X an' Cobras at the Majestic (long ago)

I love both bands

• Detroit Cobras - As Long As I Have You

• X the band Exene,John Doe -True Love

Who is standing up for those kids?

"Those parents lost little kids. I had 20 years with my son. That's all I'll ever have," he said. "But those people lost their children at 6 and 7 years old. How do you think they feel? And who's talking to them now, who's doing anything for them now? Who is standing up for those kids that died back then in an elementary school? Why wasn't something done? It's outrageous."

Rebel Girl suspects that everyone who works at the colleges has been thinking about those students and their families and friends today - and of course, our own students.

We should, of course, do more than think about them. We need to act.

Among the actions Reb took this morning was to call the local office and the D.C. office of Congressman John Campbell and make the suggestion that now is the time for Campbell to revisit his position on gun control.  She reminded the people who took her call that Campbell, of course, has a UC campus in his district. The congressman, it should be noted, has yet to make any statement.

Call and ask that he do so.  It takes about ten minutes tops.

(949) 756-2244
(202) 225-5611

Rebel Girl is always surprised at how many people have never called their congressional representative.  You should. We pay them after all.  It's supposed to be about US, not them.  Today  make it about us.  Better yet, make it about those students.

When Rebel Girl drops off her little guy at his elementary school, she walks by those parents who still shepherd their kindergarteners and first graders to class - and wait with them for the teachers to arrive.  Reb remembers when she used to do that.  She couldn't leave until she had seen him safely into the classroom.   Once, for a brief time, Reb worked as teacher's aide in a kindergarten and she used to volunteer in her son's.  She knows what those rooms are like, the tiny desks, the bulletin boards covered with the handmade work of young children, the teacher's desk, the floor where the students sit cross-legged gather to hear a story.   Now, every day, when she walks by those classes, she cannot help it, she thinks of Sandy Hook. Every day. Without fail. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.  But every day. Flashes. What it must have been like in those classrooms. Sometime she thinks if they had released photographs of the classrooms which had become, within minutes (minutes!) horrific crime scenes, maybe that would help. She knows that would be disrespectful, in poor taste - but she wonders what it will take to move people, a nation to really look at the human cost of gun control policies.

Sandy Hook vigil at Irvine High School. 2/15/12

Consider joining the vigil tonight at Aldrich Park at U.C. Irvine.  7 pm. All are welcome.

*
 
What is Campbell's position on gun control?  Here are the main points of a bill he co-sponsored:
Ban gun registration & trigger lock law in Washington D.C.

Nothing in any provision of law shall authorize the Mayor, or any governmental authority of the District of Columbia, to prohibit possessing firearms by a person who is allowed to possess firearms under federal law.
Denies the District any authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms.
Repeals the ban on semiautomatic weapons.
Repeals the District's registration requirement for possession of firearms.
Repeals the trigger lock law.
Maintains the current ban on the possession and control of a sawed-off shotgun, machine gun, or short-barreled rifle.
Eliminates criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm.
Specifies exceptions to the prohibition against carrying concealed weapons in the District.

*

From the May 22 Lariat:

A review of free speech policies on Saddleback College’s campus

     Two vendors collecting signatures for same-sex marriage and the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana were asked to leave Saddleback College last March, on Senior Day, an event held for prospective high school students….

Blue Rocketeer

     Check out Red Emma's profile on H&L's teacher-poet, Virginia Shank, in the latest OC Magazine (pp. 10-11). It begins thusly:

     With her green eyes, red hair, porcelain skin, and stylish retro-Victorian ensembles suggesting both wit, good taste and an eye for vintage clothing-store finery, Virginia Shank unshyly personifies the romantic ideal of the English professor. This young poet and teacher originally from Eden, New York recently earned “Teacher of the Year” at Irvine Valley College, after teaching there only four semesters. The busy little community college in what’s left of an orange grove is lucky to have her. Professor Shank’s curriculum vitae is loaded for serious academic bear: PhD in English from Binghamton, MFA in poetry from University of Idaho, plenty of awards, research and accolades as a student and grad student….

     Oops! Forgot to mention the other day that, for once, Rocky's "Open Door" newsletter mentions one of our own: the Reb!:

     Also: be sure to keep track of the Reb's trouble-making re Chipotle (Facebook).

Irvine Valley: Fabulous Factoids

     You can see IVC commencement photos here (Facebook).

     SPECIALNESS. Recently, the Reb, who co-chairs the English Dept., has been busy dealing with the usual end-of-semester emergencies, including student complaints about a certain part-timer who seems to have become unavailable. Yesterday, thanks to the OC Reg, we discovered something of the nature of her unavailability. It seems that she has “been indicted on charges that” she and a small crew “defrauded 3,500 people of more than 13.5 million in what OC prosecutors believe is the largest loan-modification scheme ever prosecuted in the nation” (Huntington attorney among 7 accused of $13.5 million loan-mod scam, OC Reg).
     “Do you suppose she’ll be turning in her classes’ grades?” asks the Reb.
     Maybe not.
     The Reb tells me that her favorite lines in the Reg article are these: “[Deputy District Attorney Megan] Wagner said the scam targeted people around the country, but victims were concentrated in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina and North Carolina. She said it’s common for such operations to be based in Orange County, though it’s unclear why.” (See also NavelGazing.)

     TOP NOTCH. IVC President Glenn Roquemore’s “Open Door” newsletter updates the campus community about two campus building projects:

Linda Fontanilla, Liz Cipres, and
other top notch administrators

#1: Long-suffering members of IVC’s School of Humanities and Languages—which, BTW, will divide into two separate schools in the Fall (thereupon they’ll make twice as much trouble)—are looking forward to a move into a newly-reconstructed A-400 building in about a year:

Work is slated to begin on the A-400 site on May 27. First, a fence will go up around the building and in Parking Lot 2…. At that point, the restroom in A-400 will no longer be open to the public as the building water will be shut off. The maintenance crew is aware of this and will redouble their efforts to keep the A-200 restroom in top notch condition…. Demolition of A-400 will follow after that, and we hope to get the plans through final approval at the Department of State Architects soon thereafter, so actual construction can begin.

—Did you catch that blarney about keeping “the A-200 restroom in top notch condition”? A wonder what bottom notch looks like. A pit of raw sewage?

     Here’s #2: the new “Barranca” entrance:

Plans for the new entrance, "Laser Way," are currently being finalized and reviewed by both the City of Irvine and … SCE. … Once the easements are established, the project will be able to start in two to three months and will take approximately six months to finish….

Love one day, hate the next

The Reb and Virginia at Gabbi's three months ago

     You’ll recall that, as usual, much thought (haha) went into naming the new entry road. For a while, the frontrunner among proposals seemed to be “Dissent the Road,” but Rocky nixed that. As you know, for years, there’s been much grumbling about the campus mascot (or entity, or whatever it is): the laser. At one point, a committee was formed to find a replacement. But then stuff came up and the group got distracted, stopped meeting, wandered off. The usual. Then, six or so months ago, we heard that administrators were fixin’ to call the new road “Laser.” We (at the Senate) said: don’t do that. That’ll render permanent our laserization. Why would we want to do that? Didn’t we decide to dump that moniker?

     So, natch, that’s what they did.
     I’m thinking of spreading a rumor around town that Laser Way will be lined with lasers that will automatically fix on passing cars and pedestrians and burn them to a crisp. That’ll give us that “high tech” reputation we’re always yammerin’ about.

     WINGING IT. As you know, our very own Virginia Shank, poet, was named IVC Professor of the Year. She’s very deserving of that award.
     I’m told that, at yesterday’s Commencement, just before she gave her address, the administrative crew couldn’t find her plaque.
     She winged it and gave a fine speech. Or so I’m told.
     Seen her velomobile?

Yes, Virginia really does ride to work in this thing

Mama! Mama!

2012 scholarship ceremony -photo by Roy Bauer.

People keep dropping by the office with one question: What did you think of the Scholarship ceremony?

Where does one start?

Rebel Girl doesn't have time to begin let alone end.  So she will just get the ball rolling. You can take it from there if you wish.

Yes, money was distributed to deserving students and photos were taken and sliced fruit eaten and hands were shaken. Yes. Applause, applause.

 See you next year.

*

Anonymous - 10:51 AM, May 20, 2014
     What is up with the confusing numbers - cited in the program:
     At today's ceremony, approximately $201,400 will be awarded to 356 Irvine Valley College students for the 2014-2015 academic year.
     In total, this year, 477 scholarships will provide approximately $368,200 in awards.
     Huh? What does that mean?
     And why doesn't the program tell you which awards were given to which students?

Anonymous - 11:04 AM, May 20, 2014
     On the up side there wasn't a prayer!
     On the down side, well...why did the students have to be seated outside the room? It made the room seem empty and we couldn't see their reactions - and they could not see the speeches which were all about them. Very odd.
     The need to take a photo of each group on stage really was awkward and emphasized the photo - not the recognition of the scholars. Couldn't that be done another way? What happens to those photos anyway?
     Couldn't the whole thing be done another way? It's not very dynamic or sophisticated.

