Meanwhile, across town...

Today at the orthodox synagogue on Michelson, just off Culver. 

From Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine:

Dear Friends,

I’m very sorry to report that last night Beth Jacob was a target of a cowardly act by an individual who spray-painted an anti-Semitic message on the front wall of our synagogue facing Michelson Drive. The hateful graffiti was discovered by our staff this morning, at which point Irvine Police Department was notified and a full investigation is underway.

Here is what we know so far based on our camera footage. At about 1:18 AM, an individual wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a surgical facemask jumped our fence at the pedestrian entrance on Michelson Drive. The suspect proceeded towards the wall where the Beth Jacob of Irvine sign is facing the street and began to spray-paint his hateful message. After he was done, the suspect left the premises on a bicycle he apparently stolen from our premises.

The Irvine Police Department and our own security have done a full sweep of the entire facility and nothing was found other than the graffiti.

We are continuing to do everything we can to make our campus more secure, and we will continue to promote the message that we are stronger than hate.

Sincerely,

Allen Berezovsky, Rabbi Ciner, Beth Jacob Board of Directors and Our Security Team

*

"How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?"

Just askin'.

*

Roquemore: a failure to lead

     6:15 - Well, the country is roiling in heavy seas right now, and most of us are anxiously on the lookout for more rogue waves. But I'm here, after a long absence, at the October meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees. It's a spittoon in that vast sea. But it's our spittoon. And it's roiling too.

Pres. Roquemore

     The faculty union's expected to show tonight all pissed off about the lowball tactics of the district negotiating team re the contract. So, there's that.
     But there's plenty more to be pissed off about. We at Irvine Valley College are sick to death of our incompetent and corrupt president. His latest atrocity? Well, he seems unconcerned about threats to his faculty and even about swastikas scrawled on campus bathroom doors. He doesn't communicate about that stuff. Doesn't feel the need too.
     And those faculty? They were investigated. Unbelievable.
     I could go on.
     The trustees are starting to show up. I've seen two of 'em so far. Prendergast, Jemal, Lang. --More in a moment.

     6:21 - The union crowd is lining up in the back of the hall. Some of the usual suspects—staff—are stalking the room and warming seats. There are some unfamiliar faces, too. Newly hired administrators?

     6:23 - A week or two ago, a student was seen scrawling a swastika on a bathroom stall door (or somesuch) here at the college. There'd been a few other Neanderthalic spasms on campus recently: students with knives, haters of various kinds. At the Senate meeting, senators got steamed: how come we're not informed of this kinda thing? How come the President of this Goddam College in the Orange Groves doesn't SAY something?
     WTF! we said (or some said). Other colleges (and High Schools, etc.) know what to do, but, no, not the clueless Trump-voting , anti-intellectualist Roquemore.
     Here on the pages of DtB we started carping about all this last week. Then Pittsburgh happened.
     Gotta go.

     6:28 - Looks like all of the trustees are in the room—though two of 'em aren't in their seats. Things will start jumping' in just two minutes.
     Whitt finally sits down. Prendergast is talking with somebody in front of me.  —I see our new Chancellor. Haven't met her yet....
     Looks like the union crowd are mostly a no-show. Maybe they got what they wanted?

     6:30 - Jemal opens the meeting. Prendergast: "no report" - actions in closed session.
     Wright does prayer: "our father who art in heaven, ... Amen"
     Jay leads the pledge. It's all very lurid.

     One request for public comment: Kathy Schmeidler.
     Schmeidler: (wearing an FA shirt). The board, she says, seems to be pursuing a philosophy that was appropriate twenty years ago, but it hasn't been modulated appropriately in intervening years. Taxpayers expect something different now. Sometimes you adjust beautifully (!), but some of the time, you don't, board. (Use of district resources.)
     Two items. At one point the district negotiating team pushed idea that the district should own anything produced by faculty on district time. Absurd. The other issue: our foundation. The board can make it easy or hard to support the good work at the colleges. I do hope the board will take that into account and support foundation efforts—doing things outside the normal budget and support student learning and activities—things that are impossible to do without the foundation. Thank you.
     Jemal: any other requests? Nope.

