Sunday, January 24, 2010

Tomorrow's board meeting, part 3: Saddleback College to be rated "PG"

More on tomorrow's meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees.

Captain Kangaroo College. Item 6.1 is a recommendation to broadcast (on Saddleback's Channel 39) only PG programming.

I’m guessing this has something to do with trustee Nancy Padberg’s request a few months ago for reports on the “Communication Arts and Film Program.” Here are the details:



Gosh, isn't PG the kind of rating you stick on, say, Captain Kangaroo? (Well, actually, PG is "Parental Guidance Suggested — Some material may not be suitable for children")

USING YOUR EARS TO SPEAK. Item 5.11 is approval for honoraria for invited Saddleback College speakers. All of 'em seem to be part of the "Distinguished Emeritus Guest Lecture Series." Check 'em out:


If I have some time later, I'll check out these speakers. "Using Your Ears to Think." "Free Wheel Chair Mission." Gosh.

UPDATE: So far, this crew checks out to be pretty impressive. It turns out that Dr. Olivieri is in the UCI drama department. I'm impressed. Dr. Priya Ranjan is an Associate Professor, Department of Economics, UC Irvine. His research concerns International Trade and Economic Development. Dr. Harrington, however, teaches at Patten University, in Oakland. That place looks a bit hinky, but that doesn't mean Harrington isn't good. Dr. Ian G. Harris is currently an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California Irvine. Dr. Don Schoendorfer seems to have received significant recognition for his efforts at producing a cheap wheelchair. I've run out of time, but I've gotta say: so far, this appears to be an impressive list of speakers. I guess I should have more faith in people.

MYSTERY LEASE. Evidently, the district wants to scrape up some dough by leasing some of its property at or near Saddleback College. Item 5.13 concerns recent bidding and negotiations to get the lease. There's a highest bidder. The Chancellor recommends accepting that bid and leaving the details to him.

Yeah, but what are they leasing? Normally, we'd read "See exhibit A." This time, the agenda says "EXHIBIT A to be hand carried."

Don't you just love "open" government?

BECAUSE THEY'RE DEFIANT. Item 5.16 is an agreement for legal services with "Jones Day." It's for the "prayer" lawsuit. The hourly rate is $425. (Then there's "costs and expenses.") The district has already hired JD tentatively. This will make it official.

Tomorrow's board meeting, part 2: liberal busybodies everywhere!

Dissent the BlogItem 5.17 of the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting of the SOCCCD BOT is that nasty old “authorization of institutional memberships.”

District policy 3220 requires annual board approval of these memberships/expenditures.

You’ll recall that, a few years ago, trustee Don “the demagogue” Wagner led the way in discontinuing our colleges’ memberships in the American Library Association (ALA), the elephant-in-the-room of library clubs.

How come? Because, said Don, they are a bunch of “liberal busybodies”—LBs.
* * * * *
I checked out exhibit A for item 5.17 and found lots of curious factoids about where our “institutional memberships” dollars go (or will go, for surely this item will pass).

Between the district and its three campuses, we are members of eight different “chamber of commerce” organizations. (IVC pays $150 to Tustin’s chamber of commerce; ATEP seems to pay that group $30 more. What’s that about? I bet it’s a Mathur tax.)

The district (distinct from the colleges) will pay $75,000 on institutional memberships, including $36,000 to the Community College League of California (CCLC) and $17,000 to the Commission on Athletics.

Saddleback College will pay $115,000 a year, including $20,000 to WASC and $14,000 to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

Irvine Valley College will pay $50,000, including $16,000 to WASC and $8,000 to AACC.

ATEP will pay about $3,000.

All told, the district will pay about $243,000 in institutional memberships.
* * * * *
What I never understood about Don Wagner’s action regarding the ALA is why he stopped there. Why didn’t (doesn’t) the fellow go all the way? I mean, people whom he would designate as LBs can be found among lots of the groups of which we have been and will be members.

Lets just focus on library groups, just like Don!

Both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges are down as members of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). But ACRL is a division of the ALA. So if the ALA is a bunch of LBs, then wouldn’t the ACRL be a bunch too, albeit a smaller bunch?

