Lillian Gish visits Saddleback College, 1978

     TODAY, I just happened upon a blog post about a visit by the great film actress, Lillian Gish, to Saddleback College in 1978: Lillian Gish comes to Saddleback College (Lariat–1978). 

     Natch, the blog post presents a Lariat article from that time:

Lariat, Volume 8, Number 17, 23 February 1978

Lillian Gish comes to Saddleback College 

     Legendary film star Lillian Gish, whose motion picture career virtually spans the industry’s entire history, will come to Saddleback College March 2 to present a special audio-visual tour of art in films made between 1900 and 1928. 

     Now in her 80’s, Miss Gish has been active not only in movie appearances but also in preserving the history of the film medium.  

     Winner of a special Oscar for her artistry and contribution to the motion picture industry, Miss Gish began her rise to stardom in 1912, appearing with her sister, Dorothy, in D.W. Griffith’s An Unseen Enemy.  

     Only last year, she completed her 100th film as star of Robert Altman’s The Wedding. 

     The actress appearance at Saddleback will mark the first time she has presented some new film footage recently acquired abroad. For the past decade, she has lectured on the art of film to audiences in Paris, Moscow, London, Hong Kong and all over the United States. 

     Among the unusual and seldom-seen footage Miss Gish will present to her audience will be a rare piece of film discovered recently in France, the hand tinted color movie dates from 1904.  

     “This isn’t the kind of show where she stands up and recites all the movies she’s appeared in,” according to Dick Dulap, a noted television director and longtime friend of the actress. “It is a real historical review of the films of that era.” 

     Miss Gish will make her 90-minute presentation at 7:80 p.m. in the new 400 seat theatre in the Fine Arts Complex. It is free and open to interested film students and the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

     For additional information, call the Community Services Office at 831-7813 or 495-4960, Ext 249.

     Wow.  So cool.

     See below.

 

Video of November Board Meeting — re Saddleback's "Gaucho" mascot: an overwhelming chorus of complaint

Video of the November 16, 2020, meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees. (Click on link.)

1:19 - 300  Trustee Jemal's Invocation re Free Speech. 

6:00 - 55:50  Public comments (faculty, et al.) regarding the issue of retiring the Saddleback College mascot, the Gaucho.

(Well worth viewing/hearing. Having heard this impressive string of comments, I cannot imagine their being ignored.)

Related: Their monthly enbubblement (updated!) – DtB, 11-18-20

"Brainwashing," eh?

     Recently, “anonymous” left this comment on a DtB post (“Trump refuses to lead; OC really spikes," June 30):

Anonymous said...

One of the leaders of the anti-mask movement in OC [Peggy Hall] teaches ESL at Saddleback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09CxAbPkm_k&feature=emb_logo
10:53 AM, July 04, 2020

Here's that video:

     Golly, wadda nut. (For a refutation of her chief legal claim, see Citizen Video Questions Legality of Newsom’s C-19 Emergency: "What Hall failed to recognize is that Newsom’s Emergency Proclamation suspended the law she cited...."; for a refutation of her medical claims about masks, see OSHA recommends using cloth face coverings at the workplace, contrary to claim by Peggy Hall.)

From one of Hall's websites

     After doing some poking around, I found that Hall is part of the fringe health/wellness industry that routinely rails against the medical (and other) establishment. She's a Christian anti-vaxxer and yoga instructor. She calls herself a "wellness expert" and "radio and TV personality."
     Hall believes, contrary to expert opinion, that mask-wearing is harmful to the wearer. Further, she seems never to recognize that the state has a legitimate interest in public health and that it should thus have some power to restrict citizen behavior when necessary to address a lethal contagion. Her position is thus utterly insubstantial.
     It does appear that Peggy Hall is an extended learning/Community education instructor—adult ESL—at Saddleback College. 
     I Googled her name and found this on the Saddleback College website:

     It's pretty clear (take a look) that, as a YouTube presence, Ms. Hall represents the anti-science, irrationalist thing that's so big these days among Republicans—and among the (sometimes leftist) anti-vaxxer crowd. As such, she is an enemy of critical thinking.
     Still, what Hall does while away from her Saddleback gig is her business, and if she wants to argue that the Governor is a "terrorist" (yep, that's her view), that's her right. Further, she teaches in the community ed area, which is barely connected to the college. So her teaching "for" Saddleback doesn't really hurt the college's reputation. Or so it seems to me.
     Maybe—I don't know—she yammers occasionally about her mask/freedom concerns in her writing classes (see below). That's fine, I guess, as long as, in the meantime, the real college—Saddleback College—is consistently teaching the reason & science thing that utterly undermines her irrationalist claptrap.

