Tri-tip scandal rocks Irvine Valley College!? (What's the beef?)

     The IVC Flex week schedule included a predictable item for Friday: an all-college barbeque. The schedule didn't give details.
     But then, two days before the event, IVC President Glenn Roquemore personally emailed the IVC community with a reminder:

     It was all academic to me, since I was home sick with the flu. Probably wouldn't have attended anyway. Vegetarians generally avoid parties built around sizzling bird and bovine flesh.

     On Friday, I posted something about the old Blue Beet restaurant in Newport Beach. That didn't seem to get much of a response. Friday came and went. I heard nothing about the goddam IVC barbeque.

     Then, on Saturday, beets turned to beef! People posted these comments (under the Blue Beet story):

Anonymous said...

   On Friday Glenn hosts a campus BBQ and 15 mins. into the event, runs out of food…

—12:33 PM, January 07, 2012

Anonymous said...

   No he didn't. you're putting us on. I know the P/T dinner buffet ran out of food later on but not the lunchtime BBQ - say it ain't so.

—12:37 PM, January 07, 2012

Anonymous said...

   Yup. He enticed everyone with “tri-tip.” That was gone in the first 5 mins. How embarrassing.

—12:40 PM, January 07, 2012

Anonymous said...

   There was plenty of potato salad.

—12:59 PM, January 07, 2012

Anonymous said...

   You should be grateful for what tri-tip there was.

—1:09 PM, January 07, 2012

beef  verb [ intrans. ] informal

complain : he was beefing about how the recession was killing the business.*

Anonymous said...

   Yup, throw some red meat out there and watch the employees scramble and fight over it!

—2:15 PM, January 07, 2012

Anonymous said...

   It was a good effort on his part - just poorly thought out. I commend him for the gesture.

—2:17 PM, January 07, 2012

     Makes you proud to be a member of the IVC community, don’t it? You can write about state task forces, failed college programs, or massive scandals, and nobody cares. Then some guy carps about tri-tip disappointment at a barbeque, and people go apeshit. Go figure.

     On Tuesday, the “tri-tip debate” resumed, perhaps inspired by the rapidly approaching one-week mark since the initial tri-tip tragedy:

Anonymous said...

   Some of us had to work during the BBQ and when we arrived at 12:30, there was nothing left at all. I'm sure all the minions and A100 folk were fed.

—1:30 PM, January 10, 2012

The source of "tri-tip"

Anonymous said...

   Well, it's typical Glenn. Actions don't square with his words.

—2:00 PM, January 10, 2012

Anonymous said...

   People should stop complaining about the tri-tip. There was plenty of chicken. It wasn't Glen's fault. Besides, he paid for the whole thing out of his own pocket.

—5:51 PM, January 10, 2012

     To be fair, in his email, Glenn only said that the barbeque would "include" tri-tip. It did.

     Whatever. I couldn't believe that all these people were worked up over the absence of tri-tip, whatever that is, at a goddam barbeque!

     Then, on Wednesday:

Anonymous said...

   People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan.

—3:04 PM, January 11, 2012

Anonymous said...

   There was poor planning regarding the Friday barbecue - they should have been cooking the stuff BEFORE people showed up. That was part of the problem - the quantity was, uh, a bigger problem. But I heard Kiana's cake was FAB.

—5:45 PM, January 11, 2012

Anonymous said...

   So they were serving red meat, 'eh?

—5:59 PM, January 11, 2012

Anonymous said...

   Oh get a life people. Stop complaining about the tri-tip that never was - there was never going to be enough for everyone anyway. We were all meant to eat chicken. the tri-tip was there just to gussy it up.

You should be more upset about the Board of Governor reform plans.

—6:06 PM, January 11, 2012

Moral: never promise tri-tip unless you've got shitloads of it

     Well, harrumph! Then today:

Anonymous said...

   I think the continuing disappointment regarding the lack of tri-tip comes from the fact that Glen himself sent out a personal email inviting people to the event promising "tri-tip, chicken and egg plant."

—9:07 AM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   I would bet that at least a few clods heaped huge portions of tri-tip on their plates, and that this was the reason that it was all gone so early in the event. 

Let's please talk more about the Great Tri-Tip Controversy of 2012! Seriously.

—11:05 AM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   Obviously, tri-tip-gate is much ado about nothing. On the other hand, that so many (?) pounce on this issue reveals dissatisfaction with Glenn. That's for sure.

—12:16 PM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   It was NOT self-serve at the grill. 

The tri-tip was served to people.

They didn't buy nearly enough even though they bought it at cost-co.

—1:12 PM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   9:07, right you are; after the initial invite was sent well in advance, Glenn sent out a reminder on the 4th. Yes I agree it was very disappointong [sic] to find no more tri-tip only 15 mins. into the event. I understand that admin. doesn't have to provide us any food, but if they make such announcements, they should at least follow through and provide what they promise.

