9-30: An especially stressful time for Dreamers; SoCal held back; it's all about young people

✅OC’s Reopening Restrictions Continue After Labor Day Coronavirus Case Bump 

—Voice of OC 

     A host of businesses and churches across Orange County won’t be able to let more people indoors this week because local coronavirus infections went up. 

✅Orange County remains on state’s red tier for coronavirus restrictions because of bump in case rates 

—OC Reg 

✅Debate Prompts Shock, Despair and, in China, Glee 

—NYT 

     The chaos of the event has left allies and rivals alike questioning the state of American democracy and the country’s place on the global stage. 

✅As colleges reopened, many more young people got covid-19, CDC reports 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that cases had risen nationally among people 18 to 22 years old between Aug. 2 and Sept. 5. 

—WashPo 

✅New Push for a Shift in Promotion and Tenure 

Should innovation and entrepreneurial achievement be considered as part of teaching, research and service? 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Academics from 67 universities nationally have unanimously voted to approve a set of recommendations for recognizing innovation and entrepreneurial achievements among the criteria for higher education faculty promotion and tenure. 

     The proposal is not to add a fourth prong to the traditional three of teaching, research and service. Rather, it is to place innovation and entrepreneurship within the three prongs. 

     In addition, the proposal aims to be noncontroversial by saying that colleges and universities could let faculty members decide whether to be evaluated on that basis. But judging from the reaction of the American Association of University Professors, which was not consulted on the proposal, there is a controversy....

Good Lord!

✅An Especially Stressful Time for Dreamers 

Survey of undocumented college students finds high level of anxiety around finances and the students' legal status. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     …“The survey from TheDream.US found that 70 percent of respondents are “more” (32 percent) or “much more” (38 percent) anxious about their legal status since the start of the pandemic. More than half -- 55 percent -- see their legal status as a “very” or “extremely” significant barrier to achieving their long-term goals, compared to 44 percent in the previous year’s version of the survey.” …. 

✅CDC Cites Rise in Young Adults With COVID-19 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The number of young adults with COVID-19 rose by 55 percent from early August to early September, as most colleges were bringing students back to their campuses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report published Tuesday. 

✅Coronavirus outbreak at Cal State Long Beach grows to 17 cases -- Officials first announced Saturday, Sept. 26, that five cases had been identified and that all on-campus students would be quarantined. The university also announced that all in-person instruction will be paused for two weeks while officials perform contact tracing. Hayley Munguia in the Orange County Register -- 9/30/20 

✅With most California college campuses virtual this year, a select few are in-person -- Most California university and college courses are virtual this fall, but a small number are still happening in-person, in ways that are different from anything normal. Ashley A. Smith EdSource -- 9/30/20 

✅California’s community colleges address student-faculty diversity gap -- California’s 116 community colleges should prioritize increasing diversity in their faculty to create a more inclusive and equitable learning environment, leaders from across the community college system said Tuesday. Michael Burke EdSource -- 9/30/20 

✅Coronavirus infections among school-age kids rose in the summer, CDC says -- Keen to send the nation’s kids back to reopened schools, President Trump has called children “virtually immune,” “essentially immune” and “almost immune” to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. But a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscores how wrong those assertions are. Melissa Healy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/29/20 

✅Poll shows Californians give Newsom high marks on COVID-19, low marks on addressing homelessness -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic helped put him in such good graces with California voters that his approval rating is among the highest of any governor in the past 50 years at the same point in their first term, according to a new poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/29/20

9-29: likely a Third COVID-19 surge is coming; the GOP ♥️ QAnon; Cal to make its own insulin?; students clam up about politics

✅A Perception Problem About Free Speech 

A new report finds a majority of students feel they can't express their opinions on campus, especially when they are in the ideological minority and even if they believe their college fosters a climate that supports free speech. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Sixty percent of students have at one point felt they couldn’t express an opinion on campus because they feared how other students, professors or college administrators would respond, according to a survey report published Tuesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, a campus civil liberties watchdog group, and RealClearEducation, an online news service. The survey of 19,969 undergraduate students from 55 colleges and universities was administered from April to May by College Pulse, a research company…. 

✅More than Half of College Students Self-Censor When Race and Other Tough Topics Come Up, Survey Finds 

—CHE 

✅OC Police Watchdog Announces Planned Probe into San Clemente Deputy Shooting of Homeless Black Man 

—Voice of OC 

     The deputy shooting death of Kurt Reinhold will be investigated by the Office of Independent Review. The Orange County Sheriff's Dept. and District Attorney's office will conduct their own probes. 

✅As OC Gears Up for More Reopenings, State Officials Warn Coronavirus is Starting to Spread More 

—Voice of OC 

     Orange County could move as early as tomorrow into the third tier of the state’s coronavirus guidelines, which means more businesses could reopen and some restrictions limiting the number of people indoors could be lifted. 

     Meanwhile, state officials are warning that a potential second wave looms. Gov. Gavin Newsom said there’s signs the virus is beginning to spread faster after it showed a decrease statewide. 

      “If we’re not cautious, we’re not vigilant, we’re not wearing our masks … these numbers can start to tick back up,” Newsom said at a Monday news conference…. 

