anonymous said...
I can't find "my" song on the Dissent Jukebox anymore - did you change anything?
ES
10:55 PM,

B. von Traven said...
I do change it once in a while. Which song was "yours"? I'll put it back, if I can. In truth, the list of favorites is much bigger than can be placed on the playlist, alas.
10:59 PM,

Anonymous said...
"Lisa Says". Came out the year I was born, and I've always loved the Velvet Underground. 
ES
11:06 PM,

B. von Traven said...
If I removed "Lisa Says," it was by mistake. Love that song. One of my faves among faves.
11:09 PM,

Anonymous said...
And of course, Lisa is one of the best names ever...
ES
11:11 PM

B. von Traven said...
It turns out that "Lisa Says" ceased being available, hence the "removal." Nothing I can do about that. 
So I added the YouTube "Lisa Says" in the post above, with Lyrics. 
Heartbreaking. Always gets to me.
11:44 PM,

Anonymous said...
Where would we be without YouTube...
ES
11:57 PM,

Anonymous said...
We listen to music, that we listened to, when we listened to music.
11:02 AM, January 07, 2010

Anonymous said...
Always liked the Underground but hated Lou Reed.
1:25 PM,

Anonymous said...
How could anyone hate Lou Reed?
2:58 PM,

Anonymous said...
I'm not sure how you can like the Underground but hate Lou Reed. The sound of the Underground pretty much is Lou Reed. Do you mean you hate him more on a personal level, or his looks, or...? 
ES
9:13 PM,

B. von Traven said...
Lou has had so many styles over the years. I definitely like some of them more than others. I especially liked the band sound for his New York album. Terrific. With the VU, the sound changed considerably as well. In the early days, the guy with the viola was very important to their sound--the drone. When he left, the drone left. When Mo Tucker left (I think she was pregnant), the band ceased being the VU, despite some great songs. Her simple drumming was an essential element. Much like the White Stripes.
12:34 AM, January 08, 2010

Anonymous said...
Good post, Chunk. I like it when you're positive - it's good for your soul. Have a great semester. Cheers!
5:56 AM