On this day in district history….

John Williams

     SEPTEMBER 3rd. Once in a while, I do a search for anything that happened “on this date” X years ago. My files are extensive.
     Well, 15 years ago, the Irvine World News did an editorial (Sept. 3) called “Another loss for Irvine Valley.” I lost the editorial, so that's two losses.
     On this day 16 years ago, trustee Dave Lang wrote a letter to the OC District Attorney’s office, alerting the DA to an alarming number of apparent illegalities afoot in the district at that time.
     Check it out:
• Trustee Dave Lang’s letter to the District Attorney’s office, September 3, 1997
     To give you some idea of the letter's content, here are the subheadings within it:

• Campaign Election Violations [Faculty union runs amok]
• Repeated Violations of the Brown Act
• Selection Process and Permanent Appointment of Irvine Valley college President [Mathur]
• Violation of Education Code [re Frogue and his “forum” on JFK’s assassination]
• Other Internal Personnel and Miscellaneous Matters

     That letter is referred to often in Lang’s depositions in connection with the Brown Act lawsuits of 1997, which make for interesting reading:
• David Lang’s “Brown Act” depositions (Jan and Feb 1998)
     September 3 turns out to be an important date (in 1999) in the saga of Raghu Mathur’s effort to blackball a probationary faculty (IVC’s Jeff Kaufmann) over his participation in the naming of a greenhouse. (There’s a key memo from the VPI, dated Sept. 3). Read all about it here:
• The Pat Spencer Depo (re attempt to fire instructor for naming a greenhouse) - MARCH 3, 2000
     A related depo:
• The Jacobson Depo: re firing an instructor for naming a greenhouse