15 points of intelligence

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In the future, everyone will have an IQ of 15.

● CRANKS. They’re fun! Years ago, the SOCCCD was wildly entertained by Holocaust denier and Mathur pal trustee Steve “the ADL did it!” Frogue.

You’ll recall that he was nearly recalled by the voters.

In recent years, the Orange Unified School District has had their own village idiot, the marvelous Steve Rocco, who was elected sans campaign by clueless voters in the city of Orange in 2004.

Well, as in the case of Mr. Frogue, Mr. Rocco now faces a possible recall: Group wants to recall Rocco from Orange school district.

The Reg tried to contact Rocco about all this, but he hung up the phone on ‘em. Perfect!

Rocco, who wears a knit cap and sunglasses during meetings, has been known to go on conspiracy theory speeches and does not attend closed-session meetings.

He gained attention after victory in November 2004 election. He was elected without campaigning…In April, the board voted to restrain Rocco's speeches by making it harder for him to place items on agendas….

Late last year, Rocco and an activist group filed a lawsuit alleging board members of violating Rocco's rights of free speech. The board censured Rocco for stating in a meeting that he would "vote to fire" a high school principal rather than reassign him….

Rocco eventually bailed on the lawsuit. Also perfect.


● Once again, the city of Irvine has been designated the country’s most boring city, or something. According to the Reg,

For the third straight year, Irvine is America's safest city, topping all large cities in the nation with the lowest incidence of violent crime in 2006, according to preliminary FBI data released Monday…One of the first and largest master-planned communities, Irvine recorded a nearly 17 percent drop in violent crime last year – while violent crime in Orange County's eight largest cities climbed 2.79 percent….

Gee, I wonder how that compares with crime rates in Santander, Spain?

● Inside Higher Ed reports on a widening “cash-for-grades” scandal up in northern Cal:

Los Medanos College has been the second institution in California’s Contra Costa Community College District hit with a cash-for-grades scandal, The Contra Costa Times reported. As many as eight Los Medanos students may have paid to have grades changed; dozens of students are being investigated at Diablo Valley College, also in the district.

● Meanwhile,

The Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media has announced the first fellows in a new program to encourage more sophisticated journalistic coverage of community colleges. The fellows will receive support for a major project on community colleges. Details on the fellows and their projects are available here. Inside Higher Ed congratulates one of its columnists, Wick Sloane, who won one of the fellowships. The Hechinger Institute is part of Teachers College, Columbia University.

Squawk: Shameless Plug of New Publication

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Writers Workshop in a Book: the Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Writing

edited by Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez with an introduction by Richard Ford

Chronicle Books (June 7, 2007)

"Since 1969, the prestigious Squaw Valley Community of Writers has helped develop the art and craft of many who are now household names. Instructors such as Michael Chabon, Mark Childress, Diane Johnson, Anne Lamott, Robert Stone, and Amy Tan have distilled their advice and wisdom from seminars and lectures, and the result is a book that captures the workshop experience of complete submersion in the writing process. With an introduction by novelist and short story master Richard Ford, himself a conference attendee in the 1970s, this volume gives the writer and dedicated reader a jolt of inspiration, sharp insight into matters of technique, and a feeling of camaraderie with a writing community."

So they say.

The big bang

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BOTCHED AND BUNGLED:

If we survey a ship, what an exalted idea must we form of the ingenuity of the carpenter who framed so complicated, useful, and beautiful a machine? And what surprise must we feel, when we find him a stupid mechanic, who imitated others, and copied an art, which, through a long succession of ages, after multiplied trials, mistakes, corrections, deliberations, and controversies, had been gradually improving? Many worlds might have been botched and bungled, throughout an eternity, ere this system was struck out; much labour lost, many fruitless trials made; and a slow, but continued improvement carried on during infinite ages in the art of world-making.

— DAVID HUME

BANG!

DID YOU KNOW that many of our district’s troubles trace back to a BIG BANG? I'm talking about the outcome of the 1996 SOCCCD board election. It was the proud creation of a corrupt & scruffy crew of creators, namely, a group of faculty misfits who, by 1996, controlled the union's war chest.

One of the leaders of that group was Raghu Mathur.

Nowadays, most members of that group have no power at all. They hide in dark corners. They snipe from bushes. One of ‘em has come to see the error of his former ways, or so he says.

