We need to spread the word that WE are Irvine’s community college! Not those other guys from, uh, the coast! Who do they think they are? We’ll show ‘em! Our plan is to assemble teams that will visit 500 businesses in one day! Think of it! Each team will wield a delightful tin of cookies. That’s right: a tin of cookies! (—VeePSs)
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| One day. 50 volunteers. 500 tins of cookies. IVC. |
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| Preparing for the big day, Oct. 1 |
43 comments:
IVC is so wonderful to work at in so many ways. But, damn if it doesn't get weird as hell sometimes...cookies and IVC go together like milk and corporate cronyism
When this was announced at a meeting I was at, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't meet anyone's eyes. I can't imagine how this gimmick got this far. We are not the girl scouts.
What is this about? I don't understand.
Stop thinking like an academic for a moment and think of our college as a business (yes, we are in the business of educating students) that provides educational and training opportunities to our local communities. Many areas (especially Tustin and Irvine) have grown significantly over the years with many new residents and businesses. This Outreach effort is to introduce IVC and the things we offer to the local community. In private industry it is called "marketing" and hopefully the outreach efforts will engage the local community. I think that having community support from individuals and business would be great for the college. What would be the downside to giving out a tin of cookies and a information about our college to people who could benefit from our services?
Who knows, some of them could also offer benefits to our students (internships, jobs, scholarships, grants, etc.) time to "think outside the box" and reach out to our local communities.
9:38, you're just not listening. Obviously, we're not against "outreach" and "marketing" per se. We're concerned that, time and time again, the choices our college makes suggest that we're more a high school than a college. If IVC had a strong reputation in the community as a college with college values, then a tin of cookies wouldn't be so bad. Given that, for many in the community, IVC means "Astounding" kiddie inventions and pretty blue balloons, it's awful. It's people like you that have us in a "box" that we need to get out of. —The sub-collegiate, anti-intellectual gradeschool box.
Administration seeks to combat poaching of our service area by the likes of OCC, and to make our presence known, by assembling teams, on Oct. 1, that will descend upon 500 local "businesses" (that's the word she used at the meeting I attended; no doubt the category is broader than that) with a tin of cookies and some pamphlets. Many of us cringed--once again--when we heard about the cookies. That's what we've come to expect from IVC administration: IVC=cookies. Maybe punch, too.
The way for IVC to gain a strong reputation in the community is by reaching out and informing the community about what we offer. The concept of a small token or gift (in this case a tin of cookies) is a way of saying "hello" and introducing IVC to the community. This is not a new marketing concept and is actually a proven method that was instituted many years ago by Welcome Wagon and other community and civic organizations.
I'd rather leave 'em a burning sack of shit.
Roy, your response at 3:49 pm is probably why you were not selected to lead the outreach effort. If you truly care about our students (and I believe you do) then I think any campus outreach that can provide them support or opportunities should be embraced. Even if we don't agree with the methodology, the fact that efforts are being made by many people on campus to engage the local community should be embraced.
4:12, you are humorless, obviously.
Actually, I have a sense of humor and enjoy using sarcasm to make a point. It has been fun jousting!
I think a 3 to 5 minute DVD will work alot better with those cookies.
Relationships (business and personal) are best developed in person, not via a DVD. Hasn't anyone on this campus taken a course in business or personal development?
Hasn't anyone on this campus seen what happens when a school IS run like a business? You know, say, like all the for-profits under investigation for screwing over everyone, including taxpayers? Schools are not businesses. And like Roy said, if it was only the cookies. But it's not. IVC lacks an intellectual rigor outside the classroom that is a part of many other campuses, including other community colleges.
Agreed. IVC is NOT a business. It is a public institution of higher learning held by the people of California to serve their interests. The primary purpose of IVC is to deliver a college education. This education is delivered by academics. To imply that Roy, as an academic, does not have a valid opinion on this topic because he is an academic is an expression of the very problem his comments were addressing. Our college administration is filled with people who do not seem to be academics and do not seem to be concerned with, nor to appreciate, the faculty whose knowledge, experience, education, and hard work creates and delivers the knowledge that is at the core of the college's mission. The proliferation of buzz words and gimmicks, the design of faculty offices without (adequate) book shelves, the claims that campus events (e.g., the recent 9/11 commemoration) are educational while not involving faculty at all, the marginalizing of faculty from key educational decisions, are a symptom of the degree to which administrators fail to appreciate the differences between college and high school, private enterprise and public institution, and quality and gimmick.
Gee, love that professionalism, Roy. I guess only educationists like you are allowed to make jokes and drop the F-bomb. Anyone else, and it wouldn't be politically correct.
Marketing and outreach are only one small part of enrollment management. The problem is that there's so much hand-wringing about a drop in enrollment that is being seen by colleges throughout the nation. Rather than take it in stride, we freak out and take desperate measures. Our problem isn't that people don't know about us, so cookie tins won't solve anything. They certainly won't increase enrollment.
OCC has a reputation as being "fun." They also have tens of years of history on IVC. Cookie tins won't change that.
How about we look at what we offer students, and meet demand? But no, that would take decision making, which nobody wants to do.
So let's pass out cookies. That'll solve everything.
How lame.
Wielding that finely-honed "sarcasm," are we? OK, I'll bite. Which "joke" did I fail to tolerate?
Re my use of the "F-bomb": I would have thought everyone would be impressed by my stunning reserve, given the obnoxious idiocy routinely exhibited by some critics of this blog.