Board reports:

     Trustee Dave Lang: he blabs about football games. Teacher of year awards at Disneyland Motel. THEN: Personally dealing with attack on synagogue in Pitsburgh. President's remarks disgraceful and embarrassing. We don't need more armed guards.
     Trustee Barbara Jay: Doug Barr's history of Saddleback College. Appreciate that. Trustees self-evaluation, blah blah blah. OC Business council conference, blah blah
     Trustee Tim Jemal: attended groundbreaking, Health and Wellness center, IVC. Attended the Economic forecast. Joining Lang: condolences re Pittsburgh Tree of Life center...
     I recently heard about the swastika business at IVC. Deeply concerning. Symbol of fascism, racism, etc. The 1st Amendment allows citizens to freely express themselves. That doesn't preclude our board rejecting bigotry and violence. I am greatly concerned about this resurgence of white supremacy and Neo-nazis. Appreciate Irvine Police chief Hamel and city councilwoman Melissa Fox response. (And where was the IVC response? It came belatedly.) Both condemn the acts of vandalism, etc. at IVC. But we should lead too. It is the responsibility of our leadership to lead too. (Yeah, he's spanking Roquemore.)
     Trustee Marcia Milchiger: excellent remarks, she says. I won't repeat what you've said; I agree with those remarks. She then blathers about the district retreat. OC Legislative Task force meeting. What should they concentrate on this year? Blah blah blah. Something about Halloween. She had fliers. Something about a voting booth (at Saddleback?)
     TJ Prendergast: thankful to be able to see professor of year thing. Blah.
     Trustee James Wright: appreciate comments about Pittsburgh massacre. Then talks about homecoming dance. Went to forums. IVC Health Center project groundbreaking at IVC.
     Trustee Terri Whitt: would like to say—shares the same sentiments as Lang. Attended board retreat. No-one likes to go to those. It was excellent, wonderful. Something about football. Foundation meeting. Thanks Doug Barr for his work on history of district/college. Invites others to join the "5 k run." It's for us to get together. It's for our vets. Put your effort into it.
     Student trustee Hoang - yammers about retreat, etc. Notes her forums. Blah blah blah. Females at IVC empowerment, etc. Feminist club; safe space. (Cute kid.) Pursuing "rights for students."
     Chancellor's report (Burke): blah
     Presidents' reports
     Roquemore: yes, I fully agree about the swastikas. "There's no room for this kind of activity...." "We are dedicated to stop this kind of activity, where it is coming from." (What an asshole.) Goes on about Coach Pestolisi. "He's always been a superstar on campus." Sand volleyball. Congrats to him.
     Saddleback college: we had a power outage at start of Presidential forums. We had the shake-out. Quite a week. (I think he's just an interim guy.) (Yeah, "Interim Pres Buysse")
     Student government reports.
     Some kid starts talking about Halloween and voting. A costume party and "other festivities." Arranging for buses to bus kids to vote. (No one will show up.) Nice effort though. A survey for food and housing and security at Saddleback. Sounds pretty good.
     Nobody representing IVC (students).

No requests for reports
No discussion items tonight.
Nothing pulled from consent calendar! Passes unanimously.
Jemal: "I guess we're doing something right."

GENERAL ACTION ITEMS:

6.1 - Board Policy subcommittee (three board members). Lang: all board policies or only those concerning the board? Wants to be careful about not micromanaging. Prendergast: we don't feel enough involved in policies. Lang: seeking clarity. Jemal: explanatory comment by Chancellor. Especially those policies that directly involve us (board members). It'll go through the usual channels, discussed openly. Prendergast: want to be more active, but no micromanaging. Want a little bit more involvement in the process. Jemal: yes, we can participate. Lang: sounds to me like this thing "is not fully cooked yet." "My opinion." We haven't fully thought this out. Prendergast agrees. So let's wait until next month. Alludes to "reorg in December." The motion to table. Whitt: I don't have a problem with this. Prendergast and Jemal disagree about meaning of this item. Lang: needs to be more restrictive role. Jemal: "I think it's clear and long overdue." Milchiker: lets table it "just to be collegial." Jemal: we shouldn't be involved in the AR, just the policy. We wrote very prescriptive policies in the past, Want to get away from that,. TABLED - unanimously.
6.2 - Board of Trustee goals. Chancellor Burke: drafted at the retreat. Took them then to district wide planning committee. Blah blah blah. Goal 2 a little too ambitious? (7-8% more reasonable.)
     Prendergast: some of these goals came from the state. The state number was much lower. Blah blah blah.