Mathur’s the big exception, of course. Why, he’s the Chancellor of the district, and he's here to stay!

CORRUPTION:

Speaking of corruption, from today’s Inside Higher Ed:

The new chancellor of Alabama’s community college system is ordering all presidents and senior administrators to attend ethics training, and plans to eventually require all of the system’s 9,000 employees to participate, The Birmingham News reported. The system is the subject of several corruption investigations, so much so that the Birmingham newspaper noted that the state’s ethics commissioner — who will be leading the initial sessions — was quoted as saying of the system: “You almost have to turn the culture upside down and start over. It’s so ingrained ... it’s almost like a Mafia family.”

Meanwhile…

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is today releasing a report, “Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Universities: What Can Be Done?” The report says that educational institutions worldwide are losing billions of dollars because of various corrupt practices.

SCIENCE, TOO, HAS A BIG BANG:

From yesterday’s New York Times: The Universe, Expanding Beyond All Understanding

When Albert Einstein was starting out on his cosmological quest 100 years ago, the universe was apparently a pretty simple and static place. Common wisdom had it that all creation consisted of an island of stars and nebulae known as the Milky Way surrounded by infinite darkness.

We like to think we’re smarter than that now. We know space is sprinkled from now to forever with galaxies rushing away from one another under the impetus of the Big Bang.

Bask in your knowledge while you can. Our successors, whoever and wherever they are, may have no way of finding out about the Big Bang and the expanding universe, according to one of the more depressing scientific papers I have ever read.

If things keep going the way they are, Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University and Robert J. Scherrer of Vanderbilt University calculate, in 100 billion years the only galaxies left visible in the sky will be the half-dozen or so bound together gravitationally into what is known as the Local Group, which is not expanding and in fact will probably merge into one starry ball.

Unable to see any galaxies flying away, those astronomers will not know the universe is expanding and will think instead that they are back in the static island universe of Einstein. As the authors, who are physicists, write in a paper to be published in The Journal of Relativity and Gravitation, “observers in our ‘island universe’ will be fundamentally incapable of determining the true nature of the universe.”

It is hard to count all the ways in which this is sad...[W]e have the prospect of a million separate Sisyphean efforts with one species after another pushing the rock up the hill only to have it roll back down and be forgotten.

Worse, it makes you wonder just how smug we should feel about our own knowledge.

“There may be fundamentally important things that determine the universe that we can’t see,” Dr. Krauss said in an interview. “You can have right physics, but the evidence at hand could lead to the wrong conclusion. The same thing could be happening today.”….

Where the heck are all the men?

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TWO WEEKS AGO, while covering commencement, we noted “the increasing dominance of women among the community college studentry.”

It was hard to miss, looking at the assembled graduates: mostly women, with whips and jackboots.

No, but really, it’s a trend in our colleges, or so said one speaker at Saddleback College's commencement. I do recall the fellow even proclaimed that the proportion of female students is now 60 some-odd percent!

In this morning’s OC Register, our old pal Marla Jo is on the case, though her focus is on four-year institutions (Missing males puzzle colleges). Her article links the trend to broader issues in the state, including the increasing necessity of importing educated people:

It's only been three decades since women marched in the streets to demand the right to go to all-male universities. But today some experts wonder if men themselves are becoming the endangered species.

Nationally, women make up 58 percent of college and university students, with the percentage of men shrinking every year. The trend is even more pronounced among some ethnic groups and in some areas, attracting attention from researchers nationwide.

Women outnumber men 2-to-1 among the 40 percent of undergraduates age 25 or older, according to the American Council on Education.

"This has been going on for some time, but no one ever wanted to speak about it, because it's not politically correct," said retired Cal State Fullerton physics professor Mark Shapiro, who studies the trend. "The only people who would talk about it were college admissions officers, who were wondering where the heck all the men are."

…Experts say California already has too few college graduates to meet the demand from employers, requiring the state to import educated workers from other states and even other countries.

Policy leaders are becoming concerned about the untrained men left behind, without enough education to succeed in an increasingly technological world where more jobs require higher-level thinking.