—1:34 PM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   The Rickner's always used to over-order food at their events, so there was always plenty for everyone! Even for the Rickners; after the events, Sandy R. would pull her Mercedes up, pop the trunk, and load it full with all the leftovers. Then she'd drive home to Nelie Gail Ranch and fill their refrigerator(s)! How cool was that?

—1:44 PM, January 12, 2012

Anonymous said...

   I'm going to be optimistic and guess that the Rickners donated the leftover food to charity. Unless you were there to see her load the goods in her refrigerator.

Love this red meat.

—2:09 PM, January 12, 2012 

     Looks like, next time you want to draw people to your IVC shebang, just say you'll have tri-tip. They'll come runnin', I guess, with tongues dragging.
     But you'd better be sure to have enough!

One of two mountain lion cubs at Orange County Zoo (OC Reg)

*From my Mac's dictionary (Apple)

Fotoshop by Adobé

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Only in Orange County: Judge Jughead & the usual pious suspects

OC judge who fixed traffic tickets ordered to resign (LA Times)

Don't worry. I'll take care of it.

     A longtime Orange County judge who waived traffic fines for friends and family has been ordered to step down from his office.
     A state oversight panel found nine occasions dating back to 2003 in which Richard W. Stanford Jr. diverted traffic cases to his court in order to help people he knew avoid fines.
     The pattern “created both the appearance and the reality of a two-track system of justice — one for his friends and family and another for all others,” the 11-member Commission on Judicial Performance wrote in its decision Tuesday.
     “Removal is necessary to restore public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and honor the commission’s mandate to ensure the even-handed administration of justice,” the ruling stated.
. . .
     The beneficiaries of his actions included his son-in-law, friends, a juror in his court and the pastor at his church....

Orange County's fix-it judge – and his pastor (LA Times; editorial)

Really? I don't get to do that?

     It's bad enough that an Orange County judge was fixing tickets for friends and family – he's been ordered to resign – but perhaps the most interesting part of the whole story is that one of the beneficiaries of his misdeeds was his pastor.
     According to a state panel, Richard W. Stanford Jr. diverted at least nine traffic cases to his court in order to help people he knew avoid fines. Stanford fully deserves to lose his job, and authorities also should be looking into filing charges. But now that everyone at his church will know about this, it's also hard not to wonder whether they will view their spiritual leader as someone who can lead them away from temptation -- or model taking responsibility for one's actions.
     But then, the flock could decide this is the perfect chance to show that it knows how to forgive.

Rogues in Robes (Orange Coast Magazine)

     …But when you compare the disciplinary record of all of the county’s Superior Court judges with the records of judges elsewhere, a startling reality emerges: Orange County has the second-highest discipline rate for judicial misconduct in Southern California—everything from run-of-the-mill indiscretion to drunken driving to possession of child porn. (And four of those judges, none of whom are still in office, were repeat offenders.) Orange County’s rate is about twice those of neighboring Los Angeles and San Diego counties. In these parts, only Riverside County ranks higher….

A nation of spectators

Democracy Faces a 'Crucible Moment,' Says Report, but Colleges Can Help (Dan Berrett, Chronicle of Higher Education)

     American democracy will confront an increasingly bleak future unless colleges make civic learning a central part of students' education, says a report released Tuesday by the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement.
     "This is a moment of serious reckoning for our democracy," said Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and one of the members of the task force that produced the report, "A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future." It was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education.
     The report coincides with a daylong event on Tuesday at the White House. It calls for colleges to renew their commitment to civic education at a time when higher education is talked about chiefly as a means of job training.
     Civic learning and democratic engagement should become explicit goals of college, and take more forms than civics courses, the authors say. For example, every discipline should teach relevant civic issues and debates.
     As envisioned in the report, each college would demonstrate as part of its "defining character" a spirit of public-mindedness, openness, and civility. Colleges would cut money from areas that are less critical and apply it to these efforts instead. They would also train students to be civically literate and encourage them to continue working for the public good after graduating.
. . .
     Worries about America's civic health have been widely noted for decades. A national commission on civic renewal in 1998 fretted about the citizenry being "in danger of becoming a nation of spectators." In 2010, just one in four high-school seniors scored proficient or better on national civics exams, and college seniors do not fare much better on other measures, the report says.
. . .
     The report … asks higher-education leaders, faculty, and staff to take on another duty when its plate is growing increasingly full. In recent years, colleges have been called on to make higher education more accessible to more students, constrain tuition costs, produce more graduates, train them for jobs, stimulate local economies, and figure out how to assess how much students are learning….