     Milchiker: usually we have wishy-washy goals. These are "so measurable." "We're already up there [our colleges' rates]; I don't mind increasing the percentage."
     Wright: what are our transfer rates right now? For all colleges? "I don't have that at hand."
     Milchiker: IVC is #1 in CAl.
     Lang: I think this requires a little bit more work on our part (the goals). This needs a little bit more work. Let's bring it back. Couple of comments: a typo. Would change such-and-such.... blah blah blah.
     Prendergast: we worked these out at retreat.
     Jemal: asks the Chancellor to weigh in. Do we need to work further on this? Chance: no. "I don't believe so." Let's move this forward.
     Prendergast: No heads will roll if we don't meat these goals. Just goals.
     Jemal: Chancellor has pointed out that our goals have been 'less than measurable" in recent years. Tying her goals to our goals.
     Lang: I like that they're measurable. Are they achievable? Maybe not realistic. Some of these could be worded better.
     They commence wordsmithing, such as they do. Sheesh. Lang says he doesn't want to spend the night wordsmithing this thing.
     This board reminds me of a set of lead balls connected with twine, flying in several directions through empty space.
     I dunno what they did in the end. I lost interest. I guess they approved the goals.
6.3 - IVC Barranca entrance. — they vote.
6.4 - More about the entrance/easement.
6.5 - IVC awarded $2 million.
6.6 - ... Not very interesting.
. . .
6.9 - Study Abroad, Oxford, AOK
. . .
6.12 - $783 k for temporary fencing at ATEP!
. . .
6.15 - BOARD POLICY REVISION.
. . .
6.19 - One-time stipends for faculty, conversion to Canvas. Jemal: how much longer will we be paying out these stipends. Answer: another two years. Jemal: this will be coming back every meeting? Yes, We've only paid out 1.4 million as yet. Apparently, IVC converted before there was any stipend. IVC faculty can ask for it now. Jemal seemed pissed about it. —Only Lang votes no.
. . .
6.22 - Public hearing, district initial proposal (contract) CSEA.
    Public can comment. OPEN. Public comments? No desire for public comments. Closed.
6.23 - student discipline at IVC. Prendergast: disciplinary hearing, expulsion of student. (Don't know if this is the kid with the knife.) Unanimous.
6.24 - Student petition from Saddleback Student. Denied for reinstatement pursuing degree program. Approved unanimously,
6.25 - Police Officers Association tentative agreement. Approval unanimous.

REPORTS:
BLAH BLAH BLAH (Went through these quickly; no actions)

Reports from administrative and governance groups:

SC Academic Senate - Saddened by recent events, etc.
Faculty Association (union): Kurt Meyer: "we're the faculty" shirt worn. It takes a village to teach a student, etc. We're most central and most vital to our educational mission, etc.  We comprise 1000 part-time faculty. Very encouraged: negotiating teams have come to agreement on salary tonight. 
But let's be better. Let's move to 75% full-time faculty.
Jemal: "very nice statement."
IVC Ac Senate: busy this semester. Congrats to negotiating teams. We're trying to get to the bottom of "defaced fliers" and swastikas.
Etc.
The new Human Sources person sounds sharp.
Somebody said something about a bake sale. That's it for me.

13 days and counting...

Our diverse campus at the student walkout for gun control last March. 