Now, one of Mathur’s favorite groups is Educause, of which the district is a paying member (we pay ‘em about 3 grand a year). But Educause doesn’t seem to mind associating with the ALA. I noticed that Educause and ALA (actually, its division, ACRL) sponsored a forum together a couple of years ago. (New Modes of Info Delivery.)

I bet they’re “liberal busybodies” too. So pull the plug on Educause, I say. C'mon!

IVC is a member of the California Library Association, the CLA. But the CLA is a chapter of the ALA.

You know what that means. That's right!

But why stop there? I bet you can find butt-loads of LBs among the dozens of institutions that we associate with.

C’mon, Don. In for a penny, in for a pound! Let’s clear this joint until the only people left standing are Birthers and Tea Baggers!

CHECK 'EM OUT.
Here are some highly suspect organizations listed in item 5.17. I dunno if they’re all full of LBs, but you never know until you start infiltrating and investigating.

American Historical Association (If you love America, you don't air its dirty laundry)
Calif. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (Foreigner-lovers!)
Community College Humanities Association (Humanities = secular humanism = godless sh*t)
English Council of Cal. Two Year Colleges (English? Socialists)
Organization of American Historians (Puritans and Pilgrims fought for liberty and democracy, you pointy-headed creeps)
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (More foreigner-lovers. Ain't Americans good enough for 'em?)
College Art Association of America (Art = secular humanism + free love = hippie sh*t)
Theatre Communications Group (That’s not how Americans spell "theater." Plus they pronounce "lesbian" funny)
Calif. Community College Early Childhood Educators (Early liberal brain-washing, more like it. Liberal crap)
Health Services Assoc. of the Calif. Community Colleges (Health services = robbing the taxpayer!)
National Association of Education for Young Children (More thought-control and Kumbaya)
Consortium of Southern Cal. Colleges and Universities (Atheist, homo creeps think they're better than me)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (They deny Genesis and grind up fetuses)
National Science Teachers Assn. (They teach secularism and skeptical sh*t)
Broadcast Education Association (You been watching TV?)
Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Libertines!)
College Art Association of America (They should stick to the Three Rs)
National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts (Clay is for kids)
Radio, TV, News Directors Association (Liberal media!)
Western Arts Alliance (Real Americans don't form alliances!)
Cal. Assoc. of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (A disease? They're weak and godless)
Cal. Assoc. of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Educators (They keep people stoned, y’know, to justify their jobs)
National Organization for Human Services Education (More gov’t give-aways!)
Society for Ecological Restoration—California (Restoration? Drill, baby, drill!)
Society (of) Conservation Biology (The Lord give us the world to use up and shoot up)
US Green Building Council (How come it’s been so cold lately, college boy?)
American Association of Women in Community Colleges (Some lesbian organization. Makes me sick)
California Community College Counselors Association (Whatever happened to the school of hard knocks?)
National Wheelchair Basketball Association (They want more access, I bet)
Health Services Assoc. for Calif. Community Colleges (aka giving away my money to lazy foreigners)
National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (Why do we invite Arabs? I don't get it)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (Liberal brainwashin’)

Tomorrow’s board meeting, part 1

Item 7.4 on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees concerns “board requested reports.” Most of these, of course, spring from trustee Tom Fuentes' right-wing, anti-intellectual, union-bashing political agenda.

But two requests came from trustee Nancy Padberg in September. One concerned Saddleback College’s “Film Program”—that report was issued in November but was kept in a room somewhere:
The report…has been distributed as a separate item on the agenda. A copy of the report may be viewed in hard copy in room 334, Office of the Chancellor and Trustee Services. HSB, Saddleback College.
The other request concerned the college’s “Communication Arts Program.”

Oddly, though that report was set for release in November, January 25 (tomorrow) is also indicated.

One thing. Talk of a “communication arts” and a “film” program doesn’t add up. As near as I can tell, there is no “film” program at Saddleback College. Rather, there is a “communication arts” program that houses radio, TV, and film departments. Or are these sub-programs? Well, whatever.

The last time we looked into this, it appeared that Padberg was upset about a short film, created in the program, about an elderly gay woman “coming out” and going on a cruise. We never got confirmation about that. The film, of course, was utterly unobjectionable. But maybe Padberg had her sights on something else.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll find out.

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