Jack Webb and Johnny Carson, 1968

Board of Governors Approves "Reforms"

In this morning's Los Angeles Times:

California community college board backs sweeping reforms by Carla Rivera

The governing board of California's community colleges approved reforms intended to streamline the path to graduation and transfer for thousands of students.

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors endorsed the policies at a meeting Monday in Sacramento that featured more than three hours of public comment, including vigorous opposition from many students who argued that the plan would penalize low-income and other disadvantaged students....

...The thrust of the reforms represents a seismic shift in community colleges' traditional role as open to all comers. They would move to ration access to classes and would push students to meet their academic goals through incentives.

Among the 22 recommendations are proposals requiring all colleges to use a single assessment for English and math skills and prioritizing registration and fee waivers for students who have concrete goals, such as a degree, certificate or transfer to a four-year college.

Course offerings and schedules would be aligned with student needs, including a focus on basic skills and classes needed to transfer. Campuses would also be required to publish score cards detailing their performance in such areas as completion rates....

To read the rest, click here.

Now, the package moves to the state legislature. The article notes that in order for the many of the proposals to be enacted, amending current education codes would be required.

*
from the SF Chronicle:

....The 22 recommendations approved by the college system's Board of Governors are intended to address a devilish problem: Essential classes are in critically short supply and thousands of students are turned away from classes they need because of the state's economic crisis.

Board member Peter MacDougall, chairman of the Student Success Task Force that drew up the recommendations over the last year, said colleges can no longer afford to put out the welcome mat they have offered for generations.

"As wonderful as having open admission is, if it's a false promise, it fails," he said.

Under the new plan, all students will be expected to set up an education plan to move quickly toward an associate's degree or vocational certificate. If they linger too long or take too many classes unrelated to their goal, they lose registration priority. Others poor enough to quality for a fee waiver would lose that benefit after 110 credits, well beyond the 60 credits needed to transfer....

*

Teaching those pesky early college kids

     An early college program, whereby groups of high school kids assemble, at their high school, to be taught college courses by instructors imported from the college down the road, is prima facie a bad idea. The atmosphere of a high school class, you’ll recall, is distinctly different than that of a college class. A typical high school kid’s default setting seems to be a kind of writhing accompanied by endless, happy, purposeless chatter—which adjusts, in a flash, to tacit forms, entailing eyes and smiles and pouts. That stuff can be stopped, on any given occasion, only through forceful and repeated intrusion with a rolled up newspaper. In college, meanwhile, business-like sobriety is the norm, and it will persist, yielding a communal seriousness, with very little encouragement from the instructor.

It’s a difference in culture, and it’s a difference that makes a difference. I don’t know why, but philosophy—to choose one college subject—just isn’t taught effectively in the course of the on-going party that prevails inside the high schooler’s merry head. Put a bunch of these party heads in one room and philosophy just ain’t gonna happen, brother.

As it happens, this morning, I had a chance to see the problem first hand. Last week, one of our history instructors found that he could not make the first session of spring semester’s History 2 course (World Civilizations Since 1500) at Beckman High in Irvine. I volunteered to fill in.

So, this morning, at 7:45, I arrived at Beckman, bleary eyed, ready to teach my first “early college” class. To make a long story short, I was led to our room, whereupon I saw the 40 or so kids of the class, waiting outside the door, beaming at me.

They’re tiny, they are, mostly. No one would confuse these kids with a class of college students.

I could tell that they were nice kids, good kids. They generally aimed to please. But they’re not used to someone really and truly staunching the flow of their customary writhing and blathering.

“If I could have everyone’s attention….”—that’s how I gave ‘em the cue to settle down and shut up. It didn’t work.

“I’m Roy Bauer, and I’m here today to….”—it still wasn’t working. They’re sweet kids, it seems, but it would take more than I was doing to break through. I gave ‘em a particularly subtle version of the old stink eye—the communication of glacial impassivity and icy ruthlessness, more or less.

Still nothing.

I tried a gesture of mild exasperation. That did it. Some of ‘em hushed the others, and then, for a moment, there was silence.

It didn’t last.

You know the rest. They’re kids, and so you’ve gotta stay on ‘em. You can’t let up. It’s like, if you let ‘em, they’d all just giggle and writhe at ever higher frequencies until the room roars and pulsates with a single, monstrous chuckle-spasm from hell.

The problem isn’t just the challenge to continuity from the never-ending periodic yuckitudinal outbreaks. Under these conditions—i.e., wall-to-wall teen-aged buzzage—there just isn’t the sort of mental gravity in the room for a sustained thought or thought cycle. I mean, getting a bunch of yappy kids to stop and think about the goddam Copernican Revolution is like getting a bunch of puppies to go to the corner and sit still. Ain't gonna happen.

I didn’t expect to like these kids as much as I did, but I am now more convinced than ever that this early college idea is a real stinker, at least for courses in the Humanities.