✅The California Republican Party endorsed three candidates who say QAnon theories should be heard -- For years, the falsehoods of the QAnon movement lived on the fringes of the internet. It was a collection of conspiracy theories aimed at exposing a supposed deep-state cabal of pedophiles. Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/29/20 

✅New law paves way for California to make its own insulin, generic drugs in effort to lower costs -- California could make its own insulin and other prescription drugs in an effort to lower costs under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he signed into law Monday. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/29/20 

✅Is A Third COVID-19 Surge Coming? Experts Say It’s Likely, Unless Behaviors Change -- After spring and summer brought persistent surges in COVID-19 cases, California’s rates appear to be on the decline for the fall. But as businesses reopen with modifications, some children go back to school and the weather slowly cools, health experts have a uniform message: It’s not over. Sammy Caiola Capital Public Radio Adam Beam Associated Press -- 9/29/20 

✅As some push for faster COVID-19 reopenings, Newsom warns of a possible second wave -- By practically every metric, California is steadily beating back the coronavirus pandemic. But officials are watching data that could suggest a second surge of the virus is on the way, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/29/20 

✅‘Zoom Out’ protests against distance learning planned this week -- The protest calls for families to inform schools of their participation in the “Zoom Out,” request homework for students and log off distance learning online platforms, said Syndie Ly, an organizer with Reopen California Schools and a parent of four boys in the Tustin Unified School District. Dan Albano in the Orange County Register -- 9/29/20 

✅Colleges: Financial Toll of Coronavirus Worse Than Anticipated 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The coronavirus pandemic has taken an even deeper financial toll on colleges and universities than expected, said associations representing two- and four-year institutions. In a letter to House of Representatives leaders, the groups nearly tripled the amount of help they say is needed from Congress in another aid package, to at least $120 billion. 

✅More Doctoral Programs Suspend Admissions. That Could Have Lasting Effects on Graduate Education. 

—CHE 

Many departments are opting to focus funding on current students rather than bringing in a new cohort next fall.

9-28: when the President is a fraud and the system is rotten

My advice? Think about something nice

✅Views differ on why protester drove through Yorba Linda crowd -- Different views emerged Sunday on why a 40-year-old Long Beach woman drove through a crowd during a heated demonstration in Yorba Linda on Saturday, badly injuring a man and woman. Anthony Bryson, who helped the driver, Tatiana Turner, plan a protest against police brutality, said an angry mob had surrounded Turner and wouldn’t let her leave the parking lot. Richard K. De Atley in the Orange County Register -- 9/28/20 

✅Trump’s tax revelation could tarnish image that fueled rise -- The bombshell revelations that President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for office and paid no income taxes at all in many others threaten to undercut a pillar of his appeal among blue-collar voters and provide a new opening for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, on the eve of the first presidential debate. Jill Colvin Associated Press -- 9/28/20 

✅Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance -- Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made. Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire in the New York Times$ -- 9/28/20 

✅Trump’s taxes show why he is desperate to stay in office 

Opinion by Max Boot 

—WashPo 

This is nice. And old.

✅John Oliver offers bleak outlook on America’s political future: ‘The system is already rigged’ 

—WashPo 

✅Campus life sans Covid: A few colleges write the playbook for pandemic success 

Schools finding success are deploying methods health experts have recommended for months for the whole country to keep the virus under control.

—Politico 

✅A Supreme Court Shift to the Right 

Amy Coney Barrett, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, could have a sweeping impact on colleges and universities. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

✅‘University of California Admissions Disgrace’ 

New revelations emerge about attempts to get students into Berkeley. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

✅Ex-School Employee Admits She Aided Cheating on SAT, ACT 

—Inside Higher Ed

     Niki D. Williams, a former employee of the Houston Independent School District, pleaded guilty Friday to accepting bribes so people could cheat the SAT and ACT. She pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and honest services wire fraud and mail fraud.

Peggy Hall "sets the record straight" about the recent gun brouhaha with her

doctor friend and his odd decision to pull out a gun to discuss "personal safety"

9-27: Scientists estimate we will face a health emergency at least once every five years.

The next pandemic is on its way. Coronavirus must help us prepare for it 

—Guardian UK 

Sally Davies [Sally Davies is a former chief medical officer for England] 

Scientists estimate we will face a health emergency at least once every five years. Our new initiative seeks a better response      

     We are at a crossroads. As the impacts of Covid-19 continue the world over and the second wave moves through Europe, we have a choice to make. Will we simply respond to the here and now, or do we take a moment to stop, look up and see beyond the horizon of this pandemic towards the next one? 

     Because there will be a next one. Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last health emergency we will face. My fellow scientists estimate that we will face a pandemic or health emergency at least once every five years from here on. There is a chance that this is the optimistic scenario. The reality could be far worse....

From Rough&Tumble:

Maude Adams and Ethel Barry-

more, New York, ca. 1897 (?)

✅Driver arrested for attempted murder at Yorba Linda protest against police brutality -- A woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after driving her car into a crowd during a demonstration in Yorba Linda involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators, authorities said. Deborah Netburn in the Los Angeles Times$ Brian Rokos, Eric Licas in the Orange County Register -- 9/27/20 

✅Cal State Long Beach in lockdown after five students test positive for the coronavirus -- Just 33 days after fall classes began at Cal State Long Beach, the campus has been locked down because five students tested positive for the coronavirus, university President Jane Close Conoley announced Saturday. Maria L. La Ganga in the Los Angeles Times$ Nathaniel Percy in the Orange County Register -- 9/27/20 

✅Coronavirus takes wrenching toll on Orange County Latinos who have no choice but to work -- As the coronavirus swept through Orange County this summer, Huntington Beach became a national flashpoint because many residents and visitors refused to wear masks, and its streets saw several big protests opposing California’s stay-at-home order. Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Cindy Carcamo, Soudi Jiménez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/27/20 

✅Faculty sharply question Adela de la Torre’s handling of SDSU’s COVID-19 crisis -- Professors say she has shown poor judgment and failed to deeply involve the faculty in running SDSU. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/26/20

SOCCCD: a confrontation over authority between the faculty and the board

The Academic Senates have recently run into a problem with the evidently clueless SOCCCD Board of Trustees. It's the kind of problem that generated a lawsuit against the district nearly twenty years ago—a lawsuit that the Academic Senate won and the Board lost.