..."There's been a significant problem of the underrepresentation of minority men on college campuses that has gotten worse," said Mark Justad, a board member of the [American Men's Studies Association]. "Recently we've started to see this impact the middle-class white male, and now we're starting to pay attention to it."

Justad said top-tier colleges and universities don't show much of a gender gap, but the trend becomes pronounced in middle-tier schools.

...Experts also say fewer men go to college than women because boys will more likely drop out of high school than girls, leaving the university applicant pool smaller.

So where are all the men?

"They go out and get jobs. They get busted and go to jail. Some go into the military," Shapiro said. "An awful lot just go into dead-end jobs."

See also

● Chancellor gets puppy, names it "Checkers"

● Young woman at Saddleback discovered "posing as a community college student"

● Secret White Stripes bassist finally breaks silence, reveals all

● Chancellor acknowledges "irresponsibility" in emigrating with only $8 in his pocket

● Fuentes vacations in Spain, buys Mace

Abject nipcheesery!

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SADDLEBACK, NURSING, AND BELIZE:

Did you see the article in the Register a couple of days ago about the OC nurses heading for Belize? Evidently, a nurse and Saddleback College graduate has opened a clinic in a village in that Caribbean nation, and she’s managed to lure Saddleback College’s Terri Whitt and a team of nine other nurses (assembled by Whitt) to the clinic to help out (Nurses on a mission):

The women are set to leave for "Nursing Outreach—Belize 2007" on June 7. They are planning on taking 1,550 pounds of medical supplies in their suitcases and are expected to treat 600 children. They have already received donations from the college, helping hands and medical professionals among others….

Good luck!

IT WAS THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY:

For all you word lovers out there, I was perusing the OED the other day, and I came across the word "wind-fuck." It's venerable:

Did you euer heare such a Wind-fucker, as this?
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯Ben Jonson, 1609

Never mind. On Tuesday, the Reg did one of those “this date, decades ago” articles ( Yesterday in Irvine) about Irvine. They included this:

Thirty years ago...May 26, 1977: Saddleback College trustees approved an agreement with the Irvine Co. to purchase 20 acres at Irvine Center Drive and Jeffrey Road for a satellite campus, now Irvine Valley College.

At the time, I believe, Raghu P. Mathur was a part-time chemistry instructor at Saddleback College. I guess they decided to ship the guy north.

NIPCHEESERY:

I've been trying to learn why the weird shape on our new PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (PAC) is painted that awful "shit" red, and, as near as I can tell, it has to do with money. Evidently, paint-wise, the crew that oversees the build wanted to do one thing—having to do with some kind of texture, I think—but then things got too expensive, and so they had to go to plan B, and that entailed just painting the WEIRD WEDGY and not texturizing it—or something.

Anyway, a decision had to be made as to color, and so somebody way at the top decided on a color that cleverly combines the vice of ugliness with the virtue of "matching."

That's right. That shit red matches the color of the bricks all over campus. That's a big plus, isn't it?

Well, no, it isn't.

It's the usual tightwaddery. And no way is it an isolated instance, either. Evidently, the big window area (see below) was suposed to go up to the roof, but they had to scale that way back, too. Cheapy, cheapy, cheapy.

Yesterday, when I examined my new PAC pics (taken mostly from afar), I noticed a dot or something on one wall (see arrow below).

It turned out to be more than a dot.

Evidently, Those In Charge of the PAC (TIC-PACs) have decided to write "PAC" upon that wall of the building, but they couldn't afford a sign that's big enough actually to be read. So they went ahead and bought a microscopic sign that only somebody standing right under can read. Check it out:

From this distance, you can just make out the sign, but I defy you to be able to read it. No way.

OK, it says "PAC." I didn't have any nearer photos, so I had to blow up what I had to get a closer view. Here's what I got.

At this point, I asked myself: what's that blue sign to the right of "PAC"?

Enough to puke a dog off a gut wagon

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THE STUDENTRY around here sure can be peevish. I've got a bunch of bellyachers this summer that you wouldn't believe!


I finally asked one of 'em, "Dude, what's got your knickers in a twist, anyway?" And he said: "Why, it's that new Performing Arts Center! It's way cool, of course—except for..."

Other students chimed in: "—except for that awful color!"

RED a la MERDE

Well, yes, it's pretty shitty. Not the whole PAC building, of course. Just that weird colored wedgy part. Who was the knucklehead who picked that?

