Mathur's low, low road

This video provides an overview of the Sept. 22 board meeting (aside from the 40th Anniversary stuff).

The ending is pretty special. Mathur takes the low road. It's classic!

Click on the button in the middle!


My favorite part: Fuentes announces that Mathur will offer "ethics training" to other districts! (2:18)

ETHICS TRAINING?!

What a Tangled Web He Weaveth—the latest crisis

Oh! What a tangled web he weaves
The Goo, Hurrah!, himself deceives!

—With apologies to Walter Scott

It’s been a wild week in the district, in some corners anyway. Last week, on Wednesday, Chancellor Raghu Mathur announced that his ballyhooed “consultant,” who was scheduled to meet with all sorts of groups at both colleges over two weeks re "decision-making processes," had reported to him, after one day on the job!, that decision-making seems to be just fine and dandy! And so he (Mathur) decided to discontinue the consultation.

I forwarded Mathur’s email to the consultant, Bill Vega, who responded by stating that, no, it was his (Vega’s) decision to discontinue. During his one-day visit, Vega signaled that he might pull the plug. He also made pretty clear that he didn’t think much of the Chancellor’s involvement in college decisions. (It was evident that he had reached that assessment before he got to the 2:00 p.m. “open forum” that I attended. That is, Vega had reached that assessment before he encountered any faculty. Prior to the open forum, Vega met with classified and administrators.)

The logic of Mathur’s email was manifestly absurd: since (according to Mathur) Vega had found decision-making at IVC to be hunky-dory, it follows that decision-making throughout the district—including at Saddleback College—is also hunky-dory! So why continue with the consultation?

(And if Vega had indeed found decision-making hunk-doritude, shouldn't we include that judgment in the Accred reports? Why would Mathur not urge the focus groups to include this alleged finding? Why would he prevent Vega from writing the report?)

I’m told that Saddleback’s Accreditation Focus Group has been on this episode like white on rice, owing, no doubt, to its manifest relevance to our governance difficulties (not to mention our "fear and despair" difficulties) here in the good old SOCCCD. During Vega’s day at the district, it became clear that the college community was not alone in its abject foggitude about the nature of this consultation. Who had hired Vega? To whom would he report? How would Vega’s report connect with the two colleges’ accreditation reports? Nobody seemed to know, including Vega.

This kind of "communication" problem is, um, relevant to the Accred's stated concerns, doncha think?

And then, right after Vega bailed (last Wednesday), Mathur put out a memo containing two BIG LIES:

• That, according to the estimable Dr. Vega, our decision-making processes were in swell shape

• That, given this happy assessment, Mathur had naturally decided on discontinuance of Vega's consultation

Again, that the second is a lie is pretty clear, given (1) Vega’s having hinted that he might pull the plug already last Tuesday and (2) Vega’s having written to me that he, not Mathur, had recommended discontinuance.

That the first is a lie is less certain, I suppose. But there can be little doubt that, last Tuesday, Vega had expressed himself in a manner clearly implying that he did not approve of (in particular) Mathur’s kind of involvement in college decision-making. Those who met with Vega will testify to this.

From what I’ve been told, it appears that the trustees, too, were left largely in the dark about Mathur’s curious consultation process. Many of us guess that, for trustees, the following perception is unavoidable: that Mathur instigated this process in an attempt to lay blame for the colleges/district’s difficulties, not at Mathur’s doorstep (as per the two Accreditation report drafts), but at that of faculty and the board. Anyone who knows Mathur knows that he is exactly the kind of guy who would assume that a fellow Chancellor pal (like Vega) would spin things to help out a colleague. It's what pals do!

If that is what Mathur was thinking, he was very much mistaken.

So the upshot of Mathur’s “consultation” gambit is this: he pursued a crassly self-serving process that blew up in his face. Further, from the perspective of many members of the two Accreditation focus groups, Mathur’s gambit can only be viewed as an eleventh-hour and wholly inappropriate attempt to sneak a new element into the Accreditation reports due on October 15. (Indeed, during his visit, Vega revealed his belief that his report was to be included in those reports. He was visibly horrified to discover that faculty had not been consulted about his hire.)

CRISIS:

So this brings us to our latest crisis. Will pressure be exerted to prevent mention of this sorry episode in the Accreditation reports?

While contemplating that, please do consider this factoid: that Mathur’s latest gambit has so angered members of the two college communities that it will be impossible for the district to hide it from the ACCJC. 

That is, efforts at suppression will likely have the opposite of the desired effect.

* * *

Have you read the editorial in the latest issue of the Lariat? Check it out: here. Also, check out the Lariat's online poll of presidential candidates. 54% of voters say they'll vote for McCain: See. Also: UCI editorial: the clueless generation?

