A screen door on a submarine

     Did you know that IVC’s eternal President, Glenn Roquemore, is on the “Political Action Committee” of the Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA)?
     At the ACCCA website, Glenn is listed along with seven other PAC members.
     Golly.
     What’s the ACCCA, you ask? Well, according to the website, “Established in 1975, ACCCA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of administrator's rights” [sic]. It is, they explain, “the premier association for community college administrators in California.”
     I guess these administrators have it pretty bad. Much put upon. So they've got this lobbyist organization to give 'em a little muscle so they can protect themselves. Like a can of Mace.

* * *

     Turns out, Glenn is on the ACCCA board. He’s the organization’s "Second Vice President."
     Gosh.
     David Bugay, the SOCCCD Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, is also on the board.

* * *

     Looks like the ACCCA and its PAC are nakedly political. They unapologetically play the lobbying game up in Sacramento.
     Elsewhere on the site, we’re told:

     The ACCCA Political Action Committee is the only PAC among administrative organizations, and gives ACCCA the ability to support political campaigns and legislators through direct contributions. The PAC ensures that ACCCA has the means to cultivate relationships with legislators, influence legislation, and contribute to significant initiatives and statewide campaigns that benefit administrators. ACCCA also employs a lobbyist to achieve these goals, and uses PAC money to support his efforts.

     They advocate pension reform.
     They provide salary surveys to their members. (Aren't paid enough, I guess.)
     They’ve got a newsletter with ads and everything.
     Evidently, they have strong views about the mess at City College of San Francisco. Some administrators are under threat there 'cuz CalSTRS thinks they aren't "performing creditable service." Imagine.

* * *

     Like I said, the ACCCA is all about promoting administrators’ rights. They're pretty focused on that. The organization’s PAC

is ... solely dedicated to advocating for your administrative rights in Sacramento. The PAC ensures that ACCCA has the means to influence legislation and contribute to statewide campaigns that help administrators throughout the California community college system.

     I wonder how the ACCCA feels about the growing sense,* across the country, that higher education is being overrun, even ruined, by administrators? And that said administrators are more useless than ever, which is really saying something?

     I wonder if ACCCA have a mascot? 

     I’ve got a mascot idea.

     How about a screen door on a submarine?

Glenn's the Captain.

*Regarding this sense, see 'The Fall of the Faculty'

Very top down

“I wanted to emphasize a major shift that’s been underway for several decades. Deans have an academic background. Years ago, they were part-time and always part of the faculty. This is extremely important because, like the faculty, they saw the university as an instrument of teaching and scholarship. Today, we have a cadre of professional administrators. I called them deanlets to give emphasis to the difference. They either have no faculty background or they decided early in their careers that their talents lay elsewhere. To them, what used to be the means is now the end. Instead of an institution serving teaching and scholarship, teaching and scholarship serve the institution.”

See also • REMARKS ON BENJAMIN GINSBERG’S FALL OF THE FACULTY • Book review