The problem is that the Board is disinclined to grant the faculty authority to select and invite guest speakers. The Board of Trustees (BoT) insists that it and it alone can approve guest speakers.

Hey, not according to the rules.

As I said, we've been here before. The last time the faculty drew a line in the sand over lines of authority—and went to court—concerned the issue of developing (faculty) hiring procedures. According to an Ed Code statute, such procedures must be agreed to jointly by the Academic Senate(s) and the Board.

The Board saw the matter differently; on specious grounds, they claimed unilateral authority.

Here's the story:

What follows is from Dissent: 

The Academic Senate sue the district (and win)

[UPSHOT: the Chancellor/Board essentially unilaterally changed the district's full-time faculty hiring policy despite a statute according to which the Academic Senate (i.e., the faculty) has important rights in the development of such policies. In the end (2005), faculty entirely PREVAILED.]

Part 1: From Dissent 66, Oct. 7, 2002

LEGAL STORMS BREWING 

I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks.  —Coleridge

Intervention sought: During an August meeting of the IVC Academic Senate, it was suggested that, given the Chancellor & Board’s exclusion of the Academic Senate from governance, there really is no point in continuing. It was suggested, too, that the Senate might better devote its energies to seeking redress in the courts. 

* * *
On September 12, the exec. cabinet of the IVC Academic Senate sent a letter to State Chancellor Nussbaum, seeking his “intervention” “to secure rights granted to local senates under Title 5” of the Ed Code. The letter cited four examples of the Board’s many actions in violation of “law, policy and process.” The first concerned the Board’s action (Fall 2000) to revise BP6120 (academic freedom), despite objections from the senates. Example 2 was the Board’s adoption (12/01) of a revision of BP5604 (eligibility for admission) despite “vehement” senate objections. Example 3 was the Board’s decision (2/02) to unilaterally revise BP 2100.1 (delegation of authority to academic senates), despite the policy’s explicitly prohibiting such action.

The fourth and most recent example concerned “revisions to District hiring policies,” including revisions to the Full-Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy, developed over the summer by Chancellor [Raghu P.] Mathur. These revisions, said the letter, “are rife with numerous individual violations of law, policy and good practice.” Despite Title 5, “At no time were any of the governance groups on either campus invited to participate, or even alerted to the existence of the committee.” Further, governance groups were given only 8 days to provide “input.” 

* * *

The Senate’s letter yielded a response—a letter discovered belatedly, and already opened, in the senate president’s mail box! Dated Sept. 16, the letter, from Ralph Black, attorney for the State Chancellor’s Office, requested further info to determine whether his involvement “would be warranted.” Black offers a jurisdictional point: “Unless faculty hiring is listed as an ‘academic and professional matter’ under the SOCCCD shared governance policy..., faculty hiring does not fall under the jurisdiction of [the Board of Governors’] regulations.” (More on this later.)

On Sept. 25th, Mathur emailed the Saddleback Academic Senate, suggesting that he is under no obligation to consult the Academic Senates regarding modifications of the hiring policy. To support this odd view, he cited Black’s letter and its point about jurisdiction, but he ignored Black’s remark, in the same letter, that Faculty hiring procedures are covered by [the] Education Code..., which requires that “hiring criteria, policies, and procedures for new faculty members shall be developed and agreed upon jointly by representatives of the governing board, and the academic senate….” (Ralph Black) 

Late in 1993, the Board approved a “Full Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy” that makes clear that the hiring policy can be changed only upon mutual agreement between the district and the faculty senates. This, of course, is the crucial “further information” that Ralph Black needs and will soon receive. 

* * *
Budget development, of course, is plainly listed among the academic and professional matters of the district’s “shared governance” policy (2100.1). Hence, a failure to consult with the academic senate regarding budget development would be a violation of “shared governance”—one that clearly does fall under Black’s jurisdiction. Mr. Black will be interested to learn that, at IVC, the senate has been excluded from the budget development process for years.

Chancellor Sampson

Part 2: From Dissent 67, April 14, 2003 

[“Kurt Bozny” was one of Roy's alter-egos, like "Chunk" and "Bill," "Van Traven," et al.]

According to a statute, faculty hiring policies are to be “mutually” agreed upon by the district (i.e., the board) and the faculty (i.e., the academic senates). 

During the Summer of 2002, Chancellor Mathur established a committee, including no faculty, that developed a new hiring policy. The faculty were not even informed of this committee’s work. The product of the committee—a truly appalling and incompetent policy—was then adopted by the board. 

Thus, at long last, the faculty senate sued the district. (It was about time!) Below describes the serving of papers and its immediate aftermath.