Anonymous - 11:12 AM, May 20, 2014
     It's always difficult to criticize a program that assists students but it's important to do because of that very fact - it provides critical assistance to students. So it's important to look at the integrity and transparency of the process of how the awards are determined and how the program is managed. It's broken and it is not getting any better.

Anonymous - 11:50 AM, May 20, 2014
     I don't know how people could sit on that stage or in the audience (or in the lobby!) and not notice there was something very, very wrong. When you try and say something about it, they look at you like to have just kicked a kitten.

Roy Bauer - 11:57 AM, May 20, 2014
     What's the "Mama! Mama!" alluding to?

Anonymous - 3:59 PM, May 20, 2014
     The Mama, Mama is alluding the the opening (and condescending) line of [VP of SS] Linda Fontanilla who started the ceremony not with a welcome but with a bizarre story about a girl getting a scholarship and being able to college just because of that money. The story was told in a pre-school tone of voice and one of the weirder things I have seen at a college ceremony.

Anonymous - 4:00 PM, May 20, 2014
     To the, go to college. Ugh typos

Anonymous - 4:03 PM, May 20, 2014
     Also, what is the deal with the Devil that Morley has signed with follet? Without their contributions, were not actually giving out that much money from the foundation. Think someone needs to investigate what is being bought and sold at IVC. And something tells me it's not just books....

Anonymous - 11:44 PM, May 20, 2014
     The opening story was a very odd, condescending, ultimately infantilizing of our students - and us. 

The stage was bare - with covered drums in the background (!) and trash in evidence.

 Too many speeches saying the same thing to students who weren't in the audience. 

Morely lacked a script and had to be corrected from the audience. He ignored people he asked to the stage to recognize.

 Marcia was on her cell phone!

 The staged photos were AWFUL. 

No one knew who won what or why.

Anonymous - 12:26 AM, May 21, 2014

     I am so glad others pointed out how AWFUL and CRINGE-INDUCING the patronizing story offered WITHOUT introduction at the beginning of whatever that was last Friday morning was. Oh my. Where are the grown-ups around here? It's a good thing the students were not in the room to be insulted like that. Too bad their families and friends were. 
 




Anonymous - 7:06 AM, May 21, 2014

     The ceremony needs to be re-envisioned and streamlined with the focus on the students, not speeches and photos. The process of awarding scholarship needs transparency and accountability.

The May meeting of the SOCCCD BOT: trustee listening sessions' sticky residue!

     While I’m waiting for the May meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees to start, I shall engage in some BIG, OBVIOUS, OPINERY:
     Recently, the Chancellor-and-Board (the "Choard") have inflicted upon the district community a bad case of whiplash. First, there was the April build-up to the much-ballyhooed per-college trustee “listening sessions.” “We’ll create a safe haven for critical remarks, and we’ll be all ears!”—they seemed to say.
     And then there were the sessions themselves, on the 30th. Not sure about the session at Saddleback, but the one up at IVC seemed to inspire a lot of surprised trustee faces. Really? It’s as bad as all that, is it? We had no idea!
     We were feeling pretty good about this apparent new reality. Could it be that the board had finally pulled its head out of its a**?
     Unfortunately, all of April's accelerating goodness was followed, two weeks later, by May's brake-stomping badness. Yes, the Chancellor seemed to say (in his May 14 “Chancellor’s Perspective”), the trustees really listened at those gosh-darned sessions. But that doesn’t mean they can do a goddamned thing about what they heard. Are you kidding? The trustees’ job, he said, “is to focus on the what … and not the how ….”
     That sounded an awful lot like, “the trustees' hands are tied.” I.e., banish all hope!
     So what were those listening sessions all about?
     Gosh, it's hard to say.
     Maybe there'll be some kind of follow-through tonight. Who knows? Anything's possible, I guess.
     Don't hold your breath.

* * *

     I'm told that several trustees attended last Thursday's Scholarship Awards Ceremony at IVC. By all accounts, the event was a total fiasco, an embarrassment, a nadir. (I couldn't attend; teaching my Friday class.) After years of complaint about fiasco upon fiasco—absurd forms, lost info, hinky awards patterns, general confusion, lapses of common sense—things are now worse than ever, fiasco-wise. Yes, folks, owing to the continued tenure of IVC's Permanent President, pretty much nothing works anymore, and it's really beginning to show.
     Do you suppose the trustees noticed? Tonight, they'll report on the "lovely" awards ceremony they attended last week. Wanna bet?

* * *

     6:01 - The room has its share of green faculty--maybe 20 or 30 green-shirted unionists. Looks like they're gearing up for starting the meeting. Nancy's collecting speaker slips from somebody, I think. All of the trustees are present.

     6:04 - it begins. Actions taken in closed session: 7-0 vote, approved 1 month leave of absence to classified employee, SC.

     Invocation: Wright: "Our Father, who art in heaven...."

     Public comments: Cristina Hinkle: speaks on behalf of part-time faculty. There's been a decrease in full-time positions. Part-timers have to work at perhaps 3 districts. This is doing students a disservice. Part-timers not paid for office hours. She strongly encourage considering the board to consider these issues. Applause.

     Kurt Meyer: draws attention to Article 27, letter a (about benefits): a 2 tier benefits system. Two classes of workers created. Same job, unequal pay, benefits. Divides employees. Separate and unequal. Increases employee turnover rate. Reduces productivity. Inherently unstable. The two-tier system has not served employees in others areas of labor. Let's work together to explore alternatives. Applause.

     Alison Camelot: Also discusses two-tier system. As a sociologist, would never support such a system. I can't believe that it's being proposed. Applause.

     Mike Long: counselor who works with athletes. Obstacles to working together (on same schedule?)

     Next: swearing in of new student trustee. Keefe Carrillo. "Support and defend the Constitution of the U.S....against all enemies foreign and domestic...true faith and alegiance ....." He speaks, pleasantly. Seems to go well.

     Next, resolutions: Carol Danna, Classified Employee, outstanding service award, IVC: Marcia reads it. "Aplomb and grace... unique ability to create unique environment, blah blah. Dedication and commitment to IVC. Fine Arts...." Applause. IVC Prez Roquemore brings out "perpetual plaque," evidently. "You can hang on to this for 24 hours." Applause. Roll call vote.
     Giziel Leftwich: SC Classified Employee, outstanding service award. "Whereas .... study abroad programs ... working with faculty ... attracting student to enroll .... humble and compassionate ... blah blah blah." Applause. Roll call vote. Photo op.
     Sandi Pope - District service classified employee outstanding service award. "Whereas ... systems support...understands the innerworkings and language of IT ... extremely patient ... strong work ethic ..." Applause. Roll call. Applause. Photo op.

Insufferable stinkard

     Commendation: Gary Ribold. Good grief. Roquemore speaks. He "lives, breaths, and exudes Irvine Valley College." 21 years. Brought great honor to IVC. Over 300 sweepstakes awards. "Dr. Rybold." "Gary is a friend." "Outstanding contributions to IVC."
    Rybold insists on speaking. Thanks those most instrumental for ... Names various colleagues. Families. Great administrators. Student government. "Proud to go to work everyday." Our "grounds shine" at IVC. Last of all, thanks God. (Which reminds me of the time Gary had his students say prayers before tournaments. That's some exuding.)

Board reports:

     Bill Jay: people don't get paid for this, by and large--referring to Gary and others of his ilk. Congratulates "all of you" who've worked so hard for "this award."
     Tim Jemal: scholarship awards "were well done." Mentions speaker at SC scholarship ceremony. Amazing. Listening sessions earlier this month: meaningfully better than previous sessions. Valuable, candid, and direct input. Thanks the chancellor, making these sessions a reality. A different format. Thanks for that.
     Marcia Milchiker: "Just fabulous" -- this stuff she attended. Loves the "rhythm of academia." She lists lots of events. Legislative task force meeting. $268 thousand, $720 thousand collected for student scholarships, IVC and SC.
     Nancy Padberg: Lists things she's attended. Nurse pinning. IVC scholarship ceremony. Speech banquet. VA recognition ceremony. Etc.
     TJ Prendergast: missed the listening sessions. Did attend scholarship ceremonies: "very entertaining." "Lots of fervor there." Looking forward to commencement.
     Jim Wright: attended a number of events also. Missed the listening session; was in hospital. Transfer celebration. Nurses pinning ceremony. IVC scholarship awards ceremony.
     Dave Lang: listening sessions. Very successful format. We'll be hearing more about ideas that came out of that session. Did lots of traveling. Looking forward to commencement.
     Student trustee: met with Gary Rybold. "A very interesting man." Very proud of our scholarships.

     Chancellor Gary Poertner: end of school year. Extends appreciation to all faculty. Improving student success. 2nd item: mentions listening sessions. Notes were taken, topics of concrn. Item E in board requests: a request from all board members for "seven different items." Deal with the main topics that were discussed at listening sessions. There is some followup. Issues will come up, one per meeting. [See "Request for board reports" at end of this blog post for "seven items."]