Summer adult education at Saddleback (two examples; Hall's is the 1st one):

Hall's course

"Holistic," eh?

More:

• See PeggyHall.com (“Leading wellness expert, life coach, teacher, speaker, author, consultant, radio & television personality, media contributor....”)

• Her LinkedIn page declares:

Peggy is the former Director of Teacher Education [School of Education, natch] at the University of California, Irvine and currently is adjunct faculty at Saddleback College. She is active in teacher education and is known for her optimistic encouragement as a positivity coach, helping thousands with her practical, proven strategies and systems for Total Life Enhancement.

•  There's a video in which she seems to indicate that she's an anti-vaxxer (click). Elsewhere, she indicates that she is a Christian and an advocate of spiritualism. She's plainly a part of the fringe health advice community, one who is accustomed to railing against the health establishment. In the video below, she explains the alleged danger of mask-wearing. In the last video, she accuses Don Wagner of "fraud" insofar as he is part of the government's action of "mandating" mask-wearing among citizens when out and about. Too bad it doesn't show Don's face, which, as we know, can be pretty peevish.

More than twenty years ago: Ollie North at Saddleback College

 

“Like, they literally don’t believe a story that crazy could be true.
In real life. Under Reagan.”

The NRA’s new president, Oliver North, is notorious for his role in an illicit arms deal
(Today, The Washington Post)

     …It was 1987.
     Ronald Reagan was president and Oliver North, a staffer on the National Security Council, was taking the stand in a congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra affair, a multifaceted covert scheme in which profits from weapons sales to Iran were funnel under the table to right-wing rebels in Nicaragua who were fighting the country’s socialist government. One of the biggest political scandals of its day — and one that cast a negative pall over the Reagan administration — the scheme represented sharp violations of American law and policy.
. . .
     North, a staunch conservative who has found a rebirth as a commentator on Fox News, is perhaps best known for his central role in the illicit arms deals. North was fired from his post as an aide on the National Security Council by Reagan shortly after the scandal spilled into public view in the news media in 1986 and began to widen. An amendment passed in Congress earlier in the decade had prohibited most government funds or military support from being given to the contra rebels.
     North, who had helped carry out the schemes, was the most anticipated witness called to the Hill for a hearing hosted by a congressional inquiry into the affair.
. . .
     He admitted that he had shredded key documents about the initiatives, but said he was doing what his superiors wanted, and disclosed that CIA Director William Casey had been aware of some of his activities. And he “openly admitted that he had lied to ‘unwitting’ Reagan administration officials, misled Congress and the public, falsified and destroyed official documents as part of a preconceived coverup plan designed to protect his superiors, and specifically the president. But he also implicated higher-ups with his repeated assertions that all of his actions had been approved by higher authority,” the Post reported.
. . .
     “When I teach the Iran Contra Affair and Oliver North to intro IR students, they stare at me in total disbelief,” Colby College political scientist Laura Seay wrote on Twitter. “Like, they literally don’t believe a story that crazy could be true. In real life. Under Reagan.”

