IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: In Thursday's installment of the ongoing Los Angeles Times front page series aptly titled "Fading Dreams," (described as "occasional articles about the challenges facing California's community colleges"), Saddleback's own Tod Burnett appears. The subject of this installment was fundraising.
excerpt:
...About 40% of community colleges in the state have only one full-time or part-time fundraiser, and most of the others have fewer than five, according to the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Those are tiny staffs compared to the development departments at most four-year colleges and universities. Now, however, some community colleges are adding personnel....
...Last year, Saddleback College in Mission Viejo received its largest gift — a $2.2-million unsolicited bequest from the estate of Dorothy Marie Lowry, who frequently took courses for older adults. The school is using that to expand its fundraising staff and to give scholarships to senior citizens. Saddleback expects to launch its first alumni campaign, reaching out to 112,000 former students.
Saddleback President Tod A. Burnett said his school and others should have taken such steps many years ago. "If community colleges had been doing what UC and Cal States were doing," he said, "we wouldn't be as bad off today as we are."Click here to to read the Larry Gordon's article in its entirety, Hard-up colleges turn to donors.
The series itself makes excellent, if discouraging, reading, a sort of slo-mo death watch of higher education in California.
And now, back to grading.
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44 comments:
This is a good more but the key is have professional development people and to not sink more into their salaries than what they bring in. (hint, hint).
The key is to not sink more into the salaries and benefits of faculty and administrators.
Someone needs to give the IVC foundation director some apostrophes to use.
It's not so much grammar and expression as it is integrity, style and respect.
Are we spending more on foundation salaries than it brings in? Who pays for that and where do the funds come from?
where is the transparency...how do we find out what is being raised?
Wow, Saddleback brings in over $2 million and our foundation sends out an email that the Gala raised $16 thousnad and bragged that it was the most ever raised. Can that be true? If it is, How pitiful!
11:58 is right on - No integrity, No style and absoulutly No respect, and therefore the result is NO MONEY.
Does anyone know who represents the college on the Foundation Board? How do we contact them to raise concerns?
Somebody is not telling the truth. I went to the Gala last year and the place was packed. As I recall they 2 auctions and one for student scholarships..there was an email sent out, but as I rembember they raised over $20,000.
What ever happened to transparency?With the announcement about budget cuts, someone should start looking at why we spend so much each year to bring in so little.
If the administration is counting on Morley to do fundraising to save our college, heaven help us!
The absence of transparency at IVC is not only in relation to the funds raised, but also in terms of how those monies are distributed in the scholarship process. This has been pointed out in numerous ways and at different times. It's a real scandal. It will be no better this year because there are no resources being used to ensure improvement. Ask why a list is never given of all applicants, those awarded scholarships and the particular scholarships awarded. Even on the day of the ceremony, no such list is given.
I think in his past life, Morely was known as Pinochio or maybe Aesop, he certainly has lots of fables.
These comments about an employee seem so over the top that I have to wonder what the motivation is to say such things. Remember, this is a human being you are talking about.
1:29, right you are. The pattern of criticisms of that employee seen here (among comments) does not reflect sensitivity to the possibility that the employee is capable of being crushed by harsh and unrelenting criticism.
A problem with this kind of venue for commentary is that such excesses are likely, especially when lots of folks feel unfairly powerless and ignored in the face of some unfortunate state of affairs in which the employee plays a central role. They don't mean to crush the person, but the amassed pattern of their inidividual carpings is terrible.
On the other hand, given the history of this college, it would be naive to suppose that the picture of incompetence (etc.) portrayed by these comments couldn't be true. Far worse things have been permitted and encouraged in the past. One aspect of Glenn Roquemore's failure of leadership is his peculiar and familiar silence. Situations become bad and grow worse, and we hear NOTHING from him, leaving many tongues wagging and many tempers flaring. Glenn is silent in much the way that rocks and ice cubes are silent. That is, he is silent, and, after a while, one would be shocked if he actually had something to say.
It appears that the faculty rep on the foundation is Steve R of music (See.
Roquemore's failure of leadership!
But ice cubes melt away, Roy.
Will Glenn melt away soon?
2:38, in other words:
Yes it is pretty mean and inhumane to crush that guy, but because I don't like him either (he associates with people I deplore), then go right ahead and continue slamming him on my blog! Signed, Roy.
5:34, you need to learn to read and/or think. I made two claims: (1) critics should be mindful that individual criticisms piled on can become, in toto, harsher than anything intended by the separate individuals; (2) it would be a mistake to judge that incompetencies attributed to a person cannot be valid on the grounds that they describe extreme failings, especially since, in the past, even more extreme failings have been permitted and even encouraged at our college. Note that the 2nd point does not assert that the extreme failings have occurred, only that, despite their extremity, it is possible that they have occurred. Naturally, we need to learn the facts and see the evidence. Then decide. I have frequently called for those in the know to provide whatever information they have.
In the spirit of campus civility we should not resort to calling people names. If there are issues with the Foundation or the Director, then go through the proper process or channels to deal with the issues in an adult manner.
Dennis, I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think "Pinochio" and "bad speller" are such terrible names to toss around.
People are, however, making or implying harsh (and vague) allegations, and they should clarify them and back them up. Surely, that's one point that needs to be made here.
In any event, I would love to know what the proper process (or channels) is for making raising such issues.
Does anyone actually believe that, were one to confront the P or VPI with sincere worries or complaints, they would listen?
The VPI and P listen but the don't understand. Not that they ever wanted to do so.