     College Presidents reports:
     IVC, Glenn Roquemore: IVC will hold golf classic, June 10. We also have a "Model UN Team." Top honors, third year in a row. (IVC) Faculty recognized by UCI students, blah blah blah
     Somebody steps in for Tod Burnett (didn't catch his name): blah, blah, blah. Nursing team ceremony, a "gem" celebration. 53 graduates. Etc.

     Board requests for reports. Seven of them. Won't read them out.
     Unanimous approval.

REPORTS:

4.1 Discussion item: student success summit.
     Roopa Mathur: what is the summit? Student success strategies. The two colleges collaborated. 130 attendees.  Diane Rodriguez of RP Group spoke. Nurturing, connecting, etc. 10 ways to apply techniques. (Good Lord.) Patricia Flanigan Chapin also speaks. Shows video clips: instructor Dan DeRoulet speaking. Student success strategies for writing. A counselor on "highs and lows." Final clip from speaker: "nurturing is a catalyst for other five factors" (Good God).
     Dean Cathleen Greiner speaks as well.
     It sound pretty touchy feely. But whatever. Applause. Any questions? No. "Wonderful job," says Pres. Prendergast.

4.2 Basic aid allocations. Deb Fitz, Davit K
     What is basic aid? Blah, blah, blah. The excess beyond what is apportioned by the state (from local taxes).
     Basic aid is not a funding source. It is excess. Preferred terms: self-sufficiency, locally funded, community-based. Now 6 community colleges that are basic aid: Marin, Mira Costa, San Jose, San Mateo, West Valley Mission (the last two years).
     Our formula here at SOCCCD. Colleges receive funding based on state model. DRAC committee. Dollars are taken off the top: allocated to basic aid projects.
     If our enrollment increases, that could harm us. It's "a fine balance." College of Marin--got to basic aid through decrease in enrollments. Davit K: how did basic aid come about in our district? We were placed on a warning by Accreditor in 2011. Need to work on allocation. Aimed at transparent and open process. Only one-time projects are to be funded by basic aid monies to protect the district and colleges and to be fiscally conservative. Capital construction, major renovation, large infrastructure proejcts, site development. Also retirees benefit trust fund.... Trustee elections .... Major tehcnology initiatives. .. Small renovation projects, including maintenance equipment....
     Flow chart. Basic Aid Allocation Recommendation Committtee (BAARC) flow chart. Looks messy. Shows yet another chart: DRAC and BAARC. BP and AR 3110 have worked very well.
     Fitz discusses how the BP and AR 3110 process has been working. First two years, worked very well.
     BAARC discussions very collegial.
Basic info:

property tax: almost $39 million
20% contingency for unrealized tax collections ($7.7 million)
Plus prior year contingency and unallocated funds: $16 million
Amount available for allocation: $47 million this coming year.

     Shows recommendation slide.
     Total allocations: $47 million. Remaining balance to remain in basic aid fund: $77,000
     Contingency for unrealized tax collections (20%): $7,741,000
     Brandye D'Lena comes up: discusses projects. She's "very excited." New ATEP building.
     Blah, blah, blah. Brandye's being chirpy again. Finishes her "recap" on capital improvement.
     Fitz returns, discusses I-know-not-what. Scheduled maintenance,  blah blah blah. Goes through list that is not displayed.
     Now Bob Bramucci is blathering about projects.
     Fitz starts talking about "ATEP operation." It all adds up to $47 million.
     Next: questions. The two diretors of facilities are on hand.
     Jemal: small vs. major. Is $500,000 the cut off for this? No, it's $1 million.
     Also: a question about whether there is a formula, how much to give to IT, etc. Fitz: no formula, etc. Jemal: new ATEP building: what will be housed there? Roquemore: programs that are currently at ATEP: model making, etc. Curriculum for pre-engineering has been developed (in conjunction with UCI). Engineering technicians. DMA (digital media arts). Gaming industry. Possiblity of "electricity and electronics" being at ATEP. And Photonics (I think).
     Wright: excellent presentation. "I seem to understand everything."
     No more requests. Mild applause.

Consent calendar: pull 5.1, 5.6. That's it. Approved unanimously.

     5.1: Minor error corrected. Unanimously approved.
     5.6: misspelled word corrected. "Two Ls." Unanimously approved.

     6.1 Consolidated elections.... approved.
     6.2 Agreement, info tech services. ...approved.
     6.3 District-wide network refresh. Contracts. Bramucci speaks. Miles of fiber at both campuses. Blah blah blah. Approved.
     6.4 Board Policy Revisions - for review and study. Approved.
     6.5 BP Revisions for discussion and approval. No questions. Approved.
     6.6 Full-time faculty hiring amendment. Approved.
     6.7 Recess to public hearing. Bugay introduces. Opportunity for public to speak on distrit's proposal to Faculty Union proposal. Dan Walsh comments: calendar shift for counselors. He says: counselors are faculty. No Ac. Senate meetings during summer. This applies to all of our committees. One faculty! Applause. No response. Public hearing now closed. Discussion by board? No comments. 6.7 now concluded. Jay: moves the item. 2nd by Jemal. Unanimous yes vote.
     6.8 Academic personnel actions. No changes. Approved unanimously.
     6.9 Classified personnel actions. No changes. Approved unanimously.
     6.10 IVC management reorganization. Approve the management reorganization to add a VP for College Administrative Services.
    Roquemore: IVC has had a long history of having a VP for Admin services. In 1998, it was eliminated by then-Pres Raghu Mathur. Almost all colleges have a third VP. This will give me ability to focus more time on demands on student success, leadership to build ATEP. Lots of work to be done there. We're following a process with this: following Saddleback to a "t".
     Jemal: asks Poertner if he supports this. Yes, agrees with reorganization. Should spend more time on student success, ATEP. I have some fear that some areas will suffer without this structure. So, yes. Prendergast: we've approved this before? I yes. Approved unanimously. (Noone mentions that Director of FS automatically becomes VP through this action.)

     7.1 Annual Accred reports. Nothing.
     7.2 - nothing.
     Etc. No requests to speak.

Reports from governance groups:

     Saddleback College AC Sen President Dan W: good listening sessions!
     Faculty Union: Paula J: My term comes to an end. It's been an honor. Thanks various persons. Appreciates Poertner's tone: vast improvement.
     IVC Ac Senate: Kathy Schmeidler. I've been brief in the past. Not so tonight. 1st, welcomes new student trustee. Welcomes Claire C to next two years as head of FA. Thanks chancellor and board for listening session. Lots attended: half faculty, half classified. Everyone had opportunity to speak. Good interplay. General sense of appreciation to board. People seemed to speak openly; appreciate the gesture... One concern: mentions importance of contracts. Mutual respect does not mean that we must all agree. We can argue, as long as we're respectful. What concerns me: throwing tantrums gets attention. (I guess she's saying that someone or some group did that. Not sure who she has in mind. Nurses program?) "Trust the process, use the process," I always say. I hope that's your intention.
     One more item: should we strategically manage our enrollment to stay on basic aid? Would the taxpayers prefer for us to cut back on classes to stray on basi aid? A philosophical question.
     Etc.
     That's about it.

Item 3.1: “Board requests for reports”
3.1  E. 1.

The following reports are being requested as a result of the Trustee Listening Sessions on April 30, 2014.

1. Report on the 50% Law, the Faculty Obligation Number, and the percentage of classes taught by part time faculty. Provide an explanation of each of these measurements and report on how our district compares to other community college districts throughout the state.

2. Report on the process of developing the academic calendar. Explain the negative impacts that have been reported about the nursing program and veteran students. How can the negative impacts on these students be mitigated? How can we end the disagreement between colleges on calendar development?

3. Report on the service area conflicts between the two colleges. Is the disagreement related to credit instruction, non-credit instruction, workforce development, contract education, student recruitment, foundation giving, and/or other educational services? How and when will the colleges make agreements to end these issues? If there are agreements, please report them.

4. Describe the regulations and policy for hiring administrators and managers. How does HR monitor the process to make certain the process is followed? What could be done to eliminate inconsistencies and violations?

5. Describe the BP 4011.1 process for hiring faculty. Is it a top down process and does it interfere with the faculty ability to hire good people? How is the process continually reevaluated to keep current with hiring needs?

6. Is there a trend of replacing full time classified employees with several part-time employees? If so, why has this been done? Has this resulted in diminished services to students?

7. Provide a brief review of the DRAC funding model and describe the distribution of resources. What is the mechanism for funding growth?

Reason for Request…:
     The board of trustees is requesting information regarding several of the issues that were addressed during the Trustee Listening Sessions. The board is asking for individual reports to be presented as discussion items beginning in the fall, during the 2014-2015 academic year.

Chip Lit

Gustavo A—the fellow Prez Roquemore is determined to exclude from IVC Commencements—and our own Rebel Girl get a “mention” in Friday’s New York Times: Chipotle Experiments With Disposable Literature.

It’s about that goofy “lit on a cup” campaign for that restaurant chain.

Why no Mexican writers?

image created by Michael Calienes

Further comments on the IVC employee satisfaction survey

Go to: The survey

Q34. You have now completed the survey. Thank you!
Do you have any other comments or suggestions regarding the survey in particular?