North's Saddleback Appearance Draws Warm Reception
(LA Times, September 21, 1996 - MICHAEL GRANBERRY)

     After two standing ovations, numerous autographs, dozens of flashbulbs popping in his face and countless displays of spontaneous applause Friday, former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North was ready to field his first question.
     The young man approached the microphone in the brightly lit Saddleback College gym and wanted to know about a recent newspaper series. Was what he had read in the San Jose Mercury News really true, the man asked:
     Did a connection exist between the Nicaraguan Contras whom North once supported and drug dealers in South-Central Los Angeles, who allegedly helped fund the Contras with proceeds from the sale of crack cocaine?
     For the first time all day, North appeared momentarily flustered. Coy and cool from the moment he set foot on campus and embraced by virtually every adoring fan who extended a hand or hug, he suddenly sounded irked.
     Calling it "a frivolous, crazy question," North, 52, told the man: "I want to be very specific. I do not know, nor have I ever known, anyone who would tolerate drugs coming into this country. . . .
     "Where were these accusers in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 . . . when Congress conducted one of its longest inquisitions in history" into allegations that North masterminded a plan to finance the Contra rebels in Nicaragua by selling weapons to the Iranian government.
     "Where were they then?" he demanded. "Can you tell me that?"
     North's response was punctuated with more thunderous applause from the highly partisan crowd that packed one entire side of the Saddleback Gauchos basketball arena and included a who's who of Orange County's Republicans.
. . .

     North was convicted of aiding in the obstruction of Congress, accepting illegal gratuities and destroying documents. The courts overturned his convictions on appeal in 1990.
. . .
     Before his speech, North met briefly with the press, which wanted to know his reaction to the newspaper series that only last month dredged up the Iran-Contra scandal, although this time with a radically different twist.
     North said he had welcomed onto his radio show—"The fastest-growing talk show in the United States!"—Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), only to tell her she owed him an apology for "making ridiculous allegations" on the floor of the U.S. House.
     "I think the whole story is absolute garbage," North said of the allegations. "It's an effort to distract the American people from the Clinton administration's appalling record of dealing with drugs. It is typical of the most liberal elements of our political spectrum to find somebody else to blame for everything."
     An ex-Marine who rose to fame as a key player in the Iran-Contra arms deal, North was invited to Saddleback College by Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), who introduced North and the subject of his speech, "Is the U.S. Constitution Still Relevant?"
. . .
     After being serenaded by a drill team that wore glittery American flags as tight-fitting vests, and getting to meet the great-great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, North took aim at the street curfews imposed on teenagers by some cities. Hitler, he said, was a big fan of such curfews….

"District officials have declined to provide details..."

Saddleback College faculty perplexed over sudden departure of school president Gregory Anderson
(OC Reg)

     A day after officials at Saddleback College announced President Gregory Anderson had been replaced by Acting President James Buysse, two internal emails have provided the only bits of information, leaving confusion among employees, a faculty representative said. . . . The scant information has left the 400 full-time and 1,400 part-time employees at the 25,000-student college confused, said Mark Blethen, president of the South Orange County College District Faculty Association, representing faculty at Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges.
     “The only statements that have come out have been the very vague emails,” he said. . . . “We were all blind-sided by it,” he said. “The timing is odd that it comes so close to the end of the semester. . . . “We’re all puzzled,” Blethen said. “I’ve had a lot of calls from faculty.” . . . District officials have declined to provide details about Anderson’s departure.

Service for Sneed

     Today, the district community received this email from Jennie McCue:

     The memorial service for Dr. Richard J. Sneed, Chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District from 1986-1993, will be held on Thursday, February 1 at 10:00 am at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills. Dr. Sneed passed away at his home on December 16 after battling a long illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and former colleagues.

     Dr. Sneed led the district – which was then known as the Saddleback Community College District – at a time of great growth. Irvine Valley College had received its accreditation as an independent institution, thereby creating a multi-college district. It was a time of positive change and advancement for the district – multiple groundbreakings and building grand openings occurred at both colleges to keep up with student enrollment, which rapidly grew to more than 33,000 students in 1992.
Please click here to read the obituary, which provides a link for charity donations in lieu of flowers.

