The Devil's droppings

Ran into a coupla faculty leaders yesterday, who told me about their big meeting with Chancellor Mathur down at the district.

They were meeting with him ‘cause Title 5 and district bylaws say that the faculty (faculty senates) should be relied upon primarily in developing the planning process(es). Nevertheless, Raghu went ahead and developed his own process and then showed it to everybody like it was a done deal. And, like always, it’s a doozy.

Remember the “faculty hiring policy” rumpus? That was pretty much the same situation. The law says that the faculty are supposed to be in on the development of faculty hiring policies, and so, naturally, Mr. Goo went ahead and developed a policy on his own—and it was another doozy!—and then he informed everybody, including faculty. “Here’s our new policy; deal with it.”

We told ‘em then like we’re tellin’ ‘em now! Hey, we’re supposed to be in on this, so back off! But no.

We tried and tried to get ‘em to change their minds, but it was no good.


So we went to court, and the judge said right off that the district is supposed to include faculty in developing these policies, so there. There were a coupla more legal adventures—they took two years—but, in the end, the faculty fully prevailed, and the district had to return to square one developing a hiring policy, only, this time, faculty had to be at the table.

Like we always said.

Now, the rules regarding the development of a planning process are as clear as a bell. They say that the district is supposed to rely primarily on faculty. (See They violate Title 5.) But Raghu and his trustee pals say No.

Are they stupid or what? Just how hard is this to understand?

It appears that Raghu keeps telling trustees that faculty want to do the planning for the district all by their little lonesome, but THAT’S NOT THE POINT AT ALL. No, the point is that, according to the rules, including the district’s own policies, faculty are supposed to be primarily relied upon with regard to developing a planning process.

(If you’ve got a brain, you’ll notice the difference between “developing a planning process” and “doing the goshdarn planning.” It’s not rocket science!)

Hell, and we’re not even insisting on being the sole developer! We’re happy to share this developmental gig with the district! “Let’s get together and do this right!” That’s what we’re saying!

But these trustees can’t read or can’t think, I guess. They’re thick. And they’re always thick in the particular way that makes them bigger, stronger—until we go to court and have judges smack ‘em down to size.


Anyway, so I ran into these faculty leaders, and they told me about this meeting they had with the Chancellor. The two Academic Senates have told their leaders that, if the district doesn’t back off, then we’ll have to take the matter up with the State Chancellor’s Office. That is, in that event, we oughta file a “minimum conditions complaint” (MCC).

So Wendy and Claire, et al., try to get the district—including head trustee Dave Lang—to show up to a meeting so that the matter can be cleared up and no MCC will be necessary. (We’re so cooperative!) But that’s like pulling teeth. Mathur gets all squirrely. Lang won’t show because he’s got his head up his a** as usual.

What’s the matter with the guy?

But, at long last, Mathur agrees to a meeting, and so one gets set up for two days ago. Now, when you meet with Raghu, you’ve gotta bring friends, because he’s wily and he’s a liar, bigtime. And so you’ve always got to bring witnesses. So maybe that was the thinking—I dunno—behind Wendy and Claire’s idea that they should show up with their respective cabinets—and that’s, like, ten people or so.


So, anyway, they drive over to HS, and they go through the special sentry and whatnot (you can’t just enter the district offices—even the door from the stairs is locked! What's a taxpayer to do?), and they finally make it to Rubina, the gal outside the Great Man’s enclave. They say, “well, we’re here for the meeting,” and Rubina tells Raghu over the phone. So, soon, they’re heading in there, all ten of ‘em! Raghu’s jaw drops, and then he starts in on his rat-faced look. You’ve seen that, I’m sure.

But he mostly keeps his cool, except when people call him “Raghu,” cuz he thinks he’s better than faculty, and he oughta be called “Chancellor Mathur” or “Herr Doktor Mathur” or whatnot.

Well, he loses it in a coupla places, but mostly things go OK and it’s decided that there’s gonna be A TASK FORCE. That’s right, a task force.

Well, we all know what that means. This thing is gonna be talked to death for a few weeks. But, in the end, Raghu and his pals will do like they always do: they’re gonna flout the rules and do just what they wanna do ‘cause they’re law-breaking *** *******s. And that’s the way it is, and that’s the way it’s been, and, well, too bad there’s no God to swoop down and smite these people (not too hard) and then announce on His Divine bullhorn that “here stand some *** *******s who think they’re My people when in fact they’re just the devil’s droppings stinkin' up My World!.”