1. Overall, this is a wonderful college to teach at. It's unfortunate that a few bullies can have so much power. 98% of the people here are kind, dedicated, and well-intended.

2. I have taken part for years on many committees and in the end administration gets their way. I have been on hiring committees, where the chair/hiring manager has pushed to get his way and selected a female with the right looks, rather than the right skills. The second level interview for Classified that was not in place until ***** at IVC implemented it is a tool to undermine the hiring committee and the 2nd level management gets their way. I truly believe that there is no interest by the BOT or administration to understand the challenges that classified face on a daily basis. If they do, then change should occur. But the atmosphere remains very difficult. This is a harsh response, but one that is voiced by many classified, however, they may not respond because there is still a fear that somehow this is not an anonymous survey.

3. Too long

4. There should be comment boxes after each question. Some available responses do not provide for exceptions, caveats or recommendations. Thank you for inquiring.

5. No

6. Very comprehensive. I'm impressed.

7. It is really long, which is going to suppress completion. I’d suggest doing 2 surveys: this long version, but also a 'short' one that will get many more responses that gets at the bare-bones questions. Having a survey this long is going to bias the results, as only people who are really interested will complete it (selection effect). I'm really interested and on the first page when I saw that it was 33 pages i almost shut it.

8. No.

Plus we're a "bully pulpit"

9. The questions are so general that the somewhat responses are too vague. It is hard to see where any real conclusions leading to action could be drawn. It is almost as if the survey is designed to not get to any issues that matter. 1. There are too many meetings of repetitive information or information irrelevant to the audience required to attend.2. Volume of meetings prevents deans from doing their job effectively3. Micromanagement is absurd e.g. President's signature needed on a volunteer form, seven Escape approvals required for a $35 purchase 4. Speed of processes is glacial because of multiple signature requirements compounded by the signators taking a week or more to sign the paperwork.5. Total lack of awareness that every process held up has a domino effect. These are the kind of processes and issues this survey should be addressing as opposed to asking about the effectiveness of some institutional report. It goes to the failure of management to manage in a responsive as opposed to a reactive way. There are many meetings but little active follow-up. When was the last time the Pres. and Vice Pres. of IVC actually got out, walked the campus, shook hands with students and engaged in any meaningful conversation with them? Maybe this regular practice would be far more informative and effective than the next meeting they have scheduled. Why don't our trustees do the same?

10. This survey is bit lengthy for those who actually are required to perform work while on the job.

11. I am very unhappy with the way that things are being run at Irvine Valley College these days. There needs to be more communication and collaboration when decisions are going to be made.

There are many classified employees that have voiced their dis-satisfaction and that are working out of class and not being compensated for their work, or appreciated. Some managers have no or little respect for the work that their employees are doing and tend to make things more difficult than they need to be. There are a lot of unfair decisions that are being made throughout the administration that affect many people. I am aware of many classified staff that are leaving this establishment and we are gaining some that are not qualified to fill the shoes of those leaving us. There needs to be a lot more changes before I see a change in the climate. Is this survey going to even make a difference and will there be changes made because of the responses?

12. I do this survey every year but have not seen any changes.

13. This was way too long and self-serving

14. No

15. I have submitted a request for the classified hiring priority list, it has reached #3 for a few years, but was always downgraded because administration manipulates the list and hire who they want. So the general consensus is, why do we bother with the process? All the committees, meetings, processes to improve will not work unless the mindset and hearts of administration wants it to work. I guess the apathy is getting more intense. I am not a fan of the blog [Dissent the Blog?], in my opinion it is a bully pulpit, but they do point out leadership flaws at the top and I know the BOT reads it, yet they do nothing to at least research if some of the points are true. If the top administrators do not really care about change, nothing will ever change. This survey is one of the best yet to come out and I am hopefull that this will actually work to make change.

bully pulpit
a prominent public position (as a political office) that provides an opportunity for expounding one's view

—Merriam-Webster Dictionary

16. There are a bunch of asterisks in this survey and I couldn't figure out what they pertained to. There were some questions, for example regarding the President's area, that most people would have no idea how to answer. I guess if you're outside the president's area far enough to wonder what it is, then you should say you don't know (but perhaps an explanation of what the president's area is would alleviate the confusion). In what area do I work? If someone's faculty would that be Office of Instruction? I suppose....had to guess on that one. Again, it goes back to odd wording/categorizing. The questions that I though most useful pertained to technology services. Questions that I though least useful were my overall impression of how fair faculty are in the classroom. How on earth can I know that? I know how I teach. I think I know how a handful of colleagues teach. No single individual taking this survey is normally going to have the vantage point to effectively answer broad questions like that. Thus, the results are going to be meaningless.

17. Please check for typographical errors before publishing a survey for an educational institution!

18. Glenn R. is an excellent community college president.

19. The institution is rotting from the head down, contaminating virtually every issue covered by this survey. The top leadership is grossly incompetent, corrupt and vicious. It must be replaced.

20. I literally had to re-read the question regarding campus cleanliness. For years I've wanted to escort the president into all of the ladies restrooms on campus. They are filthy and are in desperate need of remodeling. Even the restrooms in BSTC are showing wear. OSHA needs to be called. Also, it would be nice if the custodians cleaned the classrooms (vacuum dust, clean white boards) on a weekly basis would be greatly appreciated.

21. Some individuals use their jobs to politick rather than serve. It always has to be them against someone. These types are constantly sniping and poop-dropping via overt condescending remark, innuendo, and gesture. Their charming, but phony personalities do not fool us anymore. Its time HR and management deal with this 'unhealthy competition' that only proves counterproductive to the mission of the College.

22. IVC is a great institution with great professors and classified staff. I am privileged and grateful for the opportunity to serve students and my colleagues and help people every day!

23. I wish there were more opportunities for comments. These are harder to compile than numerical options, I understand, but it seemed there were very few opportunities to voice specific concerns, and some of the questions felt like they forced me into painting a rosier picture because they weren't asking about aspects of the issue where people are actually dissatisfied (basically, more questions about the effectiveness of various areas, not just processes, seems important).

24. Yes, the Office of Instruction needs a comprehensive program review.

25. I'm betting that a lot of part-timers, who generally feel disenfranchised by the system, will not even respond to this survey. I think more of an effort should be made to make part-timers feel included so that they care about participating in surveys.

26. There is no trust and extraordinarily low moral at IVC. The damage done to this institution is very deep. It is damage caused by the long legacy of the previous Chancellor as well as by the current IVC administrative dysfunction. A dysfunction that the Chancellor, the VCs and The Board of trustees has allowed to fester and grow. The lack of the needed healthy change or any healthy working environment at IVC is not because people 'can't let things go' - that is a myth perpetuated by administration - in fact people yearn to let things go, but when they are harangued, verbally abused and treated so disrespectfully and poorly there is no chance for the college to begin to get healthy. The problem at IVC is that college administration and classified management has become worse in the three and a half years since Mathur left. IVC will not achieve any sort of resolution or have the ability to come out of this fog until there is completely different leadership. We need a 100% change at the senior administrative levels for starters, after that we can see how it goes. I am appalled at the level of apparent neglect and disregard with which the District Administration and Board of Trustees allows this situation to continue at IVC. What a disservice to our students. What a disservice to the potential of what IVC could become and frankly should have become by now. I hold the district administration and the Board of Trustees equally responsible for the continual dysfunction and unhealthy environment at IVC.

27. I'm glad to see IVC making an effort to gauge the feelings of its employees.

28. Yes, I find the ethnicity questions offensive and irrelevant.

29. Overwhelmed, want to cry just thinking about all the paperwork that needs attention.

30. No

31. The blog [Dissent the Blog?] is a barrier to civility and mutual respect. Yes, we are encouraged to be innovative and try and establish new programs. However, it is discouraging to put in the hard work to propose a new program, and wait and wait and wait and then receive approval for funding when it's too late to use it appropriately. The timeline for final approval for resource requests needs to be moved forward to no later than August prior to the beginning of fall semester so requestors have the budget necessary to create successful programs in a timely manner.

32. This is one of the better surveys and if taken seriously I believe change can occur at IVC if the survey is taken seriously. The thing that needs to change the most and immediately is to fill all the vacant classified positions. Example: The Career Ctr. position has been vacant for almost 12 months, the Sr. Admin in Student Activities has been vacant for 6 months, and other positions have been lowered in classification or made into a 10 month position. Work increases, but staff decrease.

33. n/a

34. It's a bit to long and detailed. Takes a bit of time to thoughtfully complete.

35. Next survey if you could direct some questions to performance/communication in Office of Instruction and some to performance/communication in Student Services, that would be helpful.

36. Communication by top administration at IVC is not characterized by openness; rather, it is characterized by contempt and distrust.

37. As we have new areas of emphasis going forward: College of the Future, Growth of the IVC Foundation, International Students, it would be in interesting to see some benchmark questions to measure our future success/awareness, etc. in new program areas... what these are could be determined by others, Research Office, IEC committee, etc.