Guys are like fish, attracted to shiney, reflective, sexy things. Make colorful, shiney pamphlets with hot, young, sexy chicks on them (like OCC does), those chicks in swimsuits at the beach, etc... and skip the extra expense of cookies. To attract ladies, show pictures of a new shoe or jewelery design, or drama program being offered. There ya go!
First, I'm not sure any self-respecting college would want the crowd that such approaches would attract. Second, bedazzlement by shiny things and new shoes attracts both sexes, Captain Retro. Maybe you should consider a move to Costa Mesa, dude.
I'd rather IVC become known as a kick-ass college for pre-engineering or computer science or high-quality general education transfer programs or (insert quality academic program here) and then market that. Standout quality education will sell itself.
Oh, and just a thought: Is the cost of the cookies considered a gift of public funds?
I think that various female denizens of the college are being approached to volunteer to bake the cookies. That's what a female professor likes to hear: can you bake some cookies for us, dear?
We are not being asked to bake but we are being asked to distribute cookies - one step away from the kitchen. I think this may be well-intended but is misguided and poorly considered not only in terms of audience but - well, I can't imagine doing this kind of thing. I really can't. And I am all for pitching in but this just seems half-baked (sorry!).
Wow, what a small-minded group of nagging nabobs of negativism. Just sit in your little cubicles (without adequate bookshelves) and whine while the world passes you by. OK, so you are not willing to help because you don't like the idea, or you think it's misguided or whatever.
Let those who are willing and able to do something that might help our students go out and do it.
Dear 6:35pm, I am happy to see that you have been elected to speak for the campus. Your sexist comment about distributing cookies is one step away from the kitchen and your thorough analysis as to why you know that the plan is misguided and poorly considered shows how out of touch you really are. Thanks for not going out to the community and embarrassing the rest of us by displaying your small mindedness.
Dear 7:44 and 7:52,
You are so right. Cookies are exactly what a university is about. And a bunch of silly reps from the college going to local businesses and giving out tins of cookies is going to get our students to transfer to UCLA and Harvard and anywhere they want to go. Or, they'll get top paying jobs for a few snickerdoodles. I'll just go back to my cubicle and waste my time teaching critical thinking skills. Apparently, it is a waste of time. Anyone who seems to have the ability to analyze and think won't get a job in admin.
What "world" must one live in to recycle old Spiro Agnew quotes? Corrupt hypocrite world? Greek-American bribery world? Shit-for-brains world?
7:52, I must have missed something. What is "sexist" about 6:35's comment?
I think it is possible to agree to disagree about this one except that it also represents another top-down scheme that doesn't ask for faculty buy-in but expects or demands it after the fact. If the Business school is so hot on this one, let them spend their weekend passing out cookies. I agree that we have lots to brag about but I find this gimmick a bit of a poor fit. We are not the Welcome Wagon or Chamber of Commerce or the Girl Scouts. We're a college. There is a difference.
We used to have a presence at the local community fairs and events (e.g. Tustin Tiller Days) where we would hand out fliers about our programs and upcoming events and talk to people. And gosh, this is going way back, even distribute copies of the magazine "The Ear. " This was a nice way of doing outreach and meeting members of the community -and being seen as PART of the community, as the COLLEGE part of the community.
This is what happens when you put a displaced homemaker in charge of outreach.
Faculty "buy in" what a joke...IVC faculty hasn't bought into anything in years. If the faculty is so motivated to help students by engaging the community, then come up with an idea (you know use those Phd brains) to develop an outreach to the community that will benefit your students and your program(s) Don't just take pot-shots at those who are trying to help.
"Buy-in" is created when the process allows for collaborative planning. I think we have seen the results all too frequently and recently when a plan is created and then imposed upon people.
Its a good idea. Better than what IVC has been doing the past 15 years in building relationships with businesses which has been Nothing!
Collaborative planning... thats a joke with most of the faculty, heck Roy you only showed up for what one or two meetings for the scholarship task force? Then you disappeared.
The administrative assistants at these businesses are going to be likely tasked with receiving the cookies. They're going to put them in the common lounge. And that's going to be that. This is a really silly show for very little. It's hardly creating massive outreach or change for our students. I think the problem is this is just another stunt in a long line of other silly stunts.
Also, don't take pot shots at Roy. If you hate him so much, stay off his blog.
Regarding the scholarship task force - do you really want to bring that up? Hiring people who can't do their jobs then complaining that the rest of us (who teach/work fulltime and fulfill other cmte. oblgaitions) don't do enough? You really want to argue that? You really want to pick up the rock that is the schaolrhsip/foundation etc. and look under it?
Also, the task forces are often rescheduled and meet at times that conflict with a faculty member's teaching schedule. This is sometimes why faculty "disappear".
No, I attended far more than "one or two" of those meetings, although I kept no record of my attendance. I reported on more than that number (here on these pages). At one point in our deliberations last Spring, one group reneged on an agreement (with my group) and, at that point, I could see no point in continuing to attend. That's why I "disappeared." I do not wish to waste my time. At this point, I have come to believe that the VP of SS is incapable of running a meeting or group and that she has very poor judgment. At this point, I am disinclined to participate in any group that she heads.
So in other words when things dont go your way you give up and quit. Nice philosophy on life.
This whole blog is based on taking pot shots. LoL
congratulations, it's now everybody versus everybody.
Name ONE. Be specific. --RB
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