“—Or worse!”

The SOCCCD “Lexicon Project” has begun

We at DtB (Dissent the Blog) have started work on the SOCCCD Lexicon project. Our goals is to produce a fairly complete dictionary of terms and expressions that are specific to the SOCCCD community.

Ultimately, the lexicon will be provided to new faculty and new employees generally.

Let us know if you have any contributions, suggestions, or corrections. As always, we’d love to hear from you! Both criticism and praise are much appreciated.

We’ve asked around, and here are just a few district terms and phrases. We know that there are lots more. Send 'em!

“To Beno” – as in “The faculty were totally Benoed by ACCJC.”

Shockingly to be abandoned by a presumed guardian or watchdog.

If you ask a cop for help while some guy is robbing you and then the cop looks over and says, “I think you two are doing just fine,” then you’ve been Benoed, and badly so.

Named after “Babs” Beno, president of the ACCJC, who recently visited the SOCCCD. Despite a series of recent public remarks by one trustee indicating that he contemns the Accreds and their recommendations, Beno declared that good progress was being made by the district.

Variant: “Benoed right in the ACCJC.” That is, to be Benoed from behind. Ouch.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Just like accreditation” – as in “I had to get just like accreditation with my students to make ‘em read their Hobbes.”

This phrase is used any time one needs to threaten someone to get what one wants.

Notoriously, years ago, the board inspired the ACCJC to retreat (on harsh accrediting actions against the colleges) by threatening the agency with litigation and DOE involvement. Dot Fortune snarled at 'em over the phone, too.

* * * * * * * * * *


“Sniffin’ sulphur” – as in “They’re sniffin’ sulphur over in Health Sciences” or “Let’s hope the Accreds won’t have to sniff sulphur during lunch!”

“Sniffing sulphur” means Tom Fuentes is present.

Fuentes, former head of the OC GOP and leader of its declining "Neanderthal" wing, is reputed to be Satan’s chief representative in California.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Waking the ref” – as in “When Chancellor Mathur refused to involve faculty in development of the district planning process, we threatened to wake the ref.”

To “wake the ref” is to call for assistance from the State Chancellor’s Office, whose role it sometimes is to mediate governance conflicts between, say, the district and the faculty.

Offensive variant: “wake the ref and kick his dog.” Former chief counsel for the State Chancellor was Ralph Black, who is blind and who, one might imagine, owns a Seeing Eye dog.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Pants on fire” – as in “Raghu kept telling trustees that faculty want to run district planning! Raghu’s pants were totally on fire.”

A term used to describe Mathurian lying or deceit.

Many in the district believe that Raghu’s pants are perpetually afire.

Variant: "Raghu opened his mouth." That is, Raghu lied.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Calling Spain” – as in “After the board meeting, I immediately called Spain.”

To “call Spain” is to contact the press to report one of Trustee Fuentes’ intrigues or outrages.

Not long ago, Trustee Fuentes brought national ridicule upon us by leading the board in canceling Saddleback College’s “study abroad” program in Spain. Intoned the trustee, Spain has “abandoned our fighting men and women” (i.e., Spain has pulled its troops out of Iraq).

* * * * * * * * * *

“John Boy” – as in “We asked John Boy for help, but, as per usual, all we got was a 'strongly worded' resolution.”

Sometimes this term is used to refer to the President of the State Academic Senate, Ian Walton.

Walton, while undoubtedly a good man, is viewed as milquetoastian and distractingly elocutionarily exotic.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Going to Orlando” – as in “Is that rat bastard goin’ to Orlando again? Doesn't he have a job or something?”

"Going to Orlando" is junketing or otherwise contriving to receive perks in a manner that is of dubious value to the taxpayer, who pays for it.

Trustee John Williams has a history of avoiding local or state conferences in favor of expensive distant ones, especially those held in Orlando, FL. He's been there several times in recent years, all on the district's dime.

By day, Williams is OC’s Public Administrator. As soon as he snagged that job--with the help of cronies--rumors flew that he managed to secure a car and other perks that had not been provided to his predecessor. Not sure if the rumors are true. Anybody know?

Recently, trustee Padberg asked for a report on trustee expenses over the last four years, but Williams and his board allies (Fuentes, Wagner, Lang) voted the request down.