I can picture the scene: "Let's go with a shitty, rusty, brownish red, shall we? Yes. And let's make sure it looks all old and faded to boot!"

But of course! Splendid!

But wait a minute! We don't have to beef about it! We can repaint it, can't we? Sure! I bet the city would even cough up the dough! I mean, how much could a few cans of paint cost? Plus I've got a free weekend coming up.

SPECTRE CHROMATIQUE

First thing's first. We've gotta pick a replacement color. I wanna help out. You know me.

So I walked over to the PAC today and took the above snap. Then I did a Photoshop number on it. I came up with some mock-ups that show how that dang thing would look with a splash or two of some real color! Check it out:

HELPFUL MOCK-UPPERY

1. This is some kind of turquoise, I guess. Looks like shit. Well, no, but it definitely clashes with the sky.

2. White is always a bold choice. But nope. Tu dois ajouter un peu de couleur à ton édifice pour l'illuminer un peu.

3. Goth!

4. I once had a shag carpet that looked like this. It was so revolting, it could gag a dog off a puke-wagon.

5. That looks stupid.

6. Sanguine! Bold!

7. Tartan. I dunno.

8. Paisley.

Hey, this isn't as easy as I thought.

Tell us what you think! And for chrissake, let's be positive!

Free speech at UC Irvine

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AS YOU KNOW, the benighted campuses of the SOCCCD have been a battleground over “free speech” since 1997. Ten years ago, then-President of IVC, Raghu P. Mathur, violated the speech rights of students who sought to protest, peacefully, against policies and actions that, in their view, threatened the college’s accreditation rating. Not long after that, then-trustee Steven J. Frogue was pressured to abandon his planned (and colleague-approved) “forum” on the Warren Commission, which involved a group of speakers, including some associated with a notorious anti-Semitic organization (Liberty Lobby). Early in 1999, I, Chunk, was forced to take the district to federal court when Mathur and the district violated my First Amendment rights re Dissent. (Read all about these episodes in our archives.)

Nowadays, the focus is on UC Irvine, just a couple of miles up the road from IVC.

From this morning’s LA Times: Harsh speech called free speech at UC Irvine:

Facing a polite but skeptical Jewish audience, UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake walked a tightrope Wednesday as he tried to explain that campus events seen by some as anti-Semitic are actually expressions of constitutionally protected free speech.

Drake met with more than 600 members of the county's Jewish community who expressed concern about what they perceived as anti-Semitic activity on campus, much of it involving Muslim students. The town hall meeting — organized by the Jewish Federation of Orange County, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee — was held at the Shir Ha Ma'alot synagogue in Irvine.

UCI has become a flashpoint in the national Israeli-Arab debate that has created hard feelings between Muslims and Jews. This month, Muslim students on campus sponsored a presentation, "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected," protesting that country's policies toward Palestinians.

…On Wednesday, Drake heard complaints that Jewish students were afraid to be on campus and was challenged repeatedly to draw a line between free speech and hate speech. But he said it was an impractical and impossible assignment.

"Free speech means simply that: free speech," he told one questioner.

To another, he said: "Speech is protected. It can be hateful. It can be wrong. It can be vile." Unlike speech, he added, violent acts are not protected.

…Earlier, UCI students and professors formed a Human Circle of Tolerance, had sung "All You Need is Love" and released 20 doves. The students included Jews, Muslims and Christians….

The OC Register (UCI chief meets with Jewish groups) reported the following Q & A:

Why is it that you personally don't exercise your right to free speech and speak directly to statements made on campus?

[Drake:] "We have 1,000 guest speakers on campus every year. Could I evaluate them and say this one is anti-Semitic? I could not. What I could say is that as a person and a campus, we abhor hate speech, period."

Right now, my kids don't want to go to your school. With the activity on campus, why should my kids go to your school?

"It's an outstanding educational institutional [sic]. If you talk to our students, they will tell you how much they love their experience here. (These incidents) are not every other day. It's a couple of times a year. And they're from people coming from off campus. It just got more media attention."

Is there a place on campus that does not tolerate anti-group speech on campus?

"There are 26,000 students on campus. I want every student on campus to know that this is their home. I want them to feel secure, and feel that is their home."