13 days after the first swastika appeared at the little college in the orange groves, denizens of Irvine Valley College received an unusual email this morning from the Irvine City Police department:

Sunday October 8, 2018
11:50 AM

Dear IVC Community,

The Irvine Police Department has been made aware of recent incidents of graffiti vandalism on campus, as well as the defacing of college club fliers. IPD is working closely with the Irvine Valley College Police Department to thoroughly investigate these incidents. The Irvine Police Department has long supported IVC campus police in the goal of providing a safe campus for students, staff and visitors. As partners in law enforcement, IPD provides additional resources in support of campus police whenever we are called upon, including these recent incidents.

The Irvine Police Department stands with President Roquemore, the Irvine Valley College Administration, Chief Meyer and IVC campus police in condemning any acts of vandalism or defacement on campus, especially those that may appear to be directed at specific groups. We recognize that Irvine Valley College is committed to providing an academic and work environment that respects the dignity of all individuals in the spirit of a diverse, vibrant and all-inclusive campus community.

I am committed to continuing IPD’s close collaboration with IVC campus police to maintain the highest levels of safety on campus. Remember that we rely on you, the members of the IVC community, to be our eyes and ears on campus. If you see something suspicious, please immediately report it to campus police at 949-451-5234. You can also call the Irvine Police Department at 949-724-7000. In an emergency, always dial 9-1-1.

The Irvine Police Department and IVC campus police will provide updates on these incidents in the event of any new developments that we are able to share. If you have further concerns about this case and wish to communicate with IPD directly, please contact Operations Commander Noelle Smiley at 949-724-7025 or nsmiley@cityofirvine.org.

Please rest assured that while these recent incidents are disturbing, we are not aware of any imminent danger to the IVC community or the City as a result of this activity.

Yours in partnership,
Chief Mike Hamel
Irvine Police Department

IVC commencement 2015.

This email appears to have been prompted by the efforts of concerned Irvine city councilperson Melissa Fox. From blog:

Irvine Police Respond Quickly to Anti-Semitic Graffiti and Other Hate Vandalism at Irvine Valley College

Members of the Rise Above Movement (RAM) in action. RAM trains in the Agua Chinon Wash, about two miles from our campus and at municipal parks in San Clemente.

While it's good to hear from the Irvine PD and city councilperson Fox, Rebel Girl wonders where our own college leaders are on this. Chief Hamel says that he stands with President Roquemore but the college has not heard from the college president. At last Monday's Student Equity meeting (10/22/18), the college PIO assured attendees that she was "working on something" in response to these events.

But how long does it take to denounce in no uncertain terms the appearance of swastikas at a public education institution?

Too long apparently.

Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Meanwhile Rebel Girl has filed reports with the Orange County Human Relations Council, the Southern Poverty Law Center and The Anti-Defamation League.

What's he waiting for?

*

The Nothing that is Done: Swastikas come to IVC!

How they handle it in Granada, Spain.

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill

Loyal readers of IVC's scintillating Crime Blotter will have noticed twin entries last week:

​October 15, 1345 hours: Campus police responded to the B200 building men's restroom in reference to a report of graffiti in the bathroom (two swastika's drawn on the stall door). Investigation is ongoing.

October 17, 1330 hours: Maintenance worker made a late report of graffiti found in men's restroom in the A200 building. Graffiti described as two swastika's written on bathroom stall wall. Investigation is ongoing.

The appearance of the Nazi party symbols should not surprise people who have been paying attention of a series of acts of aggression on campus though it is difficult to pay attention when the college lacks any reliable conduit of communication beyond the cheerful avalanche of emails that await us all. Though, for be fair, news of the swastikas or vandalized fliers or (add your outrage here) would be a challenge to incorporate into a cheerful email.

Nor should the appearance of the swastikas shock those who have been following the resurgence of white supremacists and neo-Nazis across the country and, yes, right here in Orange County.

In August, PBS' Frontline along with ProPublica released Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, an investigation into the 2017 Unite the Right rally.  It doesn't take long to the film to move from Virginia to Orange County, to recent events in Anaheim and Huntington Beach - then to to Irvine.  Click the link above at 22:53 minute mark and you'll see footage that looks awfully familiar.