* * * * * * * * * *

“A** Juice” – as in “A** Juice is requiring yet another progress report” or “The visiting team from A** Juice has requested a long bathroom break.”

“A** Juice” is a common nickname for the ACCJC, i.e., the Association of Community Colleges and Junior Colleges, which is the community college division of WASC. (The Accrediting agency.)

Again, contact us if you know any other district-specific terms or phrases!

Good night, John Boy.

We Are the Champions!!!!

Colleagues!!!! Kudos to Our New State Champions!!!!!
Way to Go!!!!!!!!!!

We are pleased to announce that the IVC Lasers are the 2006 California Community College Commission on Athletics Competitive Yoga Champions.

The Lasers won a hotly contested Bikram semifinal match against Santa Barbara City College just last week only to face the undefeated Los Alisos Posers yesterday. As you know, this year, Irvine Valley College won the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) crown for the first time in school history. And, as the champions in a tough conference, we hosted the tournament, our home court advantage clearly energizing our team spirits. Thanks to those faculty, staff and students who joined team members on the Students Services lawn for a series of spirit-raising pre-game sun salutations!!!!!

Needless to say, there was a lot of momentum going into the final.

As you know, our team specializes in Ashtanga Yoga in the Vinyasa Flow Style. This focus, adopted just this season, has resulted in a leaner, meaner overall performance, according to sources. In the compulsory asana section, the team achieved record-breaking scores for a number of poses.

“No one could touch their Triangle Poses or the stability they achieved with their signature group pose: the Vrksasana or Tree Pose that we like to call the Grove,” bragged a clearly elated fan. “And their shoulder stands were amazing!!!”

Los Alisos, which trains using the more conservative Iyengar approach, were challenged by the grace and stamina of our team, especially in the independent floor intensive portion of the meet.

“We knew we had won,” one onlooker claimed, “when, instead of going into their next scheduled pose--their acclaimed Feathered Peacock--the entire Los Alisos team simply sank into Child’s Pose. I loved the way the stands erupted into cheers!!!!”

What makes our victory so special is that IVC doesn’t even have a competitive Yoga Team and neither does anyone else. “It’s a perfect sport,” quipped one administrator who declined to be identified. “No facilities, no equipment, no uniforms, no coaches, no students, no funding. And they win anyway!”

Join me in congratulating our latest state champs!!!!!!!

Namaste!!!!!
Om, Shanti!!!!
Go team!!!!!

It's about the students all right

"You truly captured the essence of what a college newspaper is about ...students."

Chancellor Mathur, in a letter to the Lariat, 5/11/06

In yesterday's post--"What Do Barry Bonds and Saddleback Ballplayers Have in Common?"-- our pal over at the OC Weekly, Matt Coker, commented upon our recent piece "Premature congratulation" (May 13).

In that piece, we noted that Lariat reporters (evidently) failed to get the IVC baseball coach's side of the story.

Back on the 11th, the Lariat asserted that, in recent years, student athletes on baseball teams at both district colleges have used and abused steroids.

Unsurprisingly, faculty at IVC athletics are hoppin' mad! They're saying that the story is baseless and that the student who is quoted by the Lariat as saying that the IVC baseball coach knew about but did not object to steroid use never said any such thing.

Stay tuned.

Premature congratulation

1. THE CURSE OF MATHURIAN PRAISE. In the latest Lariat (5/11/06), Chancellor Mathur writes to tell the Lariat staff that they're doing a heck of a job:

Dear Brownie:

I wanted to take this opportunity to compliment you on the outstanding April 25, 2006 edition of the Lariat. To see on the front page headlines: Students to Grade Classes; Students Help Irvine Celebrate; New Student Leaders announced; Volunters Gather to Brighten Campus was phenomenal. You truly captured the essence of what a college newspaper is about...students.

The quality of all the articles was excellent, but in particular I wanted you to convey my congratulations to Leah Sims for the thought provoking article Driving Under the Influence.

Congratulations to everyone on the Larat staff for a job well done! [OK, I made up the salutation. But the rest of this is verbatim, I swear!]

When I mentioned Mathur's praise of Sims' "Driving Under the Influence" to Rebel Girl, the Reb dryly asserted:

"I bet she's against it."

But get this! In the very Lariat in which Mathur praises the paper's recent bout of gratuitous positivity, we find a distinctly negative investigative piece. It concerns alleged steroid use among student athletes at our own colleges!