Armando Ruiz still at Coast

On Tuesday, “Jubal” of OC Blog posted: Lawsuit filed challenging Ballot Title of Coast Community College Board Candidates. According to the Jube, somebody doesn’t think that candidate Charlotte Pirch is entitled to list her profession as “College Professor/Attorney.”

Never mind about that. Today, “Archstone” wrote in to say that the “real issue” in the CCCD trustee race is boot fanatic and "Friend of Raghu" ARMANDO RUIZ:

Jubal, the real issue in the election of the Coast Community College District board is Trustee Armando Ruiz, the pension double dipper who is trying to win re-election. Ruiz's actions in 2004, retiring from his part-time post as a Trustee and a full time job as a Counselor at Irvine Valley College, simultaneously, enabled him to double his pension, from $54,000/year to over $100,000/year. The legal loophole that Ruiz used to do this has been closed, but Ruiz has continued to serve on the Board, collecting his monthly paycheck, and his pension, all at the cost of the Coast District taxpayer. Ruiz is currently trying to gain the endorsement of the Orange County Democratic party….

You’ll recall that when Raghu Mathur was President of IVC, he sought desperately for allies and finally resorted to importing one from Saddleback College: Ruiz. Pretty soon, Ruiz, despite his manifest sleazitude and stupitude, became an administrator. After a year or two, however, he descended into disgruntletude when he wasn't promoted to the VPI job. (Glenn got the nod.) He retired and then commenced his double-dipping.

I think it was at that point that Mathur concentrated on his hot new administrative prospect Rodney Poindexter, who was fired when it became clear that he was, um, unstable.

"Good morning," we said

I arrived for the Chancellor’s Opening Session about five minutes late, and I was pleased to find a nice little rock band—a motley assortment of district employees—offering a respectable version of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” an upbeat pop tune from 2001. Propitious!

Mathur’s address started off with a classic Mathurian moment, with the little fellow demanding a more forceful attempt at “good morning” from the audience. “Good morning,” we said.

IVC’s Daniel Luzko tickled the ivories for twelve minutes, and that seemed to be a hit.

Keynote speaker #1, Scott Lay of the CCLC, was excellent. He laid out various fascinating factoids and projections regarding the state budget. Keynote speaker #2, Diana Van Der Ploeg of Butte College, was also fine, presenting her college’s celebrated efforts at “sustainability.”

I’ll have some video of all of this later in the week.

Mathur sought to take his lemons and make lemonade. He actually had each new district or college employee (about 50 of 'em) march up to the stage, one by one. After a half hour or so, most of the audience was up there, leaving just me, my video camera, and Howard Dachslager in the seats. (The “lemons” aren’t the employees but rather the absurdity of hiring 38 faculty within the space of a couple of months. Many of these new employees, including administrators and managers, seemed excellent.)

The union luncheon was festive and unremarkable. Naturally, the gymnasium has the acoustics of the Grand Canyon. Hence, for an hour and a half, we endured indecipherable noise. I think somebody said something about a contract.

At 4:00, the IVC Accreditation “focus group” made yet another “all college” presentation, and it was excellent. The discussion with the sparse but passionate audience was excellent, I thought. (I joined in too.)

Again, I’ll have video ASAP.


One thing is clear: though all acknowledge the excellence of the focus group’s lengthy draft (the product of seven months’ effort), there can be no doubt that, in the minds of many denizens of IVC, the cause of our “climate of despair” (which, admittedly, has improved) is none other than Raghu P. Mathur, a fact that informs virtually every page of the document and that generates some of its best elements, but which, understandably is nowhere to be found stated within it.

I do think that, accreditation-wise, as was stated and seconded during the meeting, the report is likely to "save our ass."

Jimmy Eat World:



In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed, an article (Tolerant Faculty, Intolerant Students) discusses the results of a large survey done within the Georgia University System.

Excerpt:

The results suggest that there may well be a problem with lack of tolerance of political views of others. But according to students (the supposed victims of intolerant professors, according to those who say there is no intellectual diversity), the problem isn’t professors, but fellow students. Only 47 percent of students reported that they believed other students were tolerant of the political views of all students, as opposed to just those whose views they supported (and of that 47 percent, only 17 percent said this was true to a great degree). About 21 percent of students feel that other students aren’t tolerant of the political views of others while the remainder are somewhat in the middle.

