The SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT —
"[The] blog he developed was something that made the district better." - Tim Jemal, SOCCCD BoT President, 7/24/23
Lawmakers are considering new proposals from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow community college districts flexibility to use more part-time instructors as part of the state's massive budget-cutting efforts. … The proposals are opposed by community college instructors and their largest union, the California Federation of Teachers, which recently helped defeat a Schwarzenegger-backed ballot measure – Proposition 1A – that would have extended newly imposed tax increases. … "Nothing the governor says these days surprises us," [CFT communications director Fred] Glass [said]. "He seems to be using this (fiscal crisis) as an opportunity to slash-and-burn education."
Specifically, Schwarzenegger is calling for a five-year suspension of portions of state education code that require 50 percent of a community college district's educational expenditures to be used for teacher salaries and which set a systemwide goal that 75 percent of instructional hours be taught by full-time faculty….
Facing up to $35 million in budget cuts, Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) has abruptly canceled its summer session, eliminating a broad range of classes for 6,600 full and part-time students, some of whom live in Orange County. … CPP formally announced on June 5 that it has canceled its summer quarter classes, which were to begin on the staggered dates of June 22 and July 29. [Campus spokeswoman Uyen] Mai said CPP is studying whether it can offer some of the courses through its College of the Extended University, starting July 13.
If it is able to provide this alternative, students will have to pay more for their education. Mai said that a student taking 8 units of lecture classes in the regular summer quarter would have paid about $1,200. The figure would be closer to $1,800 through university extension….
A judge ruled last week in Colorado that not only is tenure a good thing for the professors who enjoy it, it is valuable to the public. Further, the court ruled that the value (to the public) of tenure outweighed the value of giving colleges flexibility in hiring and dismissing….
While noting "countervailing public interests" in the case, the judge wrote that "the public interest is advanced more by tenure systems that favor academic freedom over tenure systems that favor flexibility in hiring or firing." The ruling added that "by its very nature, tenure promotes a system in which academic freedom is protected" and that "a tenure system that allows flexibility in firing is oxymoronic." … Rachel Levinson, senior counsel for the AAUP, called the ruling "fantastic," both for the individual faculty members and for professors elsewhere….
"More broadly, what this does is reiterate the value of tenure and the importance of tenure, and that tenure itself can be a public interest," Levinson said….
According to Moxley, Christine Hanley has resigned. He's got good things to say about her:
For several years, Hanley was the lone daily reporter who joined me in determined pursuit of Sheriff Mike Carona's corruption at the Orange County Sheriff's Department. She broke key Carona stories, got reluctant witnesses to talk, found smoking-gun documents and withstood the intimidation that comes with challenging a twisted little man who had no business running California's second largest policing agency. Her excellence made me a better journalist.
Moxley includes her June 1 email to her colleagues.
Other exiting OC reporters: Norberto Santana Jr., John Gittelsohn both of the OC Register.
This morning, Steve Harvey offers “commencement” speech stories, including one about Richard Moore, then-president of Santa Monica College, who, back in 1992, offered only three words: ‘“Feelings.” Then, “Adventures.” And finally, “Ideas.”’ He sat down.
Many of us in the SOCCCD dream that Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur will some day adopt this practice. Imagine: he walks to the podium. He offers three words: "For." Then, "deh." And finally, "students." He sits down.
Another story is about Theodor Geisel of “Dr. Suess” fame.
He was lured out of La Jolla to receive an honorary degree from Lake Forest (Ill.) College in 1977.
Though he was listed as commencement speaker, he told officials upon arriving that he had no intention of addressing the crowd. It appeared his speech might amount to: "Thank you."
But Geisel surprised everyone by pulling out a 100-word ditty he had composed while sitting onstage.
It was an account of his Uncle Terwilliger ordering a puffed tart in a restaurant and went, in part:
"To eat these things," said my uncle, "you must exercise great care. You may swallow down what's solid
BUT
you must spit out the air!" And as you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow. Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
The final figures won’t be known for months, but Chapman University executives are certain about this: When the fall semester begins, the bucolic campus in Old Towne will have more students than it did last year — a claim all or most of Orange County’s public colleges and universities won’t be able to make….
Legendary Athens band "Pylon," in their heyday, c. 1980. Guitarist Randy Bewley (far left) died of a heart attack about three months ago.
MUSIC FOR A SUNDAY MORNING: The wonderful Iris Dement singing her "Our Town" with the help of Emmylou Harris. You'll love it! (Harris first made a name for herself as a backup singer, supporting Gram Parsons.)
Saw these two at the Greek last night. Terrific as always. Especially Lang.
Here are some old videos that you might like. Or not.
Last night, Garrison Keillor suggested that we check out the video of Lang's "Crying," so here it is. She's pretty terrific all right. Used to pal around with Roy Orbison, who of course did the original version of "Crying."
The "Canadian" connection, you know. Neil was recovering from brain surgery, as I recall, so kd stepped in for this gig. He's all better now. But he still sings like he does. Gotta love 'im.