In "Lucky Swing" by Ryan Kuhn and James Haynie IV, we read:

Some players say steroids have been around the OEC [the Orange Empire Conference], including both IVC and Saddleback, since at least 2002.

Former Irvine Valley catcher Justin Meisner, who played for the Lasers from 2002 to 2004, witnessed the use of steroids during conference play.

"Some players from other schools would actually talk about using steroids," Meisner said. "Others you could see the affects first-hand."

OK, that's bad enough. But then we read:

Steroids have not only been a factor for the opposing team but also for the [IVC] Lasers. According to Meisner, there were four teammates who used anabolic steroids during his IVC playing career.

"The coach knew about it," Meisner said. "He didn't say anything as long as his players were producing."

Naturally, inquiring minds wanna know if Lariat reporters contacted the coach and asked for his side.

We're not told.

Evidently on the basis of Meisner's testimony, the Lariat concludes that anabolic steroids "have been a factor...also for the Lasers."

A similar approach is taken with regard to Saddleback:

...[S]teroids have reemerged, this time at Saddleback.

According to Saddleback sophormore outfielder Mike Elkerson, Winstrol [an anabolic steroid] has been used by a number of his teammates including one of the starting pitchers.

"I know a total of four guys on the team that have used or are using the steroid," Elkerson said. "There is one pitcher starting to use it again that has done it in the past."

Something tells me that the Lariat won't be getting more of those Warm and Fuzzies from the Chancellor for a while.


2. IT'S FINNISHed. In today's edition of What's New?, the always-reliable Bob Park reports on a flaw recently found in touch-screen voting machines:

The most severe security flaw ever found in a voting system has been discovered by a Finnish expert working for a non-profit group. A professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins told the NY Times that he, "almost had a heart attack," when he learned of the problem. This was not some innocent design error that wasn't caught. Diebold, the company that makes the machines, built in a secret "back door" to "update the software." It could be opened in minutes if someone knows the code. Don't worry, the code is a proprietary secret of Diebold. Of course, there was that 2003 fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans from the Diebold CEO that said, "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its votes to the President" (Park) .

At one of the events of the recent LA Times Festival of Books, Gore Vidal talked up a book on election fraud: What Went Wrong in Ohio: the Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election, edited by Anita Miller. Check it out!

3. WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' TREES. Not long ago, Dissent reported that several trees at IVC were marked with a lurid orange graffitum of death.

Well, Paul finally brought his bunion, and now the trees have joined the angels. I'm told that Glenn smiled with satisfaction as various extremities of our inanimate earthly brethren fell upon the concrete. "Crack!" "Crunch!"

Snicker, smile.

Here are some pics, which document the arboreal atrocity. Picture 1: "before." Picture 2: "after." Picture 3: Stumpy.




They say that, if you count the rings, you get Glenn Roquemore's IQ.

P.S.
8:30 p.m.

One of the authors of the Lariat investigative piece on steroid use is one Ryan Kuhn. In the Lariat edition that Mathur singles out for praise (4/25/06), Mr. Kuhn participates in a "pro" and "con" article on "vegetarianism" ("Vegetarianism: love animals or eat them?").

Mr. Kuhn takes the "con" side (eat 'em). He writes:

There are some vegetarians that eat no meat whatsoever but instead eat foods that have lots of carbohydrates like bagels and pasta. Also cutting out met [sic] might shave off some pounds but they do eat cookies and candy, not balanced eating plans to say the least.

Morals and ethics have been a big controversy whether or not to eat meat. I do agree that some ways of killing animals are completely wrong but some hunting techniques have been around for so long they are viewed as OK. Fishing has become extremely popular....

No matter what reason a person has for not eating meat it is not mandatory for being healthy. Besides that the taste of a barbecue pork sandwich is so good, eating meat is just part of a balanced diet.

...Who wants to eat a veggie burger? Eat meat instead.

The end is near

"No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. WHAT ABOUT TOM? Did you see the article about Trustee Padberg in yesterday’s LA Times?

As you know, Nancy is running for Superior Court judge, office No. 4. She is running against a Superior Court Commissioner, Lyle Robertson, and a senior deputy DA—Sheila Hanson, Democrat.

Robertson has the endorsement of Robert Gallivan, the retiring judge, plus a gaggle of other judges.

But he seems to be without funds.

Plus his website is daffy. On his site's endorsement page (Robertson's website), Judge Chaffee is quoted as saying, "he's a keen guy!"