Memorial Service for Dr. Richard J. Sneed
Thursday, February 1
10:00 am
St. George’s Episcopal Church
23802 Avenida De La Carlota
Laguna Hills, CA 92653

Here’s the obituary:

June 10, 1929 - December 16, 2017 Richard Joseph Sneed died on Saturday, December 16, 2017. Richard was born on June 10, 1929. His parents were Theo Wayne and Pauline Masdon Sneed of Memphis, Tennessee, and he had four brothers and one sister. Richard's educational accomplishments were impressive and extensive. After graduating from St. Gregory's High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma, he attended St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, earning a B.A. in sociology. He then spent four years studying theology at St. Gregory's Abbey. Richard continued his education on the graduate level and was awarded a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) from Catholic University, a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (SSL) from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, and a Ph.D. in theology from Catholic University. Richard's studies often focused on languages, and he completed advanced work in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. His linguistic competence, along with his Biblical and archeological studies, were the basis for his becoming a well known and respected scholar and lecturer on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Richard had a long and distinguished academic career. As an ordained priest, he taught at St. Gregory's College and Seminary in Shawnee, Oklahoma, becoming the President of that institution in 1963. He oversaw both the curricular and physical growth of the college and opened admissions to women in 1964. In 1969, Richard moved to California to become the Dean of International Studies at Chapman College (now University). Subsequent to that he was appointed Dean of Liberal Arts, then Academic Vice President at Santa Ana College before becoming Vice Chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. The final phase of Richard's career was spent at the South Orange County Community College District, where he served as Chancellor until his retirement in 1993. During his years in higher education, Richard was a member, and often the chair, of several administrative and accrediting teams dealing with many community colleges in California. Richard will be remembered with respect and affection for his intelligence, honesty, kindness, sense of curiosity, great humor and wit, and for his unfailing moral and ethical values and behavior. Richard was married to Marion Penhallow from 1969 to 1983. In 1985, he and Tad Acker became partners and married in 2008, the year they moved to Rancho Mirage, California. Richard was predeceased by his parents and brothers, Earl and Ted; he is survived by his spouse, Tad; his brothers, Robert and Michael, and his sister, Paula. A memorial celebration of Richard's life is being planned and will be held at St. George's Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the charity of your choice.

Published in the Los Angeles Times from Dec. 22 to Dec. 28, 2017

SEE ALSO Richard Sneed dies

I'll shine up the old brown shoes
Put on a brand new shirt
I'll get home early from work
If you say that you love me

What gives?

    Despite assurances made by Saddleback's PIO Jennie McCue to the contrary (on Monday), this sort of disturbing comment continues to appear on the Saddleback College Facebook Page. (I'm referring to the first comment below.)

Appearing on SC Facebook Page as of 1:45 p.m., 9/16/16

MEANWHILE, this morning:

Groundbreaking: IVC building at ATEP

ACCORDING TO THE DISTRICT: 

     "September 16, 2016 – South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) broke ground early this morning on the first building at the Advanced Technology and Education Park (ATEP) which will host career technical programs for Irvine Valley College."
     ...SOCCCD Interim Chancellor Debra L. Fitzsimons provided a global view of the 62-acre site at ATEP which will accommodate a mix of educational and non-educational uses and host education, business and commercial partners. 'I know that you share my enthusiasm for this project. This is just the beginning. You will hear much more in the coming months and years as public-private partnerships form to build a national model at ATEP,' said Interim Chancellor Fitzsimons. Saddleback College is planning a Center for Innovation in Healthcare Education which will include a fully simulated hospital to train students in a risk-free environment as well as a regional training conference center...."

The YAF brouhaha: righties flip out, leaving slime and worse

Lovett, addressing the board, 2008

     Perhaps you’ve already heard about the “story” concerning Saddleback College students who sought to start a “Young Americans for Freedom” club on campus and who further sought to arrange a 9-11 commemorative event on campus. Evidently, they never turned in the paperwork to become a club, and thus their event was cancelled. They had placed lurid "Never forget" posters all around campus, many of them not in the designated allowable places, and so, at one point, history professor Margo Lovett took some of the illegal posters down. These YAF kids filmed that, and the footage ended up on various right wing websites—and even on Fox News (See History professor rips down campus 9/11 ‘Never Forget’ posters (VIDEO) and College campus craziness with Hume and O'Reilly (FOX News)).