38. Thank you.

39. We need more opportunities for part time faculty to become full time. The salary of temporary workers is too low.

40. Classified Senate has improved in sending information out to the Staff. I apprecaite what Vince has done so far. He has a good sense of leadership and integrity. I do feel that the College President's Office needs to be more responsible in sending out emails in regards to recent problems, Mold, Director of Financial Aid, Accreditation, etc. There have been changes in the shared governance committee structure and names and not one email has been sent to inform us. There is a lack of staff development funds in my department. A skilled person in my field cannot receive adequate training for fifty dollars. In addition to lack of monies, It is DIFFICULT TO HAVE TIME for STAFF DEVELOPMENT.The campus on the outside is clean and well taken care of. Question on the survey if I feel safe. ***** and his staff are super, however, inside the buildings are a mess. Air filters are not replaced on a regular basis as they should be. At ATEP the bathrooms and classrooms are FILTHY! The floors are not swept and cleaned! Who is responsible for this fiasco? Last year, we all went through the process of filling our Resource Request Forms and still no funding has been allocated. WTF? This process is not working at all. Has one dime of those funds been spent? There is a lack of respect on the IVC Campus. Not sure how to explain it but there is a semi-dark cloud over the college.

41. This is an excellent survey and I appreciate the opportunity to respond. This district has vastly improved over the last 5 years. The District and the colleges are working better together than ever before. The college president has brought national recognition to IVC by being selected to serve on the AACC President Academy Executive Committee. Faculty and staff accomplishments are widely lauded throughout the state. IVC has once again regained its reputation as a leading college in California.

42. There is a great deal of time consuming and wasteful bureaucratic hoops that need to be jumped through to do very simple things. An example would be the number of signatures (and their respective timelines) required to purchase something or to get something relatively simple approved. These bureaucratic processes normally take time away from more important things that need doing. That's why the processes should be streamlined as much as possible whenever possible, and maintained in their present form only when there is a clearly demonstrated necessity for them.

43. No.

44. I request that all faculty and staff be provided an opportunity to evaluate administrators on an annual basis.

45. Please stop hiring high pay Dean and directors. Hire more Faculty and Staff specially in the student services to take off some work pressure. Share information. Look at the position individually, there are some staff member that has too much to do and yet some other don't and yet get paid a lot more.

46. This form is like the committees on campus; they give us somewhere to voice are displeasures but overall ineffective. Until ***** is removed and a less manipulative and vindictive individual is put in place the college will continue to suffer the effects of working under a dictatorship. ***** is not interested in what's best for the college, ***** is only interested in getting what ***** wants; like 70 inch touch screen TVs for the Admin offices at a cost of $15000.00, his way or no way. ***** is guilty of allowing the heart to be turn out of our organization. There is little sense of community. Blah Blah Blah I can say anything I want here, it only really matters to me in the end anyway.

47. We need to make changes in the faculty. Hiring more full-time professors would lead to a better working environment. The students in this district are suffering because there are not enough classes being offered. I have up to 90 students petitioning for a spot in my class on the first day of every semester. This is not conducive to the learning environment of the students.

48. Thank you for this opportunity. Carry on!

49. If this is a real survey, where the intent to improve is genuine, then this must be published in its entirety. All comments, everything needs to be published. The BOT needs to read it unadulterated. The VP of each area needs to sit in a meeting and discuss the particular improvements that were made in this survey and listen to each one of the suggestions. If that doesn't happen, then this survey is really for naught.

50. Don't we even get a nice Laser mascot emblazoned item for completing this survey ;)

51. Twenty years ago, I.V.C. was a dynamic, enthusiastic, creative environment for students, faculty and staff. Today, not a single one of those adjectives apply.

52. This survey is only useful if results are used to Share and improve.

53. The communication, planning, and quality of service by our District HR services continues to fail us. HR has become too centralized and relies on watchers instead of well-trained empowered college employees to ensure procedures are followed. Layoffs of classified staff were triggered with no prior preparation or communication by the Director of HR. This failure damages credibility and morale.

54. No.

55. I hope that the administration uses the information from this survey to actually improve transparency and communication between the district and the colleges.

Our readers have lots to say about the IVC employee satisfaction survey

May 16 (see Survey):

Anonymous - 6:04 AM, May 16, 2014

     The administration, led by Glenn, only hears what they want to hear.
 



Anonymous - 10:28 AM, May 16, 2014

     The survey shows lots of dissatisfaction. No wonder it was buried. Any fool can see that there is a mess in Student Services, deans are fearful and ineffective, decision-making is anything but transparent and totally top down, and the classified are disenfranchised. What got me was the comment about "sincere" comments written in at the end of the survey. Really, you can tell which ones are sincere? I wrote a negative comment and it was sincere. I hold absolutely no old grievances towards admin. I hold new ones based on the VPIs piss poor performance and the President's refusal to see all these problems. 


Anonymous - 10:50 AM, May 16, 2014

     When was this survey made public?

Anonymous - 11:15 AM, May 16, 2014

     Yesterday, it seems


Anonymous - 1:27 PM, May 16, 2014

     Geez! Glenn should be Justin Bieber's PR man. His plane is careening towards earth, and he comments on the luxuriance of the orange hue in the flames. 





Anonymous - 3:30 PM, May 16, 2014

     The way admin keeps the environment of fear going is by hiring deans and managers that have either phony degrees or no degrees at all. That way it ensures loyalty, gets them to march in lock-step to top-down directives, and makes it much easier to summarily dismiss them, should they exercise their own descretion.

The academically deficient managers count their lucky stars that they have good, high-paying, cush jobs, and know they could not stand a chance in hell finding a replacement job should they be let go. So, to be safe they just follow orders.

This has created a class of "yes men/women" whom are afraid to ask questions or disagree with the admins. As shit always rolls downhill, the staff are also adversely affected. This kind of environment also has a negative impact on shared governance.

So, with these survey results and comments, the ball has now been placed in their court. Will the admins change? Not likely because it is very difficult for people to relinquish power and control, as it bruises the ego.




Anonymous – 7:42 PM, May 16, 2014

     Some of the deans are excellent! Karima [Feldhus] and David [Gatewood?] come to mind. Imagine if they had a real voice. 


May 17

Anonymous - 7:53 AM, May 17, 2014

     Dean Shackelford is excellent...he should be the President of the college. Some of the managers don't have any real management experience and are lousy at managing their departments. We have a few new ones in Student Services who are excellent - Nancy Montgomery who manages the Health Center and Veterans Services and Dennis Gordon (a former classified employee) who manages the Student Affairs Office, but Financial Aid is a mess and some of the other Student Service departments need help. The Foundation is out of touch with the campus and is a Disaster.





Anonymous - 8:55 AM, May 17, 2014

     In addition to Nancy Montgomery and Dennis Gordon, I think Diane Oaks does an excellent job of managing a difficult department and Craig Hayward manages his department well. I agree that Financial Aid and the Foundation office have incompetent managers and departments that seem to have forgotten they are here to provide our students with service. The Foundation (and especially Richard Morley) is more self-serving than student serving, but Glenn refuses to recognize the problem, despite the fact that the department reports to him.




Anonymous - 9:22 AM, May 17, 2014

     Employee Satisfaction Scorecard Grading:

Foundation Leadership - F (only because there is no G)
Financial Aid Leadership - F
Facilities Leadership - F
Administration Leadership - F






Anonymous - 9:58 AM, May 17, 2014
9:22 AM
     - Ouch....I guess no grading on the curve.




Anonymous - 11:03 AM, May 17, 2014

     This survey was taken last fall. Why did he wait until the last week of the school year to release the results?




Anonymous - 1:12 PM, May 17, 2014

     This survey was leaked by an employee, otherwise it may never have been released. The usual mo is to release controversial information during the summer. 9:22 you left out Office of Instruction leadership F (because there is no G). 




Anonymous - 1:21 PM, May 17, 2014

     Here is the problem in a nutshell, Glenn stated "I feel that some – albeit very few – of the comments are vestiges of old wounds and battles and are out-of-step with the current direction of the campus." I don't agree. The issues are with the current direction (or lack thereof) and his inability to grasp that fact, accept the criticism and work to make improvements.




Anonymous - 1:38 PM, May 17, 2014

     How strange to be reading about the ongoing problems with the foundation only to see Al Tello's face in the right hand column. With all his faults Tello and the foundation department were much, much better than what we have now. The foundation board is worse also, where Glenn allowed Richard to make changes to the board he failed to improve it (thus the F because there is no G grade that was bestowed upon the debacle that is called the Foundation office at IVC).


Anonymous - 2:41 PM, May 17, 2014

     Shak insults women.



Anonymous - 2:48 PM, May 17, 2014

     Yes, he does seem to have a problem in that regard.


Anonymous - 3:42 PM, May 17, 2014
     Problem? Shak does it in public, at meetings, in front of everyone and no one calls him on it (they either think he's being "funny" or that don't notice because they share his prejudice) - so he does it again and it gets worse. The man himself thinks he is utterly charming. Ugh.

May 18

Anonymous-8:51 AM, May 18, 2014

     I have seen Shak attack. He could never be president with his issues with females. 