A keen guy?

I noticed that among Robertson's endorsements is one from Adam Probolsky. Probolsky is a card-carrying member of Team Fuentes/Schroeder.


anson seems most likely to win. Her campaign war chest is four times larger than Nancy’s. Plus Hanson’s been endorsed by Tony “Rat Bastard” Rackauckas, the DA. She's got the inside track.

Rackauckas, of course, has close ties to Trustee Fuentes. It is commonly said that Fuentes' crew--led by attorney Mike Schroeder--is very powerful in OC. Schroeder is a close advisor to both DA Rackauckas and OC Sheriff Mike Carona.

To Beelzebub, too.

Meanwhile, Nancy Padberg has been endorsed by the State California Republican Assembly—a very conservative body. Plus the OC Young Republicans. They're pretty conservative, too.

An impressive group of prominent Republicans has endorsed her. (See Nancy's website). Plainly, Nancy's the Republican choice, and the conservative choice, for this non-partisan office.

According to Nancy's website, all of our (SOCCCD) trustees have endorsed her.

Except for one. Guess who?


’ve been told (I’ll seek confirmation) that, in this race, if no one achieves a simple majority in the upcoming election (June 6), then there’ll be a run-off.

Further, I’ve been told that, if Nancy remains in the race at that point, she cannot also serve as Trustee.

Looks like things could get interesting, starting June 7.

2. ABOUT NANCY. Nancy Padberg’s website includes a section “about Nancy.” It says:

Prior to practicing law and nearly 20 years ago, I was instrumental in securing the arrest and conviction of a high school teacher who sexually molested his female students for nearly ten years. When school administration and local law enforcement were unable to protect our students, I was able to secure his removal from the classroom and end his access to students by getting his teaching credential revoked before his conviction and incarceration.

I did not know that. Inquiring minds wanna know more.

Here’s an odd factoid. Listed among Padberg’s endorsements is “Councilwoman Christina Shea, City of Irvine.”

But listed among Hanson’s endorsements is—you guessed it!— “Christina Shea, Councilmember, City of Irvine.”

Um, I don’t get it.

I guess voters have sex crimes on the brain. In her biography, Hanson emphasizes that she was:

Sexual Assault Prosecutor—Prosecuted Orange County’s most dangerous sex offenders while assigned to the sexual assault unit prosecuting rapists, child molesters and sexually violent predators for more than 5 years.

3. CAREER STUDENT. This morning's New York Times had an odd little story about “career students." It focussed on one student in particular:

Despite his 12 years as an undergraduate student, Johnny Lechner realized something was missing from his academic career: he had never studied abroad… And so, Mr. Lechner, 29, who was finally expected to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, withdrew his application for graduation on Monday, five days before commencement…Michelle Eigenberger, an editor at the student newspaper, The Royal Purple, said Mr. Lechner might have achieved celebrity status, but most students were tired of it…"It's getting old," Ms. Eigenberger said. "For the sanity of the rest of the campus, we want him to get out of here."

Many of us in the district have the very same feeling about Raghu Mathur.



4. THE END IS NEAR. Recently, at a birthday dinner, I sat next to the spouse of a colleague. This fellow, who teaches at a local High School, told me that a particular year of students—I’ve forgotten which one: maybe it was 16-year-olds—is significantly “worse” than anything before seen. He spoke about these students as though they were a cloud of locusts on the horizon.

“How’s that possible?” I asked. "Aren’t such changes usually gradual? What could explain a sudden drop in the quality [aka "preparedness"] of students?” I asked.

The fellow was adamant. He was not sure why this was happening, but it was happening all right.


Then, this morning, I came upon an article (in the NYT) about a mysterious drop in SAT scores:

…[A] new mystery has arisen over the college admissions exam. Many colleges are reporting that their applicants' average scores this year on the verbal and math sections of the exam fell significantly, some by more than 10 points. Usually, scores change glacially, a point or two a year. Colleges and board officials are unsure of the reasons for the decline, and no one points to scoring errors. But the declines have created jitters and puzzlement.

Lee Stetson, dean of admissions [and, no doubt, of hats] at the University of Pennsylvania, said he noticed the decline last fall. "It was only four or five points," he said, "but it was too much of a shift to be a coincidence…He added that at a meeting of Ivy League admissions deans yesterday "there was general concurrence that SAT scores had dropped a nominal amount."