YAF poster

     I do hope you all remember that the district’s rules concerning free speech zones and postings are a product of successful litigation brought by students in the late 90s and early 2000s in response to SOCCCD’s unlawful and otherwise questionable restrictions of their 1st Amendment rights. (See Student sue district over 1st Amendment.) Attorney Carol Sobel (for the ACLU), Wendy Gabriella, and the students achieved the degree of freedom that students now enjoy—in terms of these rules.
     Saddleback College has issued a statement, shedding needed light on the case (see Saddleback College statement below).
     Predictably, we’ve already heard about ugly and disturbing comments about Margot on the Saddleback College Facebook page and in the right-wing blogosphere. (Sample: "That woman needs to be beaten"; "Kick her face off"; "Shoot that pig in the head.") Bill O’Reilly has already compared the action at Saddleback to actions by the Nazis and the Soviet Union in the 30s.
     He also threw the YAFer kids under the bus: this story is about "stupid college kids," he smirked along with pal Brit Hume. But, he added, college administrators are "even dumber," what with their freedom-hating, PC-enforcing ways, I guess.
     Good grief.
     We’ll keep you posted.



     Saddleback College officials have issued the following statement:

   Saddleback College supports student clubs and their right to organize and exercise their freedom of speech.  At the beginning of each academic year, in order to organize meetings and hold events, student clubs must go through an activation process that includes an orientation, the establishment of a club constitution and by-laws, and the appointment of a faculty adviser.
     Young Americans for Freedom contacted the college’s student development office before fall semester classes began to state their intention to plan an event commemorating 9/11.  The director made clear that the students would have to complete the club activation process before the event could be approved. As of today the students have not completed the requirements to form a club.
     On September 8th, the students posted stickers and flyers on several campus buildings, which is a violation of South Orange County Community College District policy. The students also did this without first seeking approval from college administration. However, flyers that were posted by the students in the designated free speech areas on campus have not been removed by college personnel.
     The director of student life has reached out to the students and invited them to meet and discuss the steps that can be taken to work collaboratively with the college in the future and in accordance with college and district policies and procedures.
     Saddleback College supports and understands the students' desire to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001, but needs to ensure that the college and district policies and procedures are followed. 

SEE ALSO:

• Lovett or Leave It (OC Weekly, 9/27/01)
• BOOBERY AND BASTARDRY: The board confronts Collins’ decision (DtB, 3/02)
• Meet the 1st Amendment (LA Times editorial, 3/31/02)
• Students sue district over 1st Amendment (DtB, 4/15/02)

THE NATION, October 5, 1998 -  “What do students want?”

     Now the students [students Delilah Snell and Diep Burbridge], represented by the ACLU, are suing [IVC President Raghu] Mathur and the [SOCCCD] board for violating their First Amendment rights. According to the lawsuit, filed this past summer, the demonstrations were relocated from the center of campus to an isolated area where students were told to keep their noise level down. When the limits were questioned, students were told it was not in the “best interest of the college” to hold a longer protest in a more visible part of campus, given the “political climate.” (Author: IVC graduate and Nation intern Sanaz Mozafarian.)

IVC student protests: Delilah Snell at center; Deb Burbridge at right; circa 1998

From the district's Administrative Reg 8000, section V, "posting of material"

Monday's SOCCCD Board Meeting: $62 million for proposed Saddleback Stadium project!

They've just gotta have it

     Below: from Tere’s Board Meeting Highlights for Monday’s meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees, under the heading “presentations”:

• [WORKDAY] A current status report was provided on the Workday project and related software projects, following the board's request for report on the subject. Several managers and administrators provided a recap of reasoning behind the decision to move to the new enterprise resource planning system and the 3.5 year rigorous process which included contributions from all constituencies through business process analysis sessions. Moving from paper to online and toward ideal and transparent processes requires systematic change management to make a cultural shift in organizations. [My emphasis.] The group provided an overview…. Some of the challenges include getting used to new reporting and short-term increases in workload due to changes in processes. This will be examined to ensure that front line staff feel supported. ... Some items have been delayed for roll out to allow for adjustment to the current changes. The goal is to increase training and raise the comfort level during the initial two-year stabilization period. This [?] is to be expected in any major change management initiative. 