April 14, 2003

Saddleback and Irvine Valley Colleges' Academic Senates Sue the District
By Kurt Bozny

April 8:

Santa Ana, 1:15 p.m.: Wendy [Gabriella, faculty attorney; IVC Anthro instructor] files the much anticipated “faculty hiring policy” lawsuit against the SOCCCD Board of Trustees and Chancellor RAGHU P. MATHUR. She’s well-prepared, and so she breezes through the paperwork. Soon, she’s out the door, headin’ south!

2:10: Wendy’s back at IVC. She and I decide to head down south together to serve Mathur with the writ and the attached documents—a big stack. It’s good to bring an observer, cuz some people get way squirrelly when you try to serve ‘em with a lawsuit, and Mathur’s definitely the type.

I briefly search for one of those neon green “legal observer” caps like they wear at the big protests in L.A., but I can’t find one. Dang!

Mission Viejo, 2:40: we’re up on the 3rd floor of the Library, closin’ in on Chancellor Mathur’s office. I catch a glimpse of Mathur exiting his office, movin’ towards Robina Husting’s desk. He hasn’t spotted us yet.

Wendy closes in, holdin’ the thick stack of legal papers in front of her. As it turns out, Mathur is holding a similar stack of papers in front of him. The two meet in the small space in front of Robina’s desk. Mathur just stands there. So Wendy places her stack on top of Mathur’s stack, sayin’, “You’re served.”

Mathur is horrified. The indecorous fellow now jostles and squirms to avoid holding the papers, but it’s too late—he’s got ‘em!

I’m thinkin’: “Does he actually suppose that the lawsuit won’t happen if he avoids holdin’ this stuff?”

Finally, in a desperate attempt to avoid being served, Raghu shoves the legal papers forward and they fall to the floor. Fwap!

Legally speaking, such fwappage is irrelevant; he’d been served and, once again, he’d attained the title “Respondent Mathur.” Besides, leaving the lawsuit on his secretary’s desk counts, too, so Wendy now picks up the papers and places ‘em there. 

Meanwhile, I size up the Chancellor’s unseemly conduct. “How rude,” I proclaim. We exit.

Respondent Mathur struggles to think of a comeback, but Attorney Wendy (and her cap-less Boswell) are already out the door. 

Finally, he’s got one. He shouts: 

“How rude are YOU!”

* * *

April [9]: The next day, the district issues a peevish press release. It says:

SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur…commented on a lawsuit filed by the IVC and Saddleback College Academic Senates that disputes a new SOCCCD faculty hiring policy, stating, “The district is following the guidelines established under Title 5 that defines the ‘Delegation of Authority to the Academic Senates.’ There are 11 areas within the scope of academic and professional matters for which the academic senates have primary responsibility.

“The State Chancellor’s office has confirmed our view,” Mathur said, “that our hiring policies do not fall within the primary responsibility of the faculty….”

Wendy Gabriella

This is classic Mathur. The State Chancellor’s office does indeed hold that hiring policies are not among the 10 + 1 areas in which faculty are assigned primary responsibility by Title 5, a state regulation. 

The problem is that the lawsuit does not mention Title 5 and it does not allege that Title 5 has been violated. Rather, it alleges that the new policies, and the manner in which they were developed and approved, violate an Ed Code statute (EC87360) and utterly defeat the intentions of legislators. 

Ed Code statutes, of course, are more than regulations; they’re laws. They count bigtime.

In other words, with regard to the issue of faculty “hiring” policies, we don’t need no stinkin’ Title 5.

Respondent Mathur is ignoring—or failing to understand—that, in reality, the State Chancellor’s office takes the following view:

Education Code section 87360 requires governing board and academic senate representatives to agree on hiring criteria, policies and procedures to be adopted by the board. (Letter from California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Ralph Black, General Counsel, January 29, 2002).

In the District’s press release, Board President Don “So sue me” Wagner offers his own spin, expressing “disappointment” that the senates have decided to force the district to “spend money on attorneys, rather than students.”

* * * 

On the 10th, the Register reports that

Greg Bishopp

In an unprecedented move, the faculty senates of both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges have voted to sue their district chancellor and trustees over a new hiring policy that gives more power to college administrators at the expense of traditional academic hiring committees.

The lawsuit … asks a judge to set aside the new hiring policy because it was not approved by each college’s Academic Senate. 

When the new rules were approved by a 4-3 vote by the …trustees in January, faculty representatives unsuccessfully pleaded with the board for more time to discuss them.

The state’s Education Code requires that hiring criteria and policies for new faculty members must be developed “and agreed upon jointly” by board members and the Academic Senate….

…Typically, new college instructors are selected by hiring committees made up of faculty members who are experts in the field and the head of the department. Their selection is usually ratified by the college president, the district’s board of trustees or both.

According to Wendy Gabriella, an IVC instructor and attorney who filed the lawsuit, faculty members were particularly unhappy with new rules that allow the district’s human resources director to change the scores awarded by committee members if she deems them too far off the norm and to unilaterally change interview questions.

Professors were also displeased with a new ethics and confidentiality section of the hiring policy that allows the human resources director to investigate and punish any member of a hiring committee who is accused of violating confidentiality.

“The policy allows the human resources department to accuse hiring committee members of bias, change their scores and discipline them without any due process or opportunity for appeal,” [said the] Irvine Valley Academic Senate President….