That trend is being reported elsewhere. The University of California saw a 15-point drop in average scores. At the University of Washington, the decline was 5 to 10 points.

The article goes on to offer possible explanations. Check it out. (Colleges report mystery decline in SAT scores)

I sure hope that my High School teacher friend wasn’t onto something! Creepy, ain't it?

But enough about that.

Summer's arrived!

Plus: Happy graduation, graduates!

Diary of a Mad English Professor

“A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”

—George Orwell
“Politics and the English Language” (1946)

oday was one of those days. Rebel Girl’s head cold continued to linger, a blizzardy winter in her skull occupying what should be a sunny So Cal spring but instead perseveres as a drizzle-filled season of no-name.

I drove home, picked up the mail, heated leftover pizza, and read Patricia J. Williams’ column in my latest issue of the Nation (May 15, 2006), standing up in the kitchen, warming myself by the stove.

Last March, Red Emma was in Chicago, attending the Conference on College Composition and Communication (aka the 4 C’s) courtesy of UCI and his own talents. He bought me Williams’ latest book, Open House: of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons and the Search for a Room on My Own. I’ve been making my way through it in the evenings since.

It’s a wonderful and inspiring mix of the personal and the political. Williams is a professor of law at Columbia University and holds a BA from Wellesley College and a JD from Harvard Law School, but I know her mostly through her regular columns in the Nation, which appear under the heading: “Diary of a Mad Law Professor.”

This week’s column is titled, “The Deciderator” and begins with the epigraph below courtesy of President Bush, followed by the text I quote after:

“I hear the voices, and I read the front page and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense." —President Bush, April 18

“I wish I could stop over-analyzing everything President Bush says, but since his pronouncements so often require deciphering, I just can't seem to stop myself at plain meanings. For instance: What on earth's going on with his self-inflicted depiction as our fearless ‘decider’? A preference for Germanic rather than French suffixes? A penchant for verb-lers rather than noun-atives?”

A moody English professor who seems to be in perpetual despair, I identified with William’s tendency to over-analyze the President’s rhetorical stylings.

Naturally, I kept reading. A few lines later, Williams admits that her “worry is not solely about language.” She points out, “This Administration has circumvented the thoughtful, the consultative, the diplomatic with phraseology so twisted that one indulges the temptation to laugh at it as meaningless rather than to unpackage the purpose behind the mangled mots.”

She cites Bush’s endorsement of “affirmative access” over affirmative action during one of the presidential debates, describing it as “an artful dodge…a refusal to engage as well as a refusal to commit.”

“That maneuver,” she writes, “has in it the ingredients of so much of what I find troubling about this Administration: there’s a whole lot of decideration and precious little consideration. This is an Administration that has leaped without looking, that has prized efficiency (or the idea of it anyway) over equity and enshrined secrecy over communication at every turn. Competence is unquestionably sacrificed in that kind of bunkered, blinkered governance. And accountability—which is, after all, what we should be debating when it comes to Rumsfeld’s performance—is not even on the table.”

My impulse is simply to present you with her entire essay. But there are laws against that kind of thing, and besides you can pursue Patricia J. Williams yourself: buy the Nation, find it in the library or read as much as they will let you online at: www.thenation.com)

But some of you know where I’m going with this. Of course. Perhaps you recognize the syndrome too. For indeed, as much as I found myself nodding in agreement with Williams’ assessment of the Bush Administration, I also found myself seeing the sorry state of our college district reflected in her words:

“…there’s a whole lot of decideration and precious little consideration.” —Yup

“This is an Administration that has leaped without looking, that has prized efficiency (or the idea of it anyway) over equity and enshrined secrecy over communication at every turn.” —Oh yeah.

“Competence is unquestionably sacrificed in that kind of bunkered, blinkered governance.” —You got that right!

“And accountability…is not even on the table.” —Uh-huh.

And, in terms of the “mangled mots” uttered by our own local fearless leaders, well, dear reader, simply cast your eyes to the sidebar of this blog, where Chunk usually has the doozies posted. “Stop living in an ivory castle!” Indeed.

This regime—the board and Chancellor, the administrators in charge of the commonwealth, public education, our cultural and political lives—have done to language what they have done to our nation, our state (Der Terminator) and our county. They are foolish people for whom language is something less a tool than a destroyerator of tools. As Orwell claims, “Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

“Pure wind.”

Brrrrrr.