Anonymous-8:54 AM, May 18, 2014

     Can we see the results of the survey excluding the administrative responses? 


Anonymous-9:37 AM, May 18, 2014

     But why is the Shak Attack behavior tolerated - enabled even - in a dean who must deal with female administrators, staff and students? 


Anonymous-10:02 AM, May 18, 2014

     According to the recent survey:
49% of the respondents do not agree that there is a “good procedure to develop courses at IVC.”
40% of the respondents do not agree that “IVC Administration provides effective leadership.”
50% of the respondents do not agree that “Administration is respected by employees.”
45% of the respondents do not agree that “Administrators and Managers make fair decisions.”
52% of the respondents do not agree that “college decision-making processes are effective.”



Anonymous-10:07 AM, May 18, 2014

     9:37 am, good question. Good ol' boy? They go after HL instead?


Anonymous-10:11 AM, May 18, 2014

     Only 47% of the classified respondents perceive the campus environment as good/excellent according to the survey. That should be at the top of everyone's to do list: Fix this. 

 



Anonymous-10:13 AM, May 18, 2014

     I have been on the receiving end of Shak's disregard for women. He was openly bullying me in a meeting and was incredibly disrespectful.

Anonymous-10:40 AM, May 18, 2014

     I hope you reported him (KS). The only thing that gets notice at the district is a lawsuit. I hope the BOT is reading this! Save the taxpayers some money. 


Anonymous-11:13 AM, May 18, 2014
     How do you "report" someone who obviously has the support of the college president, et al? Especially if you are untenured or part-time or your evaluations are signed by him or his pals?

Anonymous-12:07 PM, May 18, 2014
     On how do you report someone? You have to document the incident, get others who witnessed it to sign off on the validity of your report, and report it to HR. If you don't, and I know it is frightening, he'll keep doing it. There are protections in place to protect "whistleblowers."

Anonymous-1:44 PM, May 18, 2014
     This can't really be a WE against THEM scenario. We all have to pull together to makes things better for all of our futures. Unfortunately, until we get rid of Dr. Retaliation, there won't be sufficient trust to do so.

Anonymous-6:58 PM, May 18, 2014
     10:40am, you are correct. The District buries its head in the sand and assumes there are no festering issues until there is a lawsuit. District HR management finds it easier to react to lawsuits rather than being proactive and having a presence on campus to prevent them. As a result, employees suffer from the effects of bullying and arrogant administrators and fearful and paralyzed college directors.

Anonymous-6:59 PM, May 18, 2014
     The protections only work when the process is followed. I have little confidence in the integrity of the leaders - and colleagues - who have seen this happen and done nothing.

The IVC Employee Satisfaction Survey

Poor full-time faculty participation (More part-time than full-time faculty took the survey.)

2013: do employees respect Admin at IVC? Half agree, half disagree.
Roquemore endeavors to put lipstick on this pig

¶ Oh my. Coming quickly on the heels of the recent trustees "Listening Session", in which faculty and classified punctured the plump Roquemorian BS balloon, there’s this:
¶ Earlier today, IVC President Glenn Roquemore sent an email to the college community, announcing the availability—to those who can access “Inside IVC”—of the latest “Employee Satisfaction Survey.” He wrote:

I am pleased to announce the availability of the results of the Fall 2013 Employee Satisfaction Survey. The Employee Satisfaction Survey has been administered every two years since 2009. The latest report (available here) provides the results of the 2013 Employee [sic] along with comparison data from the 2009 and 2011 surveys. With 218 responses, nearly half of all full-time employees responded to the 2013 survey by the end of the Fall 2013 semester.

Roquemore goes on to briefly characterize the results of the survey. (I’ll provide a report, summarizing those results in future. Obviously, if possible, you should read the report yourself.)

And then he focuses on the “communication” issue. As question 26 of the survey indicates, the Accreditor made a series of recommendations, including this:

 “In order to improve, the team recommends that the college enhance communication among constituencies, especially those with supervisorial/
subordinate roles, regarding established procedures and decision making practices in a collegial manner.”

Today, Roquemore wrote:

A recent focus of the President’s office has been to improve communication with all campus constituencies. So, I read with great interest the results for the questions pertaining to communication. I saw that 53% felt that they were informed about what is happening in the President’s area and that 64% agree that the President regularly communicates with all constituencies. Also, 64% of respondents were content with the amount of information they received regarding major issues being addressed by the President. Sadly, however, 53% of respondents felt that the little effort is made to get the opinions and thinking of people who work here at IVC.  So, while these survey results are not terrible, they clearly indicate that more work needs to be done to increase communication and to provide channels for all campus community members to communicate their thoughts, requests and suggestions.

Roquemore seems anxious to put his spin on one of the more damning elements of the survey: the “open responses and comments”:

In addition to the statistical information, I am reading the open responses and comments closely and making note of the sincere comments, both good and bad. I look forward to working with the campus community to improve in those areas that are noted by multiple respondents as being deficient. At the same time, I feel that some – albeit very few – of the comments are vestiges of old wounds and battles and as such are out-of-step with the current direction of the campus. While acknowledging the errors of the past is important, it is equally important to be optimistic about the direction that we are charting for the future as we correct for past errors. While it may be challenging or even disheartening to read some the more vituperative comments, it is important to realize that these are the opinions of our colleagues with whom we work every day, and that improving Irvine Valley College’s operations and ability to meet our mission includes recognizing all voices and opinions….

I include the full set of “verbatim response to open-ended questions” below. I urge you to judge for yourself how they might fairly be characterized.

Are you sensing a pattern?

APPENDIX C: VERBATIM RESPONSES TO OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Q26. … In your opinion, what specific things can the college do to improve communication about college decision-making processes?

1. The current directors/managers do not communicate with their staff other than to relay a message from A100. Their sole focus is making A100 happy and not at all concerned about supporting the teaching infrastructure or the point of this College's existence. Let alone care about their own staff's well-being or ability to perform their job efficiently. Staff is not provided information about much of anything. Example, the new LS building, nobody knows what the heck is going on or the schedule of anything. Now I understand A400 will be rebuilt or something and nobody has been involved in any way again. Do they ever learn?

2. None.

3. As a fairly new employee, I do not have any comment at this time.

4. It's hard to have both sides of the coin: lots of communication and an efficient work place. Too many meetings keep things from being accomplished at some level. Maybe set up interest boards for people to discuss things that they are interested in? Send everyone through a course on communication skills so that they have a better understanding of the impact of their word?

5. I wish specific needs of every particular unit/department are noticed, discussed and addressed. We would like the Disctict/IVC Administration to be aware of the obstacles and concerns we are facing every day at our work place and would need to see more hands-on participation and support.

6. The tenure process needs to be monitored more closely to protect incoming teachers from being abused. Tenured professors need to still be checked, and their civility (or lack thereof) needs to be addressed. When one colleague is harassing or mistreating another colleague, it needs to be addressed by administration to maintain civility. Some teachers here have free reign to mistreat other teachers and staff members.

7. Actually pay attention to the efforts being made on both campuses. I believe so much of the hard work and talents of the faculty and staff are taken for granted by the administration. We want our campuses to be productive and positive environments. We want to feel proud of our schools and feel that we are contributing to the success of our students and their future. From my experiences, while a feigned attempt is made to get feedback from the campus communities, the concerns are rarely addressed, met with defensiveness when they are addressed, and the administration will continue to make the decision it wanted to make the entire time.

8. I have not seen any improvement in my area. There is lots of talk, no action at IVC and action should start at the top. It is almost like the children's story of the emperor has no clothes. Our manager does not meet with classified, and very seldom with the chair. Collegiality is word bounced around, not a practice/action used. It is a hierarchical society with classified at the bottom, not considered when major or even minor changes occur. We are the first point of contact with students and the community, and treated in a uncivil, disrespectful way in many cases. When a position becomes vacant, it is not filled soon enough, and in many cases not filled at all, or reduced in hours, or position. Case in point: Matriculation used to have 3 full time employees in 2012, now there is a substitute in the position. The atmosphere in Student Services is terrible, management is poor and in the end it affects the students. How can Matriculation function when there are not permanent employees? There are other areas on campus, but that is the most blatant.

9. I'm satisfied.

10. More interaction between the administration and faculty.

11. Monthly newsletter with updates regarding important projects as it relates to District, saddleback, IVC and ATEP. All information should be gathered in one place. There are too many e-mails when it comes out in parts. There should be a monthly newsletter as well of the new FT/PT hires with extensions for all campuses. Too many people are coming and going so people do not know how to connect.

12. More attention has been given to this important area. I'm pleased with the progress. I have nothing to suggest.

13. I see a lot of transparency in the shared governance system we have, and the modifications that have been made recently are giving faculty more investment. Honestly I believe this issue was a systemic, cultural issue at SOCCCD in the years before I arrived and a lot of that cultural baggage has continued with the people who were at IVC and other district areas during what seem to have been tumultuous years where communication and decision making was not collegial. I think the administration has made very meaningful and honest efforts to undo this damage in the last 5 years or so, but people remain impacted by these past events. Likely the accreditation team heard a lot about what had happened in the past when they visited because the problems with administration seem like they were very severe in the past (before I arrived at IVC). I think the changes in recent years have been very positive, speaking as a relatively new faculty member, regarding the role of administrators and their seriousness about shared governance and decision-making.

