Thursday, August 30, 2018

IVC President Glenn Roquemore seriously oversteps his authority

     As you know, IVC President, Glenn Roquemore, has long had a troubled relationship with the college faculty. In general, he and his regime perennially operate in a manner that leaves faculty, represented by the IVC Academic Senate, with little meaningful voice in important governance issues, even when, by law, they are given special authority.
     Over the years, we’ve discussed these issues on this blog.
     Rumors have been swirling that Roquemore recently overstepped his authority in promoting the curriculum of one of his curious hobby horses, the "Laser" or Photonics program.
     I have made inquiries. Here’s what I’ve learned—from very reliable sources.
     The curriculum specialist is the (non-faculty) employee at IVC who assists the Office of Instruction and faculty in creating and approving curriculum. Supervised by the VPI, he works closely with the (faculty) Curriculum Chair, managing curriculum at the College. (The specialist has permissions in the curriculum system [CurricuNet] at a high level, able to move programs and degrees through the system.)
     The Laser Technology (Photonics) program at IVC, a program in which President Roquemore seems to take a keen interest, recently lost its only full-time faculty member, Desiré Whitmore; unable to make load due to low enrollment, Whitmore took a job elsewhere. The program has few students, and, in truth, there are few or no laser tech jobs in California. Meanwhile, California Ed Code now requires Career Technical Education programs, such as Photonics, to demonstrate, with Labor Market Data, that they are educating students for an actual job. (Such data should be presented to the board.)
     I should mention that the current Curriculum Chair, who was appointed in Spring, is new and untenured. The Academic Senate is presently working with him to fix a very confused and troubled curriculum process.
     Over summer 2018, Roquemore emailed the Academic Senate president, asking about the curriculum status of the Laser Technology Associates degree. The Senate Prez responded, saying that she would check. Summer was a busy time for curriculum because of AB 705 and other pressing curriculum matters. The curriculum chair was alerted to the President’s concern.
     Later this summer, the college president asked the curriculum specialist for an update on the Laser Technology curriculum. The specialist informed him that the curriculum was then at the board level and would not be moved forward—not until a process was developed in collaboration with Saddleback College for how Labor Market data should be presented to the Board.
     Roquemore said he would look into the process and get back to the specialist.
     A few weeks later, Roquemore informed the specialist that he had spoken to Saddleback and that the requirement to show Labor Market data was waived for this program; hence, he said, the specialist should move the Associate degree forward.
     Is Glenn once again helping one of his worthless pals?
     The specialist believed he should comply with Roquemore's direction and did so.
     Education Code gives academic senates (i.e., faculty) primary responsibility for making recommendations regarding curriculum. The Curriculum Chair was not part of this action and was not consulted. Beyond the summer email, neither was the Academic Senate President.
     In our system, no administrator may touch curriculum; it is the faculty’s purview. Roquemore has clearly overstepped his authority. This, at any rate, is the view of many faculty and others at the college.
     The Saddleback Senate has been alerted to the situation. They too are alarmed.
     It is my understanding that IVC's Academic Senate President is now pursuing an appointment with the Chancellor to discuss the matter.
     Some members of the IVC Academic Senate are discussing the possibiity of at long last pursuing a vote of no confidence in Roquemore.
     Stay tuned.




18 comments:

Bob Cosgrove said...

Both the IVC and SC Senate Presidents and the Curriculum Chairs should meet with the Chancellor to discuss this matter.

Anonymous said...

This is no surprise. For so long he has not been held accountable even when things go very very wrong. It has created at atmosphere where he feels he can do and say anything to anyone. And the many people around him don't call him on it because they are all indebted to them in their ways and don't know any better.

Anonymous said...

Correction: the curriculum specialist at IVC is a he.

Anonymous said...

I always think of the curriculum specialist as Lois! She served so well for so many years. Can you imagine Glen trying to pull this with Lois?

Anonymous said...

Glenn is like a child. Keeps testing the boundaries. As long as there are no circumstances or repercussions, he will continue to do as he wants. No confidence vote is long overdue and the damn BOT needs to pull their collective heads out of their asses and can this narcissistic, self serving jerk!

Anonymous said...

Glenn is horrible for this district and college. It’s up to the board and chancellor to take action.

Anonymous said...

Glenn shopping for faculty support and dirt on Senate Prez and Board Prez for something about discontinuance at last board meeting.

GOM said...

What actually is, for the purpose of this program, "laser technology"? How would it differ from, say, "hydraulic technology"?

Anonymous said...

The president is stuck in the 80's.

Anonymous said...

Glenn does not care about 10+1 or ethics. This Spring he was (allegedly) emailing people about his poor wife having to go to Saddleback nd trying to get them on his side. Nooo, he is not using his authority for his own benefit at all. AND district (allegedly)knew about it.

Anonymous said...

Is it a Title 9 violation when the slightly under-enrolled classes of female instructors are cancelled while the under-enrolled classes taught by favored male instructors are not? And that there is a long-running documented pattern of this favoritism? Curious minds want to know.

Anonymous said...

Can't Inform confirm that - or contradict the previous claim? I have heard that some programs are indeed "protected" while others, especially those in which critics teach, are held to different enrollment standards despite the very public claims otherwise. It would be very interesting to see the gender breakdown. Has anyone been following the big TITLE 9 violation case brewing at UCI?

Anonymous said...

Check with the union--this is a work place issue. Some members of the BOT would be VERY interested in this issue.

Anonymous said...

I am hoping that the district HR is on to what has been happening for years now at IVC. There was never any oversight before because everyone was so buddy-buddy, old boy's network and all that back scratching.

Anonymous said...

There is a pattern.

Anonymous said...

Any updates on this?

Anonymous said...

Glen is in worse trouble than this.

Anonymous said...

9:52, pretty vague statement. Please explain what you know or mean.

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