In these excerpts, reporter A.C. Thompson talks with Chapman university professor Peter Simi as they visit training areas, both of them quite close to IVC and Saddleback:

A.C. THOMPSON:

Using clues from RAM’s [Rise Above Movement] propaganda videos, I manage to locate one of their training spots. Just off the 405 outside of Irvine, we find RAM’s graffiti tags hidden inside drainage tunnels....Sociologist Pete Simi has studied white supremacists for decades. His field research takes him inside dozens of racist groups across the country...what do you make of this?

PETE SIMI: You’ve got the Celtic cross. It’s one of the most widely utilized tattoos among white supremacists. And then it’s interesting because you get then this phrase here – “kill your local drug dealer” – which taps into what’s right above the, the straight edge, the three X, triple Xs, this notion of living a clean life and being very kind of puritanical almost.

A.C. THOMPSON: Right.

PETE SIMI: They felt like they were doing like a vigilante-type work. They were cleaning up the streets.

A.C. THOMPSON: Like the white supremacists who came before them, Simi says that RAM members present themselves as defenders of traditional white culture. We visit Marblehead Park in San Clemente where they film training videos that celebrate personal fitness, the warrior spirit and political street fighting.

PETE SIMI: What they're trying to sell is this idea that we need to go back to a, a more traditional time, you know, traditional masculinity. When they blend in these fight scenes, that's also this idea of being not only just fit and living a pure life, but also being a warrior of sorts. And so you could imagine a, you know, 16-, 17-year-old white male watching these videos and being somewhat moved by them or attracted to them in some case.

A.C. THOMPSON: It looks like it's a small group, it's a fringe group. Why are they important? And, and what do you think?

PETE SIMI: Well, first you, know, the first thing is we just want to strictly talk about violence. Small groups can do as much if not more destruction than large groups. You have, for instance, the Oklahoma City bombing. Relatively small group there that, you know, ultimately pulled off, at the time, the largest act of domestic terrorism prior to 9/11. So, so you know, an, an act of violence can certainly be committed by a small fringe group.

A.C. THOMPSON:  By a small group.

PETE SIMI: And then I think, yeah, they might be kind of a small fringe group but the best, most sophisticated white supremacist is the, the one who appears the least visible. They're not out there wearing uniforms that are going to be really visible. They're not getting tattoos all over their face. You know, they're, they're blending in in a lot of different ways, including the issues they're concerned about. The issue of immigration, which has been a real hot-button issue – white supremacists can seize on that issue and say look, there's an invasion and America’s under siege. Then they have the potential to recruit among a much broader swath of the population than we often are willing to admit or recognize.

So yeah. They're here. "Emboldened" is the word people are using. The neo-Nazis and white supremacists among us are emboldened.  They are emboldened by a president in the White House who proudly calls himself a nationalist.



And they are emboldened by his supporters who cheer.

And they are emboldened by silence in the face of swastikas. 

An official silence that runs deep.

Shame.

Nazis in our bonnet: the far right at the SOCCCD

• Our tenuous "connection" to the (alleged) National Holocaust Museum shooter (DtB, 6-11-09)
• HANGIN' WITH BIGWIG REPUBLICANS WHILE NAZIS HIDE IN BUSHES by Chunk (From Dissent 9, 9-28-98)
• A MOTLEY CREW OF NAZIS VS. JDL THUGS: OH, WHAT A NIGHT! by Chunk Wheeler (Dissent, 6-21-98)
• FROGUE'S "SCHOLAR" HINTS AT VIOLENCE (From Dissent 4, 3-27-98)
• NIGHT OF THE NAZI by Chunk Wheeler (1-20-98)
• TO CONCERNED UNIONISTS: FROGUE DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST THE CHARGE THAT HE IS A HOLOCAUST DENIER (Frogue defends himself against charges, 10-6-96)
• IS TRUSTEE STEVEN FROGUE A HOLOCAUST DENIER? (Dissent, 3-23-95)

suckage obtains

     Yes, at yesterday's IVC Academic Senate, one senator reported witnessing someone (I believe) drawing a Swastika on a bathroom door or some such. There was much discussion about that and about other somewhat related security issues on campus.
     All seemed to agree that Prez Glenn Roquemore is an idiot.
     The general impression left by the meeting is that no one is in charge of the college, many people are angry or disgruntled, and, well, suckage generally obtains.