* * *

Also on the 10th, the President of the IVC Academic Senate, Greg Bishopp, sends a memo to IVC faculty. (The Saddleback Senate Prez later spams it to Saddleback faculty.) It says:

The Academic Senates of IVC and Saddleback College have filed suit in California Superior Court to block the implementation of a faculty hiring policy, which they believe to violate … the California Education Code. While the trustees and the administration of the SOCCCD maintain that their new policy, and the process used to develop this policy, does not violate the law, the Academic Senates claim that they do. In violation of the law, the Senates maintain, district administration has failed to allow faculty involvement in developing the procedures for hiring new faculty members. As a result, the adopted policy is fraught with violations of law, policy, and accepted practice.

Prez Bishopp also notes that the senates have “exhausted all internal means of appeal” and that, in January, [Don] Wagner “invited the Senates to sue the district to resolve the legality of the Board of Trustees’ alteration of board policy.” 

That Wagner is quite a guy! 

Bishopp closes by noting that the record

shows who has been responsible for wasting the district’s money in the past. Board President Don Wagner has stated that, “our district will again prevail on this misguided litigation.” However, in the seven legal actions brought by members of the faculty against the Board of Trustees, the courts have sided with the faculty and against the Board every single time, demonstrating that the Board, by violating the law, has been responsible for the suits, not the litigiousness of the plaintiffs. If the Board of Trustees does not wish to spend money on litigation, it should avoid breaking the law.

* * *

The district’s new faculty hiring policies (BP4011, 4011.1, 4011.2) are available online at the Saddleback College Academic Senate website. 

Those who wish to read the statute should go to

Statute

To read a review of the statute and its relation to the historic AB1725 legislation, one might start by reading the local senates “handbook” on the State Academic Senate’s website:

Handbook

See you in court! —KB

Part 3

Here’s what happened next (December, 2003): 

Judge Clay Smith ruled that the district had indeed failed to include the faculty in the development of the faculty hiring policy, contrary to law. He thus ordered the district and senates to get together to develop a faculty hiring policy. (Trial Court Judgment Date: December 31, 2003. TCCN: 03CC05351; Case Number G033455) But, in the end, the district’s representatives and the senates’ representatives did not see eye to eye on major issues, and so the district unilaterally pushed through the version of the policy that it liked, and it pronounced that policy the product of the committee. That policy was almost as appalling as the one that was neutralized by Smith. 

Surprisingly, despite the vociferous objections of the Academic Senates to the new policy, Judge Smith ruled that the policy was indeed the product of “mutual agreement.” 

It was an absurd judgment. 

The Academic Senates appealed (January 28, 2004).

FINALLY:

Judge Clay Smith

By summer 2005, the appellate justices unanimously acted to overturn and vacate Smith’s absurd judgment. (See Irvine Valley Academic Senate v. Board of Trustees of the SOCCCD. See also excerpt below.) The board tried one or two last ditch efforts to have the court reconsider, but to no avail. (Petition for review denied in Supreme Court: August 24, 2005; recorded August 30, 2005.) 

The academic senates had won, and that was that. 

The senates had prevailed, period. That meant that the only valid policy was the one developed at the end of 1993 (that one was mutually agreed to). It was good from the faculty’s perspective. 

The appellate justices urged the parties to work out their differences, and so, in the Fall of 2005, district representatives (namely, Mathur, the instigator of the original unilaterally imposed policy, and Lang, now the board president) and Academic Senate reps (namely, the two senate Presidents and the union president) mutually developed a policy that both sides could agree on.

That work was completed by late October, 2005. This mutually agreed to policy is a vast improvement. 

At the time of writing, it only remains for the board to approve the new policy, and there is every indication that they will do just that. If they fail to do so, then the decidedly faculty-friendly 1993/4 policy will apply.

[The policy was approved.] [Re appellate ruling, see also here.]

From the appellate ruling:

     The Academic Senates of Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College ... appeal from the denial of a writ of mandate in favor of the Board of Trustees of the South Orange County Community College District (the Trustees) and Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur (collectively respondents). The dispute relates to the interpretation of Education Code section 87360 governing the process by which faculty hiring procedures are developed. We agree with appellants that the trial court incorrectly interpreted the relevant statute. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 

. . . 

...[B]etween the plain language of section 87360 and the legislative history of the statutory scheme, we conclude that the Legislature intended the faculty, through the academic senates, to have an ongoing role in developing and consenting to faculty hiring policies and procedures. In the event specific changes cannot be agreed upon, the existing policy would  remain in effect. In our view, this is the only reading of the statute that harmonizes both its plain language ("agreed upon jointly") and the legislative statement of intent (the faculty's "inherent professional responsibility" in developing hiring procedures). 

     Respondents [Board, Mathur, et al.] argue that this interpretation grants the Senates a “veto” allowing them to obstruct and frustrate the process of revising hiring policies. They suggest various scenarios under which the Senates' refusal to agree to new procedures would require the District to, for example, ignore state law regarding hiring practices. These arguments are overblown. No reasonable reading of the statute suggests that the District would be required to follow an existing policy that clearly contradicted state law, even if the Senates would not agree to revise the policy accordingly. (There is no suggestion here that any existing policy contravened state law.) Nor is there any evidence that the Senates were acting out of malice or with an intent to obstruct the process. Indeed, the trial court found both parties were negotiating with good faith and diligence.
     The bottom line is that the Legislature granted the Senates a role equal to the District's in developing and adopting faculty hiring policies. They undoubtedly contemplated a balance between the interests of each party and that compromise would be required. Respondents may feel this decision was unwise and are free to seek a change in the law, but the law on the books is what this court must follow. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We note that the parties and the public would be better served if the matter could be resolved by further negotiation or some form of dispute resolution, rather than continuing to spend scarce public resources to litigate the matter further. Indeed, perhaps a “joint agreement” could finally be reached. 

