IVC Recruitment Stopped, but Saddleback Continues to Hire!

Orange blossoms were in the air today. A little early, yes, but an unmistakable sign of spring. It reminded Rebel Girl of her early years at the little college in the orange groves when the college was smaller and the groves larger. Student clubs sponsored orange picks on the weekends. Rebel Girl remembers immigrant women stopping to pick, not oranges, but orange blossoms, whole branches. They left a few dollars as those who picked the fruit did, not a lot, but what the fundraisers mostly raised were spirits and memories anyway. They knew that even then.

Today other things were in the air as well.

Rebel Girl and others received this disappointing information midday:

Because the District is expected to be 20 faculty positions over its Faculty Obligation Number this year, IVC will be hiring 6 new faculty positions plus 2 positions from last year, but cannot prudently hire beyond this number. The communication studies, geography, and learning disabilities positions (#7, #8, and #9 on the faculty prioritization list) are now pulled (stopped) and will not be filled this year. I am sure that these disciplines will be among the highest priority positions next year and should get early recruitments due to their expected location on the faculty priority list.

«Qué lástima», as Rebel Girl might exclaim in her clase de espanol.

One of the three positions now sidelined to next year is the long-waited replacement to fill a long vacated position – for a full-time Learning Disabilities Specialist. Rebel Girl believes that the college is out of compliance on this issue – but she may be wrong on this point. Do let her know. Anyone who teaches here can attest to the immediate need for such a position - now, tomorrow, yesterday, last year. 

Among the positions continuing to receive funding are two positions at ATEP: one a Laser King and the other, his companion, a Wizard of Robots, for whose program there exists no curriculum. Nada.

The reassurances that these delayed positions will be get priority next year did little to assuage faculty. One smart fellow pointed out that, of course, this will cause a cascade effect – and folks hoping to hire next year, will have slimmer chances. Or none.

Many were curious about Saddleback: Did IVC's sister college make the similar concessions? The answer appears to be NO. In response to her query this afternoon, Rebel Girl received this prompt reply from the president of Saddleback's Academic Senate:

"No, this is not happening at SC. I am somewhat confused by this decision because the faculty obligation number is a minimum not a maximum. Going over would be a college budget issue and not a FON [Faculty Obligation Number] issue."

Still others complained about the process: Who knew this was coming? When were folks informed? How come applicants heard about the cessation BEFORE FACULTY AND STAFF? Apparently HR sent out emails notifying applicants that the positions had been closed BEFORE staff and admin and faculty were informed. [Reports indicate this happened for the COMM position. ] This is how some first learned of this decision earlier today—when applicants contacted them about it. Very classy!

Others wanted to discuss this burning issue with the college president but he was off campus today. Theories varied about whether he was playing golf, attending a meeting, jumping out of airplanes, coaching pals on how to best score jobs, taking pricey photos of zoo animals or all of the above. Some bemoaned the lost opportunity he had of sacrificing his pet positions of Laser King and Robot Wizard and making the magnanimous gesture of funding the positions that would meet the real and immediate needs of the most needy students.

There is more to say – Shared governance? Process? Justice? Student Success? – but the hour is late. La hora de la madrugada es cerca. 

* UPDATE: As of 10:30 this morning,  the LD Specialist and Geography are still listed on the district website. We understand that the COMM position closed awhile back and that those applicants were contacted and told that the position had been cancelled.   Some are wondering whether or not this decision could be reversed or altered in some way.

*

A Crapola Valley College “happening”

One of Lake Erie's ghost dogs

     Today, the IVC community got an email alerting us to an IVC “Happening”:

IVC Happenings: Welcome Dr. Victoria King Heinsen to Irvine Valley College

     Gosh, what’s that all about? Well, we’re told something remarkable. We're told that

Heinsen's publication

Dr. Victoria King Heinsen visited Irvine Valley College (IVC) this week to study more about Dr. Patric Taylor’s [Taylor would seem to be IVC’s Theatre Production Manager, a classified employee] technique for teaching course critical vocabulary in action. The method entails professors posting the words in the classroom and during lectures pausing for a moment and asking a random student to define one of the selected words. By the end of the semester, the words should have jumped into students’ long-term memory, Dr. Taylor says. Dr. Heinsen will take what she has learned back with her to Terra State Community College in Ohio, where she will implement it in the fall. Her visit was made possible through a grant from Concordia University in Portland, Ore., where Dr. Heinsen is an online master’s of education professor.

Two things:

     First, Taylor’s “technique for teaching course critical vocabulary” sounds, um, odd. Memory tricks, eh? Writing vocabulary words on the board? Students spouting memorized verbiage? College is not about vocabulary words and flash cards. I’m sorry, but this "defining words" routine sounds like subcollegiate crapola. Natch, it fits in with some past IVC "happenings" at Glenn Roquemore Mediocre Astounding Inventions College.
     Second, it turns out that this Victoria King Heinsen is some kind of flake. At the Reb’s suggestion, I looked her up. Amazon indicates that she has published one book, and it is about—ghosts. Yes, ghosts:

Heinsen and Taylor

Ghosts and Legends of Lake Erie's North Coast (Haunted America)
     The residents of Lake Erie’s North Coast have trouble leaving even after they die. The area is flooded with the spirits of locals, some friendly, some not. See the sorrowful eyes of the Hauntingly Beautiful High School Student, who floats the corridors looking for her lost boyfriend, and head to an old Port Clinton hotel to watch the ghost of a maintenance man wander haphazardly through the inn, making routine repairs. Read about the figure that lurks in the clock of the Port Clinton Courthouse every night, never moving, simply watching, until disappearing with the sun. Local ghost tour guide Victoria King Heinsen has a personal connection with every story, and her firsthand accounts will turn every paranormal skeptic into a believer.