Anonymous said...
What Roy said.
     --8:51 PM, October 19, 2018

Anonymous said...
Not only is there no way to communicate to the college at large and especially the students in any effective way (I had a counselor come into my class the other day and he acknowledged to the students that he knows they don't read the avalanche of emails they receive: "I know," he said, "I see it when you're in my office and we open up your MySite and your email - nothing has been read." - they all laughed) but they don't even know WHO the president is. He has the office but he lack the authority. Why would they listen to him even if he cared enough to say anything to anyone ever? Swastikas!
     --9:02 PM, October 19, 2018

Anonymous said...
They don't respond not only because there is no practical way for them to respond but also because they don't care. They will use the excuse that they don't want to bring attention to such behavior and attitudes but truly, the failure to speak out emboldens those to do such things and the failure to speak out hurts further the people these actions target. It tells them they don't matter.
     --7:20 PM, October 20, 2018

Anonymous said...
Glenn is an idiot but somehow stays in his job. Discouraging! Imagine what the college would be like with someone good in that seat.
     --6:44 PM, October 22, 2018

Trust teachers. We know.

Gabby Giffords and husband Mark Kelly at UCI's Langston Library, Saturday October 13

Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords came to town last weekend which inspired Rebel Girl to revisit the Tucson shooting of 2011.

Seven years ago, in the wake of the shooting that targeted Giffords, took six lives and wounded more than a dozen, Timothy Noah asked a question many have been asking lately, "What does a kid have to do these days to get kicked out of community college?" The shooter was Pima Community College student Jared Lee Loughner whose educational experience was reviewed in Noah's Slate article "Class Clown: Why was it so hard to kick Loughner out of Pima Community College?"

excerpt:

Loughner wasn’t just inexplicably difficult to remove from Pima; he was even more inexplicably difficult to remove from Ben McGahee’s algebra class at Pima. McGahee told the Washington Post that he had to complain repeatedly to Pima administrators about Loughner’s disruptions before they let him kick Loughner out of the class. On the first day, McGahee said, Loughner yelled “How can you deny math instead of accepting it?” That same day a student in the class complained about Loughner in an e-mail to a friend: “I’m not certain yet if he was on drugs (as one person surmised) or disturbed. He scares me a bit. The teacher tried to throw him out and he refused to go.” Nine days later this student wrote in an e-mail: “Until he does something bad, you can’t do anything about him. Needless to say, I sit by the door.” Four days later the student wrote that Loughner “scares the living crap out of me.” It was three or four weeks before McGahee was permitted to remove Loughner from class. McGahee told the Post that when he first complained, “They just said, ‘Well, he hasn’t taken any action to hurt anyone. He hasn’t provoked anybody. He hasn’t brought any weapons to class.’ ” Meanwhile, McGahee said that whenever he turned “to write on the board, I would always turn back quickly—to see if he had a gun.”

It's complicated, for sure, balancing rights and responsibilities but it can't be that complicated. It can't be.

Perhaps we need a new movement: Trust teachers. We know.

*

Friday: stay

Can Student Newspapers Make Campuses Safer?

Recently a colleague of Rebel Girl's was intercepted on her way to class by an administrator who had some important news: a student in the class she was about to teach had been charged with harassing other students at a nearby campus.The remarks made to the other students were racial in nature and the student was seen as a threat, removed from campus and was facing disciplinary action. The professor was advised to be aware and to call campus security if needed.

We are often told that we as faculty and staff cannot be be made aware of a student's previous or ongoing conduct issues - so why was this administrator able to inform this professor of a possible threat in her classroom?

Because, the professor was told, the conduct was public - published in Fullerton College's student newspaper, The Hornet.