(From Irvine Valley Academic Senate v. Board of Trustees of the SOCCCD.)

9-26: San Clemente as ground zero; OC Mayors: ‘Mask up to open up OC’; the Labor Day surge

✅Orange County Coastal Enclave Becomes Ground Zero of Police Violence Controversy and Protests

—Voice of OC 

     In under 30 hours, San Clemente went from a quiet, wealthy coastal enclave to the epicenter of local anger, protests and confrontations in Orange County over police violence after an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, tasked with homeless outreach, shot and killed a Black homeless man in the city. 

     Early morning demonstrations and arrests on Thursday, Sept. 24 prompted some organizers to discourage further attendance at protests planned for the city later in the day, fearing clashes between protesters and counter protesters. 

     That didn’t stop more than 50 people from gathering on that late afternoon and picking up signs to march from San Clemente City Hall to the Hotel Miramar — where a deputy on Wednesday, Sept. 23 shot 42-year-old Kurt Andras Reinhold twice, killing him. 

     The march began around 5:40 p.m., and ended at 7 p.m. A 9 p.m. “civil unrest” curfew was ordered by City Council members earlier in the day. 

     Throughout the march, passing cars, people walking out of bars, and even trucks hoisting American flags yelled things like “go home,” or “fuck you,” or chants like “all white lives matter.” 

     Some people out of passing cars told demonstrators to “get out of San Clemente.” 

     Yet when demonstrators reached their final destination, the Hotel Miramar where the parking lot entrance became a flowery memorial for Reinhold, there were also passing cars who honked their horns in support or gave thumbs up out their windows as they drove past. 

. . . 

     Some speakers pointed to an incident last year where San Clemente high school students hurled racist slurs like the N-word at a visiting high school team during a football game.

. . . 

     Officials on Thursday insisted Reinhold tried to grab a deputy’s gun when the afternoon encounter outside San Clemente’s Hotel Miramar turned into an altercation. 

     During a news conference that day, the department passed out a grainy image captured from surveillance video to reporters that Barnes said shows Reinhold reaching for the gun. 

     Yet Reinhold’s killing has put new focus on Orange County’s role in race and police relations, coming at the same time that Kentucky grand jurors sparked nationwide unrest yet again by opting not to level direct charges on police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, a Black woman and medical worker, in her own home. 

✅No Friday night curfew in San Clemente after one was called Thursday following protesting over shooting 

—OC Reg 

✅Orange County mayors in video to residents: ‘Mask up to open up OC’ 

Mayors gathered across Orange County to create the video with a unifying message. 

—OC Reg 

✅California to create its own consumer financial protection agency -- California will create a state consumer financial protection agency to fill a void left by federal regulators, who have pulled back on oversight during the Trump administration. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/25/20 

✅Gov. Newsom Signs Law To Grow Mental Health Coverage -- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Friday that for the first time in California defines “medical necessity," a move aimed at requiring private health insurance plans to pay for more mental health and drug addiction treatments. Adam Beam Associated Press -- 9/25/20 

✅How UC Berkeley handled a regent’s ‘inappropriate’ support letter to get student admitted --Documents released late Friday provided new details on how UC Berkeley handled what a recent state audit called an “inappropriate letter of support” from University of California Regent Richard Blum to get an applicant admitted despite the student’s “uncompetitive” ranking by admission readers. Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/26/20 

✅LA County reports coronavirus bump; state officials worry Labor Day surge may have arrived -- Friday's 1,401 cases was the biggest bump over two weeks, officials said. It comes as state officials warn of a near 90% increase in hospitalizations over the next month. Ryan Carter in the Orange County Register -- 9/25/20 

✅Unemployment crisis hits Latino, Black and Asian Californians at higher rates than whites -- As unemployment ticks down, some groups of Californians are still hurting worse than others. A new report from the California Budget and Policy Center shows unemployment rates for Latinos, Blacks, Asian Americans and other Californians of color continue to exceed jobless rates for white residents. Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/25/20 

✅As O.C. campuses bring back students, here’s how schools in other countries are handling reopening -- Schools in Orange County are beginning to reopen. For parents trying to gauge the safety of their school’s plan, it may be useful to put the county’s numbers and procedures in context with how places around the world have handled school reopenings. Ada Tseng in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/25/20 

✅OC sheriff’s deputies who lied on reports testify that they didn’t know it was illegal -- Two fired Orange County sheriff’s deputies convicted of lying on their police reports testified recently before a grand jury that they didn’t know it was illegal to falsify the documents, transcripts show. Tony Saavedra in the Orange County Register -- 9/25/20 

✅In an affluent Orange County neighborhood, echoes of a skid row shooting -- Big questions loomed Friday over the death of Kurt Andras Reinhold, who was fatally shot by Orange County sheriff’s deputies in the beachfront town of San Clemente. Richard Winton, Anh Do, Gale Holland, Maria L. La Ganga in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/26/20 

✅Welcome to Zoom University. That’ll be $500 -- Some University of California campuses are charging new students hundreds of dollars for orientation sessions even though they take place entirely online. Janelle Marie Salanga CalMatters -- 9/25/20 

✅California passes first-in-nation plastics recycling law -- In a move aimed at reducing huge amounts of plastic litter in the oceans, along roadways and other parts of the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a first-in-the-nation law requiring plastic beverage containers to contain an increasing amount of recycled material. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/25/20  

✅Fact-Checking Falsehoods on Mail-In Voting 

—NYT 

     Voters are facing a deluge of misinformation about voting by mail, some prompted by the president. Here’s a guide to those false claims. 