14. Although the college has attempted to broaden the scope of internal communication it has been hindered by what seems to be annual changes in the strategic planning and decision making process. As the rules change regularly, it has been difficult maintaining pace with information and how it is used to be a regular and routine part of the collegewide conversation.

15. I see a good effort to share information being made every day.

16. I would like to see all official presentations, meetings and forums posted online in video format for all employees to review via our website.

17. The college president's newsletters seem to me like public relations blurbs. They do not tell me, a teacher, what I want to know. I want to know about curriculum issues, local and statewide, allotment of OSH, scheduling, staffing, funding issues that affect my school and department, and I think that such crucial info would come from the VPI in an informational email--something like Top Down or Note to the Trench. I also would like to see regular info emails from the dean and from the chairs. Too often, these supervisors react to rather than prepare for.

18. For each decision identify the party(ies) (office, individual) that will be responsible for implementing and/or communicating the decision.

19. There is nothing like asking persons who do the work for their opinion or suggestions when processes/procedures are to be changed. The current overhaul of the summer 2014 scheduling process is a case in point. The schedulers have not been asked about the practicality, doability, or efficiency of what is being proposed. They have been assigned the role of observers who will be expected to clean up the mess that could have been avoided if feedback had been requested.

20. There are still a lot of times where decisions are made without the knowledge of others that are involved. There needs to be more communication between the administrators and their staff regarding changes or updates that directly affect the job of the staff.

Golly, this doesn't look good

21. Administration need to communicate with their staff about any procedures, policies or changes that are happening. The staff are the ones doing the work and often are not aware of these changes taking place and being discussed amongst Administrators.

22. Deans, administrators, and faculty need more time to do their essential jobs. Deans are constantly in meetings rather than spending time with faculty or reflecting on student and faculty needs. Instructors are using a larger and larger percentage of time validating what they are accomplishing rather than actually spending the time with students eencouraging success.

23. Eliminate the Kaplan school. They are a drain on resources, and a low-quality program

24. I think we should ask for everyone's opinions when decision making is in process. Voting is important and both part time and full-time employees should be able to vote.

25. Most communication is top down with minimal opportunities for input from classified staff under managers. This district has very intelligent and educated employees that can provide valuable input. As indicated some departments which are regulated by new mandates from the state operate without written procedures and polices working simply on verbal communication directed at meetings.

26. The entire decision making process needs to be speeded up.

27. There is a lack of communication.

28. I think the college does a great job in managing the cumbersome shared decision making process. The main problem with communication on campus is the rumor mill that still runs rampant...and most often with a negative tone. There should be in place with all and agree to agree to check facts, to go to the source, and to ensure that negative communication is minimized.

29. A revision of the manual and extensive work to make the committee structure more effective ae both very positive examples of the work completed.

30. Make managers manage, train them how to treat people in a civil manner, not to force a hierarchical model, rather a shared governance model. Teach managers to work as a team rather than the current uncivil model. There is a reason why BOT thought it important for IVC to have a civility statement - it's because leadership is uncivil. My manager doesn't care about the department, she is too busy attending meetings and making sure she is seen with community leaders and higher ups. We have not had a Classified meeting for 3 semesters, and she rarely meets with faculty. How to improve? Well if you really mean it, ask each classified person to have input in the evaluation of the manager. There should be a yearly vote of confidence or no confidence of each manager. But i wonder if the District has the courage to do so.

31. I cannot name any communication about college decisionmaking processes. I know that the Planning and Decisionmaking manual is being revised and that the strategic planning committee structure has been revised. No advertising/information sharing campus-wide has occurred about these changes. A call was put out for more faculty on some of the new committees. Some sort of ad/flyer should help explain the strategic planning process to people and explain what role these committees play. We need training and information on how to get things done around here.

32. Sending email surveys.

33. It is much better than 15 years ago.

34. The college really cannot enhance communication about decision making practices in a collegial manner without incriminating itself, because the decision making itself is not done in a collegial manner. The vice presidents and president make all the important decisions in a dictatorial, top-down manner behind closed doors. The shared governance structures are simply window dressing, paper facades to snow the state regulators and accreditation officials.

35. Little has been done

36. I am not familiar with any practice which the college has used in the past. I'm hesitant to make suggestions because I feel as if the outcome would not be sincere.

37. The biggest issue is budget and maintenance in our area. Kinesiology requires a lot of upkeep and most of our work is done when something breaks instead of maintaining facilities so they don't break. Our department also does not get our timelines met when we have put them on a schedule months in advance. Some budget issues also have been delayed because of poor understanding of our timelines and the need to have a regular maintenance schedule.

38. Professionalism and good choices for optimum student learning are often forgotten in administrators' egos and personal preferences.

39. The President and Administrators need to walk the campus and come into our offices in Student Services and spend time interacting with Classified Staff on the day-to-day operations to be more aware about what we do. Years ago we had a President and Vice President who did just that and the morale on campus was warm, positive, amazing! Some Classified staff feel that Administration is out of touch with what we do every day and decisions are arbitrary without our department needs and best interests in mind.

40. I think the answer here just open communication across all entities. Also, everyone has their role to play, however I think we need to play more as a team. And that takes strong leadership. I do not feel that Board members should not be looked upon any differently with regards to interactions to their interactions with staff. I applaud the classified and managers who stand up and take steps to correct and solve important issues. However, in my department, I have found that it is MUCH easier to keep your head down and not make you opinions too widely known.

41. I may not have been around long enough to really address this question, but impression at this point is that the college often solicits feedback, then totally disregards it. Since the participants are highly intelligent people, it's no surprise that they see through and are frustrated by this facade of having a voice. Both groups and individuals devote large amounts of valuable time into gathering and presenting information, with which the upper echelons seem to do absolutely nothing.

42. ***** at IVC is deceptive and manipulative. He pretends that his decisions (and almost all decisions are his) are based on objective data, but that is not true.

43. I think part-timers are often ignored in most matters that pertain to decision-making processes, which is ironic, considering they make up 75% of the faculty.

44. Require collegiality training. Increase opportunities for team building activities and events.

45. The college remains dysfunctional and will remain so as long as *****, *****, ***** and ***** are employed here. Most of the Academic Administration is useless and needs to go. The Dean corps is weak, afraid to try anything, not creative in problem solving and frankly mostly useless - it may not be all their fault though - since they apparently are beaten up regularly by their superiors. At least half of the classified leadership is as well useless. The ***** is useless. The communication from the President's Office is merely chatter for the sake of covering his rear end for the next accreditation. As long as people know their opinions will not be heard or valued and in many cases may be cause for backlash, they will not participate. The administration of this college does not have the respect of the employees. Neither frankly does the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor of HR or frankly much of the Board of Trustees all of whom have been adequately informed of the low morale and frustration at IVC and yet they do nothing about it. They are each as culpable as anyone.

46. I need to make more of an effort to stay informed.

47. Communication doesn't really matter when the end decision is still not in the faculty and student body's best interests.

48. Be more transparent and support existing processes, do not try to step around them.

49. Incivility still exists on campus. Administration does not seem to care.

50. Survey faculty and staff about issues before enacting new policies and implementing new procedures. Make certain that constituencies are fully aware of changes prior to their implementation.

51. connect directly with faculty, not through reps or supervisors

52. The pedagogical needs of the students and the college mission are compromised by the need to make money. Our ability to focus on our work is derailed by constantly changing procedures and information. Lack of clarity coming from the state regarding new rules and regulations is creating an enormous amount of stress as we try to understand what is needed from us. Focus on productivity is killing our educational effectiveness. New rules regarding submission of reimbursements photocopy tracking and other budgetary procedures are giving the impression that we are not trusted and require a lot more energy and time out of our week.

53. The college has too many meetings. But most meetings are inefficient.

54. The communication process has satisfied my needs as it stands.

55. All groups participate on College-wide committees, task forces and work groups. Information is passed through different media sources: newsletters, staff meetings, senate meetings, councils, flyers, and emails. Improve: decision-making should be more inclusive, and people should have the opportunity to disagree without feeling they have to go along with what administration has submitted. Consensus is used, but there is no one who will raise their hand in opposition even if they do not support something, yet, there should be an opportunity to do just that.

56. Please explain why when a Resource Request is submitted on time, and is approved by the approvers necessary by May, does notification to the submitter of the request not go out until the end of October that the financial resources have been allocated to that submitters project? I understood that these requests were supposed to receive final approval by July so the funds can be appropriately utilized in a timely fashion.