[See Workday doesn't work? (A serious district FUBAR?) (DtB, 7-3-15)]

• [STADIUM "RENOVATION"] An overview was presented about the Saddleback College Athletics Stadium renovation and site improvements project…. SC's current stadium was built in 1969 with maximum seating of 4,500 and restrooms located outside the stadium. Concession areas, press box, sidelines and safety zones are all substandard. Maintenance of natural turf is problematic. One of the biggest issues is ADA accessibility. College athletic staff propose that a new stadium would raise awareness in the community and provide a venue for SC to host regional athletic competitions and other community events. Vice Chancellor Fitzsimons provided a recap of forecasted project costs … over the past nine years. She explained how the scope of the project has grown significantly and is currently at $62 million for the total project, with the stadium itself at $49 million. The proposed future stadium would seat 8,000 and include a nine lane track, storage, concession stands, press box, adequate restrooms and team meeting rooms, synthetic turf and energy efficient lighting. Upon evaluation of the proposals, it was determined that the cost proposals exceeded the available combined budget of $39,525,000. College and district staff presented their strategies to address the project shortfall. Funding for the stadium and the site improvements were combined for planning purposes and an RFP was issued. ... The college and district have worked collaboratively on the project planning to develop the scope and identify cost efficiencies. A difference of $22 million is needed to fully fund the project and alternative funding strategies are being recommended from SC’s Promenade income and redevelopment funds.
. . . 

• [TENTATIVE BUDGETS] – The district-wide fiscal team provided a summary report on the tentative district budget including a review of the board’s budget philosophy, assumptions used for budgeting, funding categories…. They communicated concerns about certain budget trends and suggested that tightening of budgets may need to occur. COLA was 0% this year and that was a setback as it doesn’t help to offset increasing personnel costs. IVC and SC student government groups presented an overview of their budgets and highlighted accomplishments of the student leadership groups. Both colleges reported declining bookstore and associated [student] government revenues. Both student leadership groups propose moving to an opt-out funding model for 2016-2017ASG stickers/cards to increase revenues.

Slide used during presentation

The stadium dollar figure keeps changing, growing:

     Allow me to focus on the "new stadium for SC" issue. The topic of building a new ("long-promised") stadium for SC came up during a board meeting four months ago, amid the discussion of the “2018-2019 five-year construction plan.” Of course, that very topic had come up during several previous board discussions of construction plans.
     In my report of that meeting, I wrote this:

     Jemal: athletic stadium costs. They've doubled since last year. Brandye: last year, when we came to you with requests, it was $18 million for stadium. [See May 2015. See also December, 2014.] That concerned original design by consultant. Those numbers were used last year. We moved forward, met with "criteria architect." Ideas were taken to faculty, staff. Has doubled to a $36 million project. So what we do? Process we use: if over budget, we go to college and give options. She explains how other resources became available (I had a coughing fit amidst Brandye's explanation, so I dunno). Jemal expresses consternation with this change in cost. Brandye discusses realities of working with these figures, plans, contractors, etc. Jemal: please don't come to us with "back of envelope" figures again, you dig? Everybody is in agreement. about that, I guess. Pendergast: $36 million just for stadium itself? Or field, etc. also? Brandye: Don't have exact answer. She rifles through files. The $36 million is indeed specific to the stadium. Big money, man.
     Item is moved. Unanimously approved. We're approving priorities, not costs, at this point, reminds Jemal, who is peeved. Prendergast: when this first emerged, big push from foundation. It helps to have a vision to fundraise. Brandye passes question off to Burnett. Burnett says the foundation doesn't nearly have the money to cover this extra cost. Blah blah blah. They vote: unanimous.

     For the subsequent March board meeting, I reported the following (re Board Prez Jemal’s “board report”):

     Trustee Tim Jemal: thanked everyone for awards dinner. Wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful. Will attend something at IVC this weekend. Wanted to mention "the stadium." [Was he talkin' to me?] I'm personally very much in support of building a fancy schmancy stadium at SC. [Did someone suggest otherwise? Was it me?] But process is important, he said. I implore the college and the district to work together on this. But fiscal issues are important as well. We need to do this in a way that makes sense. "We need to do it the right way, you all know that."