Here's The Hornet's coverage of the initial incident:
FC student shares firsthand experience about recent harassment on campus that’s currently going viral

And its aftermath:

FC student to undergo a student conduct process after verbally harassing other students

Rebel Girl, intrepid sleuth, also discovered that the student in question was not only enrolled at IVC this semester - but also during the previous summer session when, according to a student, he was removed from class by police for disruptive aggressive behavior toward other students. Rebel Girl tried to verify the summer incident through the IVC Crime Blotter but found no evidence. It could be that such removals from classroom are not tracked (and perhaps don't have to be) on the Crime Blotter. 

There's more to say here, of course, there always is, but it's Friday and there's other work to do, there always is, and loyal Dissent readers know how to connect the dots by now and what the picture shows. It's a familiar picture.

Fullerton College has been served by The Hornet since 1922.

Of course a student newspaper does more than report news items related to campus security; such publications also promote athletic programs and their achievements, theatrical productions, concerts, academic programs and campus events such as Banned Books Week (IVC recently hosted a similar event).

Renewed interest in campus safety might also include a robust discussion about how a revived journalism program and student newspaper (online and/or print) might serve the cause of security - and the needs of our larger campus community.

Please notice how The Hornet keeps the Fullerton College campus community informed and safer - and hey, just this once, keeps us at IVC safer too.

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: "all of the clocks strike NO"

my dream about time 

BY LUCILLE CLIFTON

a woman unlike myself is running

down the long hall of a lifeless house

with too many windows which open on

a world she has no language for,

running and running until she reaches

at last the one and only door

which she pulls open to find each wall

is faced with clocks and as she watches

all of the clocks strike

                                             NO

*

To hear Clifton read this poem, click here. 

Saddleback student's killer sentenced to death

Robbin Brandley, Saddleback student

When Rebel Girl first came to Orange County as a grad student in the late 80s, the brutal murder of Robbin Brandley was still in the news as the killer had not yet been caught. Brandley was a 23- year-old Saddleback college student, a journalism major who also worked at the campus radio station KSBR. On January 18, 1986 she was a volunteer usher at an evening jazz piano concert. She was found stabbed 41 times at 10:30 PM in Saddleback College Lot 12.

As it turns out, her murder was the first of five that would be committed between 1986 and 1995 by a serial killer, then a marine at Camp Pendleton.

From last week's October 5, 2018 issue of the LA Times:

Serial killer convicted in murders of five Southern California women is sentenced to death

A former Marine convicted of brutally slaying five women in Southern California and three in Illinois over the course of a decade was sentenced to death Friday.

An Orange County Superior Court jury convicted Andrew Urdiales, 54, in May of five counts of special-circumstances murder, which prompted a second phase of the trial to determine whether he should serve life behind bars or face the death penalty.

Jurors ultimately recommended in June that he receive capital punishment for killing Robbin Brandley, Julie McGhee, Maryann Wells, Tammie Erwin and Denise Maney between 1986 and 1995. Judge Gregg Prickett affirmed that recommendation on Friday.

The original LA Times article:
Student, 23, Slain in Campus Parking Lot : Woman Found Fatally Stabbed After Leaving Saddleback Concert

Check out Nick Schou's excellent coverage of the case some years back in the OC Weekly (which also appeared in The Best American Crime Reporting 2018) : Just a Random Female

The grisly murder would remain unsolved for 11 years. Witnesses offered inconsistent accounts of events in the hours preceding the crime; Brandley's parents became convinced that someone she knew was responsible for the killing. Then, in April 1997, a man confessed to the murder—and several others. The cop writing down his confession would note that the killer had simply wandered around Mission Viejo until he ended up at a dark parking lot, where he saw a woman walking to her car.

The victim, in the words of the confessed murderer, “could have been anybody.” She “was just a random female.”

Robbin's murder inspired 1990 legislation:
1986 Murder in Dark Lot Spurs Campus Lighting Bill

excerpt:

...Reilley said Saddleback College has been at particularly high risk because of its location amid hills where shrubbery can conceal an attacker.

The year before Brandley's death, another Saddleback student was attacked on campus. In April, 1985, a 25-year-old student was abducted from a different parking lot by two men who beat her over the head, stripped her, then dumped her naked, but alive, about six hours later on a freeway off-ramp. Since Brandley's death, at least three other women have reported being sexually assaulted there....