The seriously wacky world of California community colleges

     As you know, things can get mighty wacky at community colleges. There’s no limit, it seems, to the wackiness, especially when it comes to top administration and trustees. For instance, who’d o’ thunk we’d ever see a board (like the SOCCCD board until July 2000) that included a Holocaust denier, or one that appointed a guy Chancellor even though said guy had sued the district (once again: the SOCCCD board)? (See the OC Register, "Teacher's view of Holocaust stirs furor,” 4/4/95 and LA Times, 9/13/00: "Irvine Valley President Sues College District," 9/13/00.) Or one in which a trustee had secret meetings with administrators to make secret deals about hiring and firing quid pro quos (that would be the SOCCCD of ’97)? Click on article below for details.

       On Friday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported (3 college trustees boycott over Sandoval agenda item) that three trustees of the Southwestern cc district “boycotted” a board meeting last Wednesday to prevent its being held—in order to prevent discussion of an item to extend a Southwestern College vice president’s job for a month or two. 

     It’s a tangled tale. Greg Sandoval, the VP, resigned not long ago after someone claimed he’d sexually harassed them. Then he tried to unresign, but the district’s Supe, Raj Chopra, wouldn’t have it. Then, when Chopra left town, Southwestern board president Dave Agosto hastily snuck a new item onto the board’s agenda for August’s meeting. The item was for an action that would have extended Sandoval’s administrative employment to January. 

     Why? ‘Cause, that way, Sandoval would be old enough, while still employed, to receive lifetime medical benefits! So three of the trustees put the kibosh on the meeting, thus deep-sixing Agosto’s agenda gambit. 

     Maybe that was the right thing to do. Dunno. 

     The Trib quotes Chopra as saying, “In my 35 years as an administrator, I have not seen one time an agenda item changed the way (this) did.” He oughta hang around the old SOCCCD. Raghu Mathur became an administrator when a similar maneuver was employed (back in '97). That one was illegal, as it turned out. 

     This Southwestern story doesn’t end here. In fact, it starts to get seriously convoluted at this point, ‘cause Sandoval is on the board of another district that does business with Southwestern, and it turns out that it was somebody on that other board, who benefited from the relationship, who urged Agosto to…. 

     Well, you know. 

     Have I mentioned that SOCCCD’s chancellor, Raghu P. Mathur, has been the subject of three votes of "no confidence" in the past ten years? —that, for the last one, 93.5% of full-time faculty indicated that they had “no confidence” in his leadership? Yeah, so the board gave him a raise.

     Now, we're on the accreditation chopping block, in part because of the "plague of despair" engendered by the ruthless and wily Mathur. 

     Will this board fire his ass? No, Mathur's ass is safe. The ass of SOCCCD's two colleges? Not so much.

Voting "no confidence" in Chancellor Mathur, 2004

    Red Emma (aka Andrew Tonkovich) reminds us that "Today at noon on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles/ 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara my very special guest is one of our most read, most translated, most celebrated authors, the novelist/essayist/poet/screenwriter Paul Auster, who community radio listeners will also know from his work hosting NPR’s National Story Project."

Here's what you get for your $300,000

I managed to snag a copy of an email sent yesterday by Chancellor Mathur to the membership of the “District Leadership Council,” which comprises all administrators and classified managers.

What a chirpy crew that must be. (It's no secret: they fear and loathe their "leader." That's why I've got the email.)

Mathur was reminding everyone about Thursday’s DLC “retreat.”

Our Chancellor has a real weakness for New Agey bunk and educationist twaddle. (Mathur’s education degree came out of a Cracker Jack box, namely, Nova Southeastern University, academically the very lowest of the low.) And so recipients of Mathur’s email are told to “Bring with you a one-sentence leadership quote that has meant a lot to you.”

Evidently, in Mathur’s mind, wisdom is expressible in a “quote,” i.e., a sound bite.

No it isn't.

The ever-helpful Mathur then explains that this kind of “quote” would be “key leadership guidance” that a mentor might give to a newbie. He offers an example: “The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.”

Keep hope alive. What a f*cking idiot. This man makes $300,000 a year, and all he can come up with is a hackneyed political slogan. (No doubt Mathur got this nugget from management writer Joe Batton. Perhaps he is unaware that, thanks to Jesse Jackson, the phrase "keep hope alive" is just another overly-familiar catchphrase.)

Finding a leadership quote is just the first part of Thursday’s exercise. The “second part of our exercise,” he explains, “will be to transform the top 10 quotes into ‘I will’ statements.”

‘I will’ statements. I swear this man has sh*t for brains.

Mathur offers an example: “I will strive to instill hope.” So, I guess the idea is that hope is good, and so, if you stick “I will strive to instill” in front of that, you get this fabulous chunk of educationist "science." Are you not dazzled?