✅Have College Students Spread Covid-19 Beyond Their Campuses? It May Be Too Early to Tell 

—CHE

One of Peggy Hall's pals: about half a bubble off plumb

     You remember Peggy Hall, right? She's the New Agey Saddleback College adult education instructor and YouTuber who is on an anti-mask crusade. See "Brainwashing, eh?" (7-4-20).

     Well, she's in the news again owing to a conversation she had a week ago with one of her pals, a gun-toting OC doctor:

O.C. doctor waves gun in anti-mask video, says concealed weapons are better protection 

—LA Times 

Former(?) Saddleback College adult ed
instructor Peggy Hall — anti-masker

     A local physician caused a stir last week when he appeared in a video waving a handgun and saying he’d rather people carry concealed weapons than wear face masks to guard against the coronavirus. 

     Dr. Jeff Barke, a Newport Beach family medicine physician who serves as board chairman of a charter school in the city of Orange, has been a vocal opponent of mask wearing and has appeared at rallies to reopen schools and businesses. 

     In a video interview recorded Sept. 16, Barke is featured in a virtual sit-down talk with Peggy Hall, a devout anti-masker who started the mask-opposition website the Healthy American in May. 

     In the 38-minute split-screen conversation — which Barke posted on his website, “Rx For Liberty,” and on YouTube, but which has since been removed — the pair discuss their views on mask wearing (and shaming), police protests and a “spiritual battle” being waged in America. 

     About 25 minutes into the interview, Barke describes treating COVID-19 patients with the controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, a treatment regimen touted by President Trump that has drawn criticism from at least one scientific study published by the medical journal Lancet. At that point, he pulls out a 9-millimeter handgun. 

Sig Sauer P365

     “I live in Orange County, so I carry this wherever I go,” he says, identifying the weapon as a Sig Sauer P365 and touting his training as an Orange County sheriff’s reserve deputy. “This is what I carry when I’m out in public to protect others and protect the public. 

     “I’d rather see somebody carrying a concealed [weapon] than masking up,” the physician continues. 

     “I think that’s better for the public than anything.” 

     Institutions and officials with whom Barke has associated in the past wasted no time backing away from the physician’s statements and claims, including Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, to which Barke has claimed having admitting privileges. 

     In a Sept. 18 statement made via Twitter, Hoag Hospital officials admonished what they called “radical” views expressed by Barke regarding the coronavirus, mask wearing and use of hydroxychloroquine. The statement indicated the physician was not an employee of the Newport Beach facility and did not hold admitting privileges there. 

     Officials further indicated the facility actively promotes masking and other CDC recommendations. 

     Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel — who appointed Barke in March 2019 to serve on the board’s Emergency Medical Care Committee responsible for reviewing ambulance services and first-aid practices — on Thursday distanced herself from the video and the physician’s mask-wearing stance. 

     “I believe he exercised poor judgment in showing a weapon like that in one of his videos,” Steel said in a media briefing. “I don’t agree with Dr. Barke’s comments about wearing masks. This board doesn’t agree with those comments.” 

     Steel endorsed and supported the physician in his 2006 run for the Los Alamitos Unified School Board, where he served until 2018 and has had close associations with his wife, Mari, who serves as vice president on the Orange County Board of Education. 

Board of Supes Chair
Michelle Steel: Barke booster

     In May 2019, Steel recommended Barke for a seat on the Rossmoor Community Services District, a community council for his unincorporated Orange County neighborhood, praising him as a “bright and innovative thinker and a team player.” 

     Sgt. Dennis Breckner of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, where Barke has served as a reserve deputy since 2011, said volunteers often receive concealed weapons permits from the department when they sign up. 

     “In general, we’d issue a [concealed-carry permit] to a reserve deputy because it’s likely they could run into a situation where they’d need to exercise either some defense or some powers,” Breckner said. 

     Barke currently serves as board chair for Orange County Classical Academy, a new public charter school that barely won approval from the Orange Unified School District Board of Education and opened Aug. 20. 

     It’s unclear whether Barke carries a concealed weapon with him on the school campus. He declined Thursday to comment on the video or its repercussions. 

     Breckner said he had no problem with a concealed-carry permit holder bringing a weapon onto a school campus. 

     “My personal opinion is, if my kids are going to a private school and I’m a person who’s morally and ethically sound, and a guy with an AK-47 starts blasting away at kids, it would sure be nice for that concealed weapon guy to put one in his head,” he said. 

     A more definitive statement on the importance of face masks as protection during a pandemic came from CDC Director Robert Redfield on Sept. 16 — the same day Barke recorded his interview with Hall — who declared before a U.S. Senate panel face masks are “the most powerful public health tool we have.” 

     “We have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defense,” Redfield said. “I may even go so far as to say this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.”

9-25: OC Officials Won’t Release Coronavirus Outbreaks at Schools; Peggy Hall's doctor friend suddenly discusses personal safety and guns—but why?