Roy, if the issues have to do with how the foundation is functioning, there are members on the board who represent the college: Steve Rochford, George Brogan, Diane Oaks, Susan Sweet, Fawn Tanriverdi and Bill Hewitt (now retired but still on the board). They are voting members and can be contacted to bring issues of concern from the campus forward to the board for discussion. I believe that foundation meetings are "open" meetings according to the Brown Act, so if someone wanted to observe first hand they only need to find out the next meeting date. If people have issues with the foundation director, it would depend on what the issue concerned. If it were a personnel matter, then Richard's supervior (Glenn) would be the person to contact. Depending on the topic, other issues could be handled through the President's Council or College Council. Both groups have faculty and staff representation.
Dennis, I repeat what I said earlier: "Does anyone actually believe that, were one to confront the P or VPI with sincere worries or complaints, they would listen?"
Evidently, you are such a one. I am not.
The faculty rep on the Foundation was identified earlier.
That person is very aware of these "issues" and seems utterly frustrated to do anything about them. Is anyone surprised?
Roy, I believe that was true in the past, however, I feel we are making headway with improved and more open communication. I also believe it depends on how we communicate. If we present our issues a certain way (confront the issues to use your example) I would expect some reluctance or push-back. However if thee issues were presented in manner that was more collegial than confrontational, they would be listened to. I am not being a pollyana and saying we don't have concerns, but I do feel that communication has improved and concerns are being addressed. One of my favorite sayings is "I always said I want things to change, then I realized I needed to change too". We can hold onto the old ways and the past or we can try to improve our future..it begins with each of us.
I don't know where to begin with this but I do want to thank Rebel Girl for bringing the Times series to my attention. It's a good one.
Regarding the IVC Foundation and the scholarship process, etc. - clearly the issues that have been surfacing have not been dealt with in any substantive way. The people who volunteered to work on processes the problems have seen most of their suggestions denied or waived.
Why? To deal with real reform requires a lot of work. I don't see the willingness to really do this work from the people whose charge it is. The summer was squandered. The people who volunteered their time can only do so much because they are classified and teachers and have other duties that take precedence. So when the Foundation director shows up at a meeting asking for faculty to help design a system of evaluation for the whole system (asking faculty who have yet to get any kind of proper release time to oversee and manage a department of 50+ - thanks for all the support VPI and Glen!) - well, it's ridiculous. More than ridiculous. As if I'd ask him to do my job and his too.
What happened to the work of the scholarship task force from last spring?
Yes Roy, I agree with Dennis. We should be willing to change ourselves in order to communicate better with eachother. Communicate head-on, like responsible adults, rather than taking cheap shots at a target on some obscure blog.
12:01: I have had meetings with Glenn, expressing my views very directly to him. Why do you suppose otherwise? You simply don't know what you're talking about.
I sign my posts, unlike you, brave "Anonymous."
I have taken no "cheap shots." Show me where I have done that.
Some of you people read badly. Do not confuse remarks by readers with the output of the blog.
If you were to be a good reader, you'd notice that I attempt regularly to moderate the discussion in comments.
Start paying attention.
Yes, but have YOU changed?
12:01 makes a good point, Roy.
2:52, "Glenn Roquemore's failure of leadership..." (Roy on his obscure blog)
Have you ever actually told Glenn to his face, what you think of his leadership?
I seriously doubt it. How's that for direct communication, Roy?
1:12, several years ago, I had a meeting with Glen (and one other person) and, yes, I explained very clearly his failures of leadership as I saw them. Keep in mind that I have been monitoring and following (and writing about) his career since 1997, when Glenn reversed positions and suddenly became Raghu Mathur's new friend in order to pursue his administrative ambitions.
I met with Glenn and plainly told him, among other things, that he does not communicate effectively with faculty (I only spoke for faculty). I told him that he has no real presence at the college and that his "administration" is characterized by a kind of odd silence that encourages unpleasant speculation about what actually goes on. He claimed to value my input and advice, but, since then, he has shown no evidence of having overcome this deficit, as I see it. It was on the basis of this meeting that, for several years, I held back criticism of Glenn and looked for signs of change. I did this against the advice of my own advisors.
And so, yes, I certainly have, more than once, told Glenn what I think of his leadership "to his face."
I have also been very direct here on this blog. I don't know how much more open and direct I can be.
I find it curious that you, 1:12, offer your clueless criticisms of cowardice anonymously. You are a plainly a coward and a hypocrite.
Er, the blog isn't really what I would call "obscure." It's a go-to source.
No wonder your relationship with Glenn is on the rocks. Kind of like how you feel when a conservative says BHO has failed to lead... You get pissed, don't you? You're not BHO, but you still get pissed.
Usually a fundraiser is hired with specific goals - they need to raise their own salary PLUS - I think it's double their salary - in order to be seen as effective. But it depends on the organization. Often there are a calendar of events - big "galas" and small price admission events geared toward different audiences.
I do believe such efforts can help community colleges but they can't make up for the state shortfall by any means.
Reminder: please don't feed the troll
Special event fundraising is problematic as there is often a high overhead and it is labor intensive and ultimately less effective. The trend in fundraising is to embrace other methods, innovative methods, which allow more people to contribute in different ways over a long period of time - see what public radio does in this way.
Isn't there transparency in these processes according to the law? Don't they have to reveal who they gave monies to? And how much they raised?
Didn't Dennis Gordon used to work in the Foundation Office with Richard Morely?
What has happened with recent departures from the Foundation board?
How much money from the general fund was used for the recent "gala"?
First people to answer these questions win new staplers!
I would like a new stapler but I do not know any answers. Good questions though! Can money from the general fund be used for fundraising events like the gala? doesn't that have to go through some public approval process? Is that what the general fund is for?
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