Her official video of this song was filmed in a beautiful part of Nevada. Check it out. (I was just there last week! Very cool.)
Do you remember the original Cat Stevens version? Great pop song. Stevens wrote some great ones. I do hope that Natalie Merchant has chilled out. (Remember when she pulled "Peace Train" off of her album?)
Check out David Sanborn going nuts on his sax. Over the top, I think. —Still.
Here, our girl is strictly second banana to her former boyfriend and his pals. They're all giving tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Crow used to do backup, before she hit it big.
Remember the version of "Little Wing" on Clapton's "Derek and the Dominoes" album? I thought it was great—but it doesn't quite top the original.
While we're on the subject of "girl singers" (OK, I know) and great songs, if you don't know about the Be Good Tanyas and their tiny bird song, well man, prepare to be dazzled:
Ah, more Canadians. They're from Vancouver, BC--I lived there for a time as a young boy. You'll notice that I occasionally call my couch a "Chesterfield" and that I can be colorless and boring.
This morning, I came across this fun comment about the delusion that we can predict the future--or at least the future of horse races. According to former jockey Sean Clancy,
Horses are just like people; there are smart ones, dumb ones, miserable ones, honest ones, simple ones, cheats, freaks, leaders and laggards. They have good days, bad days and plenty of average days. They can be brilliant one minute, horrible the next. They can remember something that happened a year ago and forget what they learned yesterday. They’ll walk placidly into a metal starting gate that clangs and rings when the doors open, and then be scared of a bucket that wasn’t there yesterday.
And we think we know what’s going to happen this afternoon [at the horse race].
The OC Weekly’s R. Scott Moxley notes that ace reporter Norberto Santana Jr. is leaving the OC Register. Earlier in the day, the Weekly’s Nick Schou had reported that John Gittelsohn is also leaving the Reg—for a job with Bloomberg News.
Santana's departure … means that Orange County's largest daily newspaper has lost two of its best talents. Translation to the public: the ability of our local journalism community to deliver key news stories about corruption just suffered a serious blow.
Busy bee Gary Robbins informs us that the recession has caused a steep drop in UCI’s endowment fund:
Newly-released figures show that UCI’s endowment declined by about $45 million during the one year period ending on March 31. The drop comes as UCI is struggling to figure out how it is going to cut an estimated $55 million to help the state erase a projected $24.3 billion deficit. The campus has frozen faculty hiring and some university staff are expected to be furloughed or laid off.
How does this drop compare with that of other UC campuses? According to Thomas Mitchell, VC of university advancement, other universities are “‘reporting losses of 20 or 30 percent….’” Apparently, UCI is nothing special in this regard.
Noting that Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing $825 million in cuts from the community college budget, Laurel Rosenhall of the Sacramento Bee reports that the Governor “suggested cuts from support programs for disabled and disadvantaged students, and a reduction in funding for physical education classes.”
Critics say that this approach means laying off 6,000 part-time teachers and turning away a quarter million students. Ouch!
Well, something’s gotta give. Naturally, some object to targeting PE, and this brings up the local vs. state control issue, among others:
Educators say it's a case of legislators micromanaging their curriculum, while legislative analysts say limiting PE is the most practical way to trim during historic budget stress.
Jack Scott, chancellor of the state's community colleges, says course cutbacks should be determined locally. ¶ "Each local community college has a better feel for what its priorities are and what are the things they could more easily do without," he said.
But the legislative analysts who suggested the PE cut say state law makes clear that when times are tight, California must prioritize what the colleges teach. Vocational and academic courses are most important, the law says, and recreational courses are at the bottom of the heap. … [According to the Schwarzenegger/Legislative Analyst's Office proposal, state] funding would be cut from a rate that would total $4,600 if students were taking a full courseload to $2,700 per full-time student. The $2,700 is the amount the state now pays the colleges for non-credit courses, such as fitness for older adults. Students would still get credit for PE courses, even if they're funded at the non-credit rate.
[Paul Steenhausen of the Legislative Analyst's Office] says many community college PE classes are more about fun than credit. ¶ "It's like a community center," Steenhausen said. "Yoga, Pilates, pingpong, badminton, skiing." … Scott said he's already urging the colleges to start that process. He wants them to put top priority on classes that teach remedial academic skills, prepare students for the job market or get them ready to transfer to four-year schools….
…Student veterans have become more visible on many campuses…, and colleges, preparing for an expected increase in veteran enrollment once the new Post-9/11 GI Bill takes effect this August, have taken notice. Many colleges have been stepping up their support for and outreach to veterans, by creating veterans' offices, streamlining their admission and registration processes, expanding their counseling center capacity, establishing mentoring programs, and training faculty and staff.
"I am very pleased. It seems like people have really started to understand that the veteran population is going to be increasing soon, and veterans are a little different than the average college student, the average 18-year-old, coming to school," says John Powers, executive director of Student Veterans of America. The number of SVA chapters has grown by about 15 chapters a month since January, and there are now 177 chapters in 40 different states, Powers says. “Everyone’s very, very motivated. Some of them are social clubs, but some of them are really changing policies,” says Powers.