57. The college administration talks and meets a lot about improving communication, but it is still not transparent. Case in point the director in Financial aid and Veterans area was removed from campus, and rather than say the interim director is..... - nothing was said. It made people speculate and talk. The president and the VPSS should have sent a joint email. Another case was when an unannounced event at the college that caused great difficulties as far as parking was not mentioned, we were just expected to just deal with it. A notice should have gone out so we could be prepared. There seems to be an attitude of not caring whether the employees know what is going on that may affect them. I do not believe the president and upper management realize what a low opinion the majority of the employees have of them. I hope it changes, but that can only come if we are treated better. Also IT services has gone down over the last few years. Equipment is old, printers don't work as well, repairs are often called in, but know one seems to care. It is really said that after all the meetings, civility statements and much salary funds wasted on meetings that it only gets worse.

58. n/a

59. Collaboration on projects, services and communication. Continue to provide opportunities for personnel at both institutions to work together and meet informally.

60. I have seen some attention to establish systemics of late. I wish I knew what to recommend.

61. Involve adjuncts more.

62. The college still needs to improve communication about budget issues. We seem to have processes, but they don't work, don't get completed, and we aren't aware of the status.

63. I find the degree of communication with my Dean is excellent. Emails work very well, and I am as informed as I wish to be.

64. Ongoing monthly one-on-one meetings between supervisor and employee to build trust and stay informed as to what is going on. This is also an opportunity to follow-up on projects and establish action items.

65. Class assignment guidelines for adjunct faculties should be openly informed.

66. Starting the IVC open forums each semester is a good start. To improve communication between Student Services and Instruction, the VPSS could start attending Academic Senate meetings as the VPI does. To improve communication about budgets, the deciding bodies should complete the resource request reviews before the Fall semester starts and announce the allocations of the requests then. We didn't find out until mid-November about some of our budget requests, and some requests have still not been responded to. To improve communication with Facilities issues and requests, the ticket system should be transparent like it is with IT (IVC IT does an excellent job, by the way). We should be able to see our open tickets and who they have been assigned to so that we can follow up as needed. Presently Facilities ticket requests are closed without us knowing or they languish without a person to contact for updates. Better communication and in a more collegial manner with Facilities is needed.

67. The President of the college should begin to be honest and open about college issues and decisions. Often, significant actions are taken but are left utterly unexplained.

68. I believe a great deal of work was done in the barriers groups and those initiatives are moving forward. I am satisfied that collegial communication is improving between the Colleges and District Services. Face-to-face communication is still the best form of communication. We have done a much better job of just talking with our colleagues. Let's continue down this path....we don't need more portals, emails, newsletters, etc. Let's just pick up the phone or have a coffee with one another.

69. I have been told what the process will be more than they used to.

70. More department meetings discussing this

71. Update the IVC planning and decision-making manual, which has been done.

72. There seems to be a lack of value placed on dissenting ideas. The college seems much less vibrant than it used to be. There is less healthy disagreement and the resulting improvements in the ways things are done. The movement from face-to-face or even telephone communication to forms sent into cyberspace has undermined our power to truly get things done. The notable exception is IVC IT. The staff there do a marvelous job of using the technology to help the faculty. It seems to me that the campus has lost its soul, and I am grieving.

73. I don't know. I've only been at IVC since August 2013.

74. During Classified Senate meetings we have discussed and voted on several key items such as Smoke Free Policy, BO 180 etc.

75. The college has an impressive infrastructure for the distribution of information. The President communicates regularly and effectively through several methods. Occasionally, some employees expect information on issues that are confidential HR issues and cite this as of evidence for the lack of communication. The best was to improve on communication is to share the wealth of information that is discussed in college and district committees.

76. need more transparency from high-level administrators.

77. I don't know what the college has done, and perhaps this is because I don't read everything that I get, or perhaps I don't get anything with this information.

78. The college decision-making processes are still not collegial; they are top-down. There is very little information that flows back to the admins/supervisors that has any effect on the decision. In fact, generally, the processes are set up to discourage this flow of information from constituencies appears, in many cases, to be discouraged either by the individuals or by the processes used. There is a great deal of this top-down, autocratic style that is a residual of the previous regime in the district and college.

79. Remove the red tape.

80. Somehow get around the Dean level. It takes too long for information to move up or down through the Deans. Are they so afraid of getting fired that they are frozen in place? Takes ages for anything to get through deans.

81. The president needs to make a genuine effort to spend time with faculty and hear their views and to be more involved in day-to-day campus life. IT needs to survey faculty about their needs. More events and meetings need to be scheduled at times that are not key teaching times.

82. The college publically advocates change and adherence to due process. In reality, they never do this; the President calls all the shots and does not consult.

83. Establish a true communication process where people can share their opinions. Create a process where opinions are not only heard but incorporated into the the process. Hold meetings when people can attend. Allow the students to have a newspaper. Communicate. Right now there is nothing but press releases. No one feels as if they can tall about what goes wrong.

84. The Deans and Directors have poor communications skill.

85. College wide forums have been good. I have not been able to attend but I notice that they are been held.

86. Fewer committees; We have too many committees doing repetitive or meaningless task. They give people a place to voice their complaints but little room to make effective decisions. When it all comes down to the presidents executive counsel anyway, why waste our time?

87. There should be meetings in which representatives from the different schools are present to help with decision-making that affects the entire school. Also, there should be more positions for full-time faculty members.

88. We have extensively reviewed and revised our Planning and Decision-Making Manual. To further improve, we can: 1. live up to what is written in the PDMM; 2. Stabilize or regularize our established processes so that figuring how things get done is not a moving target; and 3. Focus on rewarding good examples of collaborative decision-making and ensuring that bad behavior (e.g., mean-spirited or divisive gossip) is not condoned or rewarded.

89. Communication is terrible at IVC. Our manager doesn't bother to communicate, and she doesn't bother to ask us what is going on in our daily job duties. Problems are ignored, lack of staffing is ignored, as are my increased job duties, due to several areas not restaffed when people left, retired, were fired, or relocated. The bathrooms in student services are filthy, same dirt/trash on floor remains for weeks, until someone complains. Supplies are not regularly checked. The night facilities manager is busy talking on his cell phone, while bathrooms are unattended. No one ever, ever comes in during the day to clean ladies/men's bathrooms. It is a health hazard. Our VP never comes by to check how things are going, and Student Services management staff relationship is dysfunctional at best. Decision making practices in our area is that we are told what to do, if there is an issue, management doesn't bother to ask, but are quick to blame. There is an arrogant uncivil attitude of most managers toward classified staff. When even one person in our area is out sick, we all feel the pressure of that duty not done. When our manager is on vacation of 3 weeks, things seem to run better. We can save a ton of money if we took that salary and hired 4 classified staff members. My suggestion is that all the civility workshops have not worked, therefore if leadership can't change the atmosphere, then get rid of them. We need people in administration that actually care.

90. College decision-making processes are not as transparent as they could be; the APPEARANCE of communication is not the same as the actual acknowledgement of problems that need to be solved; input from staff, faculty, AND students on solutions; and a realignment of EVERYONE in a commitment toward those students whom we ALL serve.

91. The college has increased communication in the following manner: President's newsletter; emails from key leaders on campus be it from Academic Senate, Office of President, Instruction, or Student Services; and press releases. Even getting emails from Division committee members have increased in frequency and quality. Things to improve communication would be Administration reports. I know that we get a note from the President, but it could be helpful if faculty receive updates from Vice President of instruction, Student Service and reports from the Deans.

92. We get a lot of emails from the college and from the district, but not enough from the department about how the district policies and college decisions will affect our department.

93. College has intentional dialogue about specific and important issues in the shared governance group.

94. Let us participate

95. I think it would be important to put a strong emphasis on improving relations between classified, faculty and administration. There is a hierarchy at IVC which doesn't allow for very good relations between all of the positions. I believe that we would all have better partnerships and work better together as a team if the positions didn't feel so segregated.

96. Hire scrupulous, honest, fair, intelligent administrators who respect the contributions of their staff and whom are able to multi-task and articulate the goals of their unit and offer opportunities to qualified individuals to promote rather than show favoritism and opportunities for advancement to obsequious individuals that can barely perform the tasks of the job that they were originally hired to do.

Doncha be "out-of-step with the current direction of the campus"

97. Improve civility n respect. There is no regard for the classified staff. We are treated as inferior human beings. Except when accreditation comes due then we are used to make the college look good.

98. SharePoint and web site are critical communication tools to maintain, organize, and improve upon.

99. Follow the established timelines and make realistic deadlines so that we have sufficient time to accomplish the task.

100. The development of the SharePoint intranet site has been a valuable tool in enhancing communication. It does make agenda and minutes available for review. The organization of the site could be improved. Each site is organized slightly differently sometimes making finding discussions on specific topics difficult. The feedback on budget and funding strategies is not efficient or timely.

101. There is improved email messaging of important information. Open forums at the college level with the President.

102. You might consider putting out a concise handbook and going over it at various meetings. (If it already exists, send it out electronically every few months or whenever there is a significant change.)

103. From my perspective, nothing has changed.

104. The Decision Making Manual is drafted, which is a good thing. It may be helpful if there are more campus wide regular emails from the President and Senate Presidents to improve communication about college decision-making process.

105. Things we could do: Reiterate the role of constituency representation on college committees at the start of every semester. Provide manages with training on collaborative decision making processes.