     Perhaps [?] this remark was a corrective to my suggestion that Jemal had been "peeved" about the stadium issue in February. He didn't want to get tagged as "anti-stadium."
     During the May board meeting, Saddleback College President Burnett briefly discussed his college’s big needs; he then noted that he hoped the stadium would be built.

     No doubt about it. Saddlebackians have "big new stadium" on the brain, and they've had that conditions for many years. Several trustees have been likewise afflicted.
     But the notion that there's a crying need for a big new stadium at Saddleback College (never mind that IVC doesn't even have a stadium) is rank Saddlebackcentrism. Yep, I've been carpin' about Saddlebackcentrism, especially at the district (e.g., among trustees), for a while.
     Recently, too. In my UPDATE (6-17-2016) to DtB’s saga of socccd, I wrote:

Saddleback's [relative] shrinkage amidst continued Saddlebackcentrism

• Facts is facts: as Saddleback College slowly sinks into a secondary role in the district, population-wise (they’ll deny this, of course), many of its denizens continue to imagine that that college is the center of the universe; and they are determined to construct an enormous new stadium befitting such a grand entity. Expect much Sturm und Drang over this. Some of the trustees (including current Board Prez Tim Jemal) seem prepared to just say no to the pro-stadium crowd. [Well, not “no,” I guess. He's just concerned about cost and process. He's made it clear that he says "yes," despite the new and alarming cost figures.] 

• (We at DtB have long complained about the endless Saddlebackcentrism of the district, exhibited routinely by such board members as Mr. Wright, among others (see here). One manifestation: the board’s refusal to see the wisdom of moving district headquarters off of the SC campus to a more “neutral” location. See here.)

     Don't know what I mean by "Saddlebackcentrism"? Here's the, um, definition:

Saddlebackcentrism: regarding Saddleback College as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or Irvine Valley College.

     A "for instance":

     Bill Jay: some of us went to the Foundation event recently [he reported]. People don't realize the tremendous job the Foundation does. (Annoyingly, when he refers to "the foundation," he seems to be referring to Saddleback College's Foundation.) We've won three national championships, but we have no stadium. The Foundation is working on that. We'll have a stadium. [Note the “we.”] 

–My description of Bill Jay’s board report, April 29, 2013

     Those people always talk that way. Pisses me off.

SEE ALSO

The February meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees: Saddlebackians want a new stadium and it's all that matters! (February, 2014)

The Seven and their Afflictions

     I want to bring up an old theme: the inveterate cluelessness of the SOCCCD board, a crew I shall refer to, somewhat dramatically, as “The Seven.”
     Now, don’t get me wrong; nowadays, and at long last, we have a decent board, perhaps the best board the district has ever had. And we definitely benefit from that fact and will continue to benefit.
     I won’t say I’m grateful—my standards aren’t that low—but I will say that I’m very glad about the New Decency—including the decency of the current Chancellor, a fine fellow.
     But c’mon. Recently, the board was confronted with long-standing complaints from a representative of the (enormous!) ranks of part-timers—about poor pay, poor support, poor treatment, etc.

Susan Bliss; board low point

     (See part-timer all up in trustee grill and What the speaker said was accurate. See the video: Board of Trustees: minutes/video: April meeting; skip down to item 7.2)
     Those complaints are sound. We—faculty, anyway—all know that they are sound. Full-timers, of course, have all been adjuncts, and they work with adjuncts daily.
     But, somehow, the board heard these complaints with the wax-filled ears of the utterly clueless. They made fools of themselves, responding to the complainer (Susan Bliss) as though she were a mere crank or idiot.
     It was a low point for this otherwise decent board.