What is the matter with these people? Obviously, hopelessness is an unproductive and unpleasant state for employees to be in. I mean, c’mon. Why say that in terms of the architectonic-water of “leadership quotes,” “leadership guidance,” and “I will” statements? 

And “hope” isn’t even the right concept here. Hope is something a country has when the Nazis are invading it or prisoners have when the Bush administration has 'em in Gitmo. The denizens of English departments and maintenance yards don’t need hope. They just want to know that the college—or the dean or the President—has a decent plan.

Essentially, Mathur is the merest of politicians. He has nothing to say. He understands nothing. He offers slogans and flag pins.


It gets worse. In the email, Mathur next informs these “leaders” (wrong word again) that the top ten “I will” statements “will be used by all management throughout the year.”

Wow, that's quite a plan. 

I’ve got a few “I will” statements for the Chancellor. How about

I will leave people alone to do their jobs.
I will treat people honestly and honorably.
I will cease ruling with fear and treachery.

and last of all

I will try each day to have just one good thought expressed in one clear sentence.

* * * * *

See also "CIVILITY" & RAGHU'S TOUCHY-FEELY SIDE—where we learn that, at IVC, Mathur once distributed a list of ways to “appreciate yourself and others,” which included:

• Keep track of your achievements in a “win” journal.

• Give yourself one compliment per day.

• Have a “Brag Buddy” to share successes with.

• Say to yourself at least ten times per day, “I love myself” or “I like myself.”

• Make a photo copy of the palm of your hand and give yourself a “pat on the back."

—$300 freakin' thousand dollars a year for "Doctor" Raghu P. Sh*t-for-Brains. Think of it!?

Thank you, Tom and Dave and Don and John. On behalf of all the lovely "taxpayers" out there in the dark, I thank you!

The ending of "Sunset Boulevard"


• FOR CAT LOVERS. Steve just sent me this URL for a video. If you love cats, you'll love this:

Cats on a treadmill

Another fine example of Mathur's leadership

I KEEP trying to ignore it, but no one will let me.

Many citizens of our little district community were amazed last Thursday when Chancellor Raghu Mathur spammed us with Governor Schwarzenegger’s infamous executive order in response to the state budget impasse. You know the one. According to the AP:

Schwarzenegger's order…eliminated 10,300 seasonal, contract and part-time positions. It also ordered that up to 200,000 permanent, full-time state workers will receive the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour in their paychecks until the budget is passed. (Associated Press.)

The order included a “request” that, among others, state college employees be included in the action:

IT IS FURTHER REQUESTED that other entities of State government not under my direct executive authority, including … the University of California, the California State University, [and] California Community Colleges … assist in the implementation of this Order and implement similar mitigation measures that will help to preserve the State’s cash supply during this budget impasse.

Naturally, that line was in the email Mathur sent to district employees. Mathur offered no explanation of what the Governor's order means for our district and its employees. He allowed us to think that, apparently, we too would be living on minimum wage. Good grief!

Then, 77 minutes later, came a second Mathur missive, which said:

We would like to offer clarification of the Governor’s executive order to address our state’s budget crisis. This information was forwarded to inform employees of the dire nature of the crisis and how it will affect some state employees.

Please be assured that employees of the South Orange County Community College District will receive their payroll checks. There are no plans to terminate temporary/hourly employees at this time.

Let us extend our support during this difficult period to the families affected by the Governorʼs executive order.

Raghu P. Mathur, Ed.D
Chancellor

Oh. So he forwarded the Governor’s order to “inform” us of the “dire nature of the crisis and how it will affect some state employees.” I guess he figured we wouldn’t understand the seriousness of the situation unless we went through 77 minutes of supposing that it would affect us directly.

Thanks, dad. You sure are tough on us kids. In fact, you’re solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

But that’s because you care.

Sam Kinison in "Back to School": he really seems to care


ADMINISTRATORS WANT GREATER FACULTY ROLE IN GOVERNANCE
This morning’s Inside Higher Ed reports on a national survey of college administrators:

A majority (60 percent) believe that faculty members should play a bigger role in running campuses, with most of the rest happy with the status quo and only a few believing that professors should play less of a role. But while seeking more of a faculty role, the administrators share a highly critical view of faculty knowledge and perspective when it comes to campus decision making, with a broad consensus finding professors focused far too much on their own issues or departmental issues, and lacking either the knowledge or perspective to think about institutions as a whole and to promote change.

Sounds about right.

• I WRITE, THEREFORE I POLUTE.
Just in case you required proof that the New York Times' resident postmodern academic curmudgeon, Stanley Fish, is an asshole, read his latest piece: I Am, Therefore I Pollute. Read the reader comments too.