✅OC Officials Won’t Release Coronavirus Outbreaks at Schools, While Concerns Persist on School Reopenings 

—Voice of OC 

     Orange County Health Care Agency officials won’t disclose coronavirus cases at schools and are instead leaving that decision up to school districts as many classrooms are slated to begin reopening. 

      “When they get to a point where they can confirm and decide what direction they can take, then it will be incumbent upon the schools and the Department of Education to communicate that,” said Dr. Margaret Bredehoft, the Deputy Director of Public Health for the agency, at a media briefing Thursday, which was not open to the public. 

     Meanwhile, concerns from teachers and parents are mounting — from decreased instruction time to fears of virus spikes — while some districts are seemingly ignoring the concerns…. 

✅San Clemente declares 9 p.m. curfew in wake of protests following deputy shooting of Black man 

—OC Reg 

     The City Council will reconvene in a special meeting Friday to decide whether to extend the Thursday curfew into the weekend. 

I think she's still employed at SC

✅Orange County doctor pulls out gun during anti-mask video, Hoag hospital rebukes him 

—OC Reg 

     Jeff Barke says his 9-millimeter gun offers more protection against COVID-19 than a face mask. “I’d rather see somebody carry a concealed than masking up.” 

     [Evidently, Saddleback College’s own Peggy Hall has championed this guy. I’m told that she’s been let go by the college. I have no confirmation of that. UPDATE: near as I can tell, there's no truth to this rumor.] 

✅Video shows O.C. sheriff’s deputies fatally shooting Black man, sparking protests -- The fatal shooting of a Black man by two Orange County sheriff’s deputies during an altercation in San Clemente, captured on video, spurred a protest and the arrest of several activists who blockaded a street on Thursday. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ Erika I. Ritchie, Sean Emery in the Orange County Register -- 9/25/20

✅California’s Deadliest Spring in 20 Years Suggests COVID Undercount -- The number of excess deaths varied across the state from March through July. Central Valley and Southern California counties tended to have higher rates of excess deaths. Phillip Reese California Healthline via Capital Public Radio -- 9/25/20

✅Trump’s escalating attacks on election prompt fears of a constitutional crisis -- President Trump reiterated Thursday that he may not honor the results should he lose reelection, reaffirming his extraordinary refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power and prompting election and law enforcement authorities nationwide to prepare for an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Philip Rucker, Amy Gardner and Annie Linskey in the Washington Post$ -- 9/25/20

✅Fox News poll: Biden leads in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio -- The polls conducted among likely voters showed Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump in Nevada, where 52 percent of respondents said they wanted the former vice president to be elected. In Pennsylvania, 51 percent supported Biden and 44 percent supported Trump. In Ohio, 50 percent supported Biden and 45 percent supported Trump. Matthew Choi Politico -- 9/25/20 

✅Dire consequences for California if climate change unaddressed, report warns -- More than 500,000 Californians could die prematurely and the state could lose $4.5 trillion in the next 50 years if rising climate temperatures go unchecked, a new congressional report warns. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/24/20 

✅Virus’s unseen hot zone: The American farm 

—WashPo 

As American growers harvested summer crops, the migration of seasonal farmworkers who were infected with the virus represented a growing health and humanitarian crisis. 

✅‘Everyone sees the train wreck coming’: Trump reveals his November endgame 

—Politico 

After more than four years of nonstop voter fraud claims and insinuations that he might not accept the election results, the president isn't keeping his intent a secret. 

     Following his defeat in the 2016 Iowa caucus, Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz of cheating and said the results should be nullified. 

     After winning the presidency that fall, Trump insisted, without evidence, that there was “serious voter fraud” in three states he lost to Hillary Clinton. Now, running behind Joe Biden in the polls, the president complains the outcome will be “rigged.” 

     After more than four years of nonstop voter fraud claims, insinuations that he might not accept the presidential election results and at least one float about delaying the November election, it’s no secret. Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power this week — and his choice not to walk back his remarks Thursday in the face of widespread unease — merely broadcasts his strategic intent in terms both parties can understand. 

     As a result, Republicans can no longer truthfully deny that Trump may be unwilling to leave office in the event he is defeated. And Democrats must now confront the possibility they may not have the power to stop him.  

✅County COVID Counts Often Rose After Colleges Started Classes 

—Inside Higher Ed 

County-level data reveal a varying picture that sometimes challenges the idea of colleges as COVID-19 hot spots -- but often reinforces it. 

✅Colo. County Imposes Limits on College-Age Students 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The public health agency in Boulder County, Colo., on Thursday issued an order further restricting the behavior of college-aged people in the county, home to the University of Colorado at Boulder. The order from Boulder County Public Health, which took effect yesterday at 4 p.m. MST, forbids gatherings "of any size" among 18- to 22-year-olds within the county and requires residents of 36 off-campus facilities (mostly fraternities and sororities) to remain in place for two weeks. 

     "A gathering is defined as more than one individual coming together or being physically near each other for any shared and common purpose, including socializing or participating in any activity together including but not limited to shopping, dining, or exercising," the order stated. 

The county's order follows on the university's decision Monday to begin two weeks of remote instruction Wednesday, which itself followed the announcement of a recommended stay-at-home period it began last week. 

✅Trump Bars Federal Grants for ‘Divisive and Harmful’ Racial-Sensitivity Training 

—CHE

Today's OC Covid numbers: 282 new cases; 22 new deaths