* * *

     Let me state the obvious. For many years, Dissent/DtB and various other entities (Academic Senates, respected senior faculty, classified leadership, et al.) have attempted to direct trustees to various longstanding troubles—with abusive or incompetent administrators or managers, counterproductive reforms, wrongheaded procedures and structures, corrupt faculty, etc.
     But these efforts have had virtually no impact with The Seven (with, of course, notable exceptions).
     Why?
     Board members, it seems, are forever afflicted with a condition—let’s call it the “Smiley Suit & Title” Error (SSATE)*—in which powerful and multi-faceted indications of TROUBLE are immediately rendered no-account by a few apparently sincere assurances whispered by the likes of Glenn Roquemore† and Tod Burnett‡—those well-dressed and well-mannered, but manifestly OOTD (out of their depth) galoots.
     Is it their suits? Their flag pins? Their sometimes whispery delivery? Their plastic, clean-cut looks and winning smiles? What makes these manifest bozos so believable to The Seven? (I could never understand why everyone didn’t react to meeting Raghu Mathur with the observation, “Who is this creepy mother-f*cker?”)
     Near as I can tell, The Seven, albeit a much improved crew over earlier iterations, remain seriously afflicted with SSATE. How else explain the continuing uneventful weeks in the life of that utterly vacuous doofus Glenn Roquemore? How can it be that trustees (and the chancellor) do not routinely drive up to Irvine, stomp into Rocky’s office, and scream “J’accuse!” —or worse?
     And, of course, there are many other examples of The Affliction and the problems it allows, month after month, year after year. (I encourage readers to list them for others to consider.)
     (I realize, of course, that other syndromes than SSATE have afflicted trustees over the years. Some former board members noticed the TROUBLES, all right, but have ignored them in the spirit of, “Well, Chancellor/President/Dean Brontosaurus may be an incompetent rat bastard, but he’s our incompetent rat bastard.” I suspect that Fuentes and Wagner strongly possessed this curious feature, which I shall dub "BYOB" (Bastard? Yes! But Our Bastard!).

Adjunct confronts trustees; trustees respond: go to: Board of Trustees: minutes/video:
 click on "video" for April 2013 meeting; using the links listed in the outline 
below the video monitor, jump to item 7.2.

* * *

     Recently, the board fell into some odoriferous empirical indications of (among other things) Roquemorean Shititude. It came in the form of the district “climate survey” results. (See also Verbatim responses.) The results underscored troubling themes that surfaced in earlier surveys.
     Did the trustees not read it? Have they somehow misunderstood it? The survey powerfully supports points DtB (and others) have made—about Roquemore, his VPI, about HR, about the relationship between the two college presidents, etc.—for years.
     No doubt, already, the reassuring besuited galoots have whispered it all into utter oblivion.

Notes:

     *Akin to the "availability error" that psychologists yammer about.
     †Roquemore became an administrator during the darkest days of the SOCCCD—the late 90s—as part of Team Mathur. By 1997, Roquemore was a foe of Mathur owing to the latter's stranglehold on the chairship of their school. But when Mathur became interim President (April '97), he desperately cast about for support among faculty, and, all of a sudden, Roquemore became his friend and ally. As a loyal ally, Roquemore was given the VPI position and, when Mathur ascended to the Chancellorship (in 2002), Roquemore became IVC President, and he has remained so ever since. When, starting about 2007(?), R tired of serving as Mathur's lackey and asserted his independence, Mathur turned against him, but R was supported and protected by D. Wagner, who gradually tired of Mathur's endless petty machinations. R must've looked good to W, just as a dirt clod looks good when sitting next to a turd.
     ‡Raghu Mathur strongly advocated hiring Tod Burnett as SC President, despite the latter's shocking lack of experience as a college administrator. But Burnett had been the Governor's deputy appointment secretary (and a functionary in the state chancellor's office), and so hiring him might give Mathur (and perhaps trustees) an "in" with Sacramento. Voila!
     A bio that was once available at the state chancellor's website described Burnett thus:

He is ... an Associate Faculty at the University of Phoenix. Prior to joining the Community Colleges System Office, Tod served as Deputy Appointments Secretary for Governor Schwarzenegger where he advised the Governor on making political appointments to hundreds of full and part-time positions in State government.

     For a time in the late 1990s, Burnett was VP of Eva Gabor's wig company. (See.)

The best SOCCCD board ever—but....