Update Prayergate—decision by Friday?

Burnett (in my mind)

     Here’s the latest on the “Westphal v. Wagner” saga. The case was recently settled with an agreement, signed by plaintiffs and ratified by the SOCCCD board, according to which there would no longer be prayers at Scholarship Award ceremonies and Chancellor opening sessions, and the decision whether to have an invocation at commencement would be decided by each college’s commencement planning committee, without external interference or manipulation.
     But then, recently, Saddleback College Prez Tod “Bigfoot” Burnett blew off the Commencement Planning Committee’s unanimous decision to opt for a moment of silence instead of an invocation. He declared that commencement will indeed sport an invocation, i.e., a prayer.

Wagner: medieval fellow

     Last Wednesday night, attorneys for plaintiffs—the impressive crew at Americans United for Separation of Church and State—filed a motion to enforce the settlement agreement. Meanwhile, defendants' (i.e., the district's) attorneys at $Jones $Day submitted a document arguing that Burnett’s action did not violate the agreement (loopholes, doncha know), despite the language in the agreement that seems to clearly forbid Burnett’s action.
     Then, on Friday (the 13th), plaintiffs filed a motion asking the Court to rule by Monday (yesterday). So far, the court—Judge Klausner—hasn’t ruled, but we expect him to do so before commencement on Friday.
     But who knows.

Fuentes

Trustee Tom Fuentes

  Well, the story (from reliable sources) is that trustee Tom Fuentes is indeed very ill and that his cancer is terminal.
     I'm told that he "refuses" to resign from the board—which, of course, implies that there are those who suppose that he should resign.
     As you know, Fuentes did not attend the last meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees.
     In recent months, Fuentes has appeared to be increasingly isolated on the board with regard to major issues, such as continued support for the district's ATEP project.

April 2008: Wagner/Fuentes still allies

     The board has undergone considerable change in the last year or so. Don Wagner, the other strong personality among trustees, and Fuentes seemed to go from allies to enemies over night—evidently over support of the mendacious Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur. Mathur was effectively ousted under Wagner's leadership despite considerable resistance from Fuentes and his allies, John Williams and Dave Lang. The latter received Tom's support in his bid to become the Republican candidate for OC Treasurer. The effort was a miserable failure.
     In November, TJ Prendergrast, a unionist and high school teacher, defeated his conservative Republican opponent in the election replacing Wagner, who ran (successfully) for the State Assembly.
     In December, trustee Williams resigned from the board in order to concentrate on his troubled tenure as OC Public Administrator/Guardian. He was replaced by Frank Meldau, who has exhibited none of Fuentes' political extremism or disinclination to compromise.
     Below, we see Fuentes doing what he does—at the “beautiful Newport Coast home of Randall and Tom Phillips”—at a fundraiser for Republican Keith Carlson three weeks ago:

Fuentes, at the "beautiful Newport Coast home of Randall and Tom Phillips"

Noticed this this morning on Heard Mentality

Most Presidents Prefer No Tenure for Majority of Faculty (Chronicle of Higher Education)