The Brandley family maintains this blog about Robbin:
Who Murdered Robbin Brandley

Recently Rebel Girl has thought about Robbin, and not just because the jury conviction of her killer in May of this year brought her name back into the headlines. She came across Robbin's name in a document she received a few weeks ago which closes with a long paragraph that is a litany of 15 former students who variously were convicted of violent behavior and/or were victims of assaults or died under suspicious circumstances. It was a disturbing list, especially if you have a long memory, but perhaps much less so if you don't.

The most high profile one of these was Robbin Brandley.

Rebel Girl imagines that not enough people working in the district now would recall her name or remember the case. After all, it happened a long time ago, 32 years now, about the time the person who wrote the document started attending the college. 

Robbin Brandley

*

Can you hear the laughter?

In A-200 today.

Leahy: Well, then, let’s go back to the incident. What is the strongest memory you have, the strongest memory of the incident, something that you cannot forget? Take whatever time you need.

Ford: Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the laugh — the uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense.

Leahy: You’ve never forgotten that laughter. You’ve never forgotten them laughing at you.

Ford: They were laughing with each other.

Leahy: And you were the object of the laughter?

Ford: I was, you know, underneath one of them while the two laughed, two friend — two friends having a really good time with one another.

*

Another Trumpian rat bastard (behold the hypocrisy!)

DEVIN NUNES’S FAMILY FARM IS HIDING A POLITICALLY EXPLOSIVE SECRET
BY RYAN LIZZA (Esquire)

     Devin Nunes has a secret. Nunes is the California Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has become famous in the Trump era for using his position as a battering ram to discredit the Russia investigation and protect Donald Trump at all costs, even if it means shredding his own reputation and the independence of the historically nonpartisan committee in the process.
. . .
     Nunes grew up in a family of dairy farmers in Tulare, California, and as long as he has been in politics, his family dairy has been central to his identity and a feature of every major political profile written about him. A March story in National Review is emblematic. It describes how Nunes’s family emigrated from the Azores in Portugal to California’s Central Valley, “a fertile, sunny Eden,” and how the family “worked and saved enough money to buy a 640-acre farm outside Tulare.” The soil of the Central Valley is depicted as almost sacred in these articles. National Review quotes a 1912 Portuguese immigrant farmer who wrote that when he grabs a clump of dirt, “I feel as if I had just shaken hands with all my ancestors.” As recently as July 27, the lead of a Wall Street Journal editorial-page piece about Nunes, which featured a Tulare dateline, emphasized the dairy: “It’s 105 degrees as I stand with Rep. Devin Nunes on his family’s dairy farm.” Last year, Nunes noted in an interview with the Daily Beast—headline: “The Dairy Farmer Overseeing U. S. Spies and the Russia Hack Investigation”—“I’m pretty simple. I like agriculture.” The Daily Beast noted, “The cows are not far from his mind. He keeps in regular contact with his brother and father about their dairy farm.”

     So here’s the secret: The Nunes family dairy of political lore—the one where his brother and parents work—isn’t in California. It’s in Iowa. Devin; his brother, Anthony III; and his parents, Anthony Jr. and Toni Dian, sold their California farmland in 2006. Anthony Jr. and Toni Dian, who has also been the treasurer of every one of Devin’s campaigns since 2001, used their cash from the sale to buy a dairy eighteen hundred miles away in Sibley, a small town in northwest Iowa where they—as well as Anthony III, Devin’s only sibling, and his wife, Lori—have lived since 2007. Devin’s uncle Gerald still owns a dairy back in Tulare, which is presumably where The Wall Street Journal’s reporter talked to Devin, and Devin is an investor in a Napa Valley winery, Alpha Omega, but his immediate family’s farm—as well as his family—is long gone.
. . .
     Other dairy farmers in the area [Sibley, Iowa] helped me understand why the Nunes family might be so secretive about the farm: Midwestern dairies tend to run on undocumented labor.
. . .
     In the heart of [Trump supporter] Steve King’s district, a place that is more pro-Trump than almost any other patch of America, the economy is powered by workers that King and Trump have threatened to arrest and deport….