“There are some universities out there that are fully prepared, they’re on board. Every college is different. You can have great admissions policies, but you may not have a veterans’ resource center on campus. The counseling center may be lacking,” says Powers….
RECENTLY, I added two cat images (see) that I thought were funny. I especially liked the commando-cat image. I thought the other image was iffy, humorwise.
One of our readers (MAH) objected to the commando-cat image. In a note to another reader (BS), she opined (in passing): “the cat with [the] gun is horrible!”
BS responded, noting (in passing) that he liked the “cat with a gun,” judging it to be a “creative” use of a yawning cat.
Later, MAH shared her usual thoughtful reflections about things, but she added:
All right: just to show my grumpiness at the June gloom, I don't even like the cat with mouse and laptop. I never did care for that kind of anthropomorphized imagery of animals. Remember those godawful commercials in the old days that made cats appear (not very well) to speak words? Hated 'em more than I can say. The magnificent creatures are interesting enough in their own right not to need "enhancement" with faked human activities. [I added the dictionary link.]
I briefly responded, arguing (good-naturedly, I hope) that the “commando” image either did not anthropomorphize or that it did, but in an acceptable way. I said that, at least for me, the humor of the image depends in part on the manifest absurdity of placing a cat in these settings—not on the idea that cats are like Rambo (or are like computer geeks). (No doubt MAH will explain to me that she doesn't need me pointing this out.)
I’m not sure, but I think that the commando-cat image is “fun” for me in part because it vaguely ridicules the embarrassing and unsophisticated “Rambo/Hollywood-commando” fantasy or mindset. It does not ridicule cats or suggest that cats are anything like one of these stupid cartoon-commandos. (I’m passing no judgment on real commandos.)
OK, so one point is this: I do not object to portraying cats as people per se, just as I do not object to portraying, say, babies as adults per se. (No doubt, MAH will agree.) I noted that the current E-trade commercials (portraying a baby/toddler as a kind of hip young male stock speculator) are funny and unobjectionable (at least re our attitudes toward babies). (See below.) Their creator is clever and understands the creepiness and absurdity of viewing babies as hip young traders. These commercials are generally striking and entertaining, to me. (On the other hand, they utterly fail to cause me to buy what E-Trade sells. In fact, I had to look up whose commercials these were!)
Along with MAH, I did not like those old Meow Mix talking-cat commercials and the like. (See below for the "meow" commercial, although MAH perhaps had some other commercials in mind.) These kinds of commercials don’t strike me as objectionable. To me, most of them are simply unclever and stupid. Do they imply anything about the nature or quality of cats? I don’t see how. I think they pander to a common capacity to be dazzled and entertained by stupid things. (OK, I am now flashing my “elitist” card.)
MAH is of course correct: some commercials anthropomorphize animals in the sense that they in some sense impute human thoughts and attitudes to nonhuman animals. And some of these commercials are stupid precisely on that score.
My candidate: the “Morris the cat” (9 Lives) commercials. (See below.) There’s something too easy, and somehow just stupid, about the "haughty cat" stereotype. Cats can be finicky, of course, but I don’t think they are ever haughty, and that's what these commercials suggest. Are they sometimes indifferent to our desires and actions? Well, no, for indifference implies awareness, but it seems to me that on those occasions that inspire talk of feline “haughtiness,” cats are not aware of our efforts or wishes. Are they disdainful of us? Well, again, no, for they seem to proceed as though we are not present. There’s nothing really present for them to be contemptuous or disdainful of. It seems obvious (to me) that cats are never contemptuous or disdainful, though they share some of the behavior associated with those attitudes among humans.
No doubt some of you will now reveal your claws.
As any cat person knows, it is possible to “connect” with a cat. With some effort, one can make a cat aware of one’s presence and needs or desires (to some extent). When prompted, cats have no trouble looking into a person's eyes and paying attention to them. Such occasions seem to interrupt the general flow of feline obliviousness to others. I think cats are more oblivious of others than humans are. It's just their way.
I guess I “object” to Morris commercials more or less in the way that I object to silly and crude stereotypes generally. Most of the time, crude stereotypical thinking strikes me as stupid more than wrong. But, obviously, it can be wrong, too.
BTW: it turns out that Morris the Cat is a fairly decent guy. According to Wikipedia,
Morris has appeared in [various] media over the years. He starred in the movie Shamus with Burt Reynolds and Dyan Cannon in 1973. He also appears as a "spokescat" promoting responsible pet ownership, pet health and pet adoptions through animal shelters. To this end, he has "authored" three books: The Morris Approach, The Morris Method and The Morris Prescription.
In 2006, Morris was depicted as adopting a kitten from a Los Angeles animal shelter, L'il Mo, who represents the first in a campaign known as Morris' Million Cat Rescue.
Yes, I know. It would be naive to conclude that the "9 Lives" people are focused on the welfare of pets.
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