     —Don’t think so.
     Heinsen's Concordia U is a private, Christian university. Lutheran. Conservative Lutheran.
     An Education professor, eh? Why am I not surprised? Ghosts, SLOs, floating dead students, memory tricks, lurking "figures." Yeah.
     Good grief. (See EdDreck)

Somebody find a flag to wave, fast!

• 'We cannot allow our community to be put at risk:' Violence threat prompts UCI to cancel student council meeting about U.S. flag ban (OC Reg)

IRVINE – UC Irvine officials canceled Tuesday’s student council meeting because of a violent threat tied to the recent ban of the U.S. flag from the group’s lobby, UCI officials said....

• What's the chance that the 'big one' will hit O.C. in the next 30 years? Earthquake forecast says it's high (OC Reg)

…[T]he estimated cycle rate of an earthquake the size of the 1994 Northridge 6.7 magnitude shaker striking somewhere in the state has been lengthened by a year-and-a-half, from one every 4.8 years to every 6.3 years. ... However, the chance that such a quake will occur in the state in the next 30 years remains a virtual certainty, at above 99 percent. The chance is 93 percent in Southern California and 60 percent in the Los Angeles region, which includes portions of Orange County.
. . .
     The odds an 8.0 or higher quake will hit California over the next 30 years jumped from by 4.7 percent to 7 percent since the last forecast….

Memorial Services for Trustee Bill Jay

  The district has sent out this message re "Memorial Services for Trustee Bill Jay":

Friday, March 20, 2015 at 2:00 pm
McKinney Theater, Saddleback College 

Reflections
     If you would like to include a photo or short remembrance for a tribute, please email it to tfluegeman@socccd.edu no later than Tuesday, March 17. Friends, colleagues and community members will also have an opportunity to share stories and memories at the service. 

Memorial Scholarship
     In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that Bill's legacy be memorialized through the establishment of a Dr. William “Bill” Jay Memorial Scholarship at the Saddleback College Foundation. The scholarships will assist students in the Health Sciences division who demonstrate a financial need and maintain a 2.5 GPA. Single parents will be given preference. To make a contribution in Bill’s memory, please visit www.saddlebackcollegegiving.org/billjay.

Rebel Girl's Friday

Roll the presses!

A FEW WEEKS AGO, Rebel Girl received an invitation in her mailbox:

Dear [Rebel Girl],

I’d like to invite you to join Register Editor Rob Curley and me for lunch at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 6 at the Register's office in Santa Ana.

We’ll show you what the newsroom is planning for the future, talk about collaboration and take you on a tour of the paper. We’d also like you to attend our afternoon news meeting.

I hope you’ll be able to join us.

Sincerely,
Donna

Donna Wares
Orange County Register Managing Editor

Curley

You can imagine Rebel Girl's surprise! And delight. On Friday, she arrived early and waited while the lunch group slowly assembled: representatives from the journalism programs of both regional Cal State Long Beach and Fullerton, Chapman University and UC Irvine. Rebel Girl was the sole representative from a community college. Some even remembered the old IVC newspaper (journalists tend to have long memories) and the stellar transfer students, both from that program and others. They were curious about our paper's demise. They gave her advice about revival strategies and offered support. Didn't you have one of the longest-running lit journals too, one asked? Didn't you publish writers who went on to make it big? Yes, yes, yes. 

At the appointed time they were led into an elevator and up to the second floor and the Da Vinci room: Z Pizzas awaited and editor Rob Curley who was, he confessed, on his fourth Monster of the day. That seemed easy to believe. For the next four hours, Curley spoke with unwavering passion and focus — all through his presentation, the editorial meeting they witnessed and a tour of every department of the building, concluding in Curley's office and, finally (see photo above), downstairs with the presses. 

A breathless afternoon, for him and all involved.

Editorial meeting

Highlights? The editorial meeting. The view from the building with its wraparound windows.  Meeting an IVC Voice alum at his desk (he is now an editor at the Register). The archive! The presses!

Upshot? The bottom line seemed to be that, after a couple years of tumult, the Register was back, better than ever, and ready to do what it does best, cover the county at the local level, telling the stories that need to be told and serving the 34 cities that make up our fair county. They are not out of the woods yet, but the trees are thinning. To that end, they'd like to renew ties with the higher education institutions that once served them so well. The internship program (paid!) is up and running. Opportunities abound. Blue skies.

Rebel Girl spent the weekend mulling over much and penning her thank you note to Rob Curley. She's busy these days with the OC County literature anthology, a project that has finally gotten some funding through Heyday Press, UC Irvine and Chapman University. It's an impressive collection of writings about the county, from its earliest voices to acclaimed writers and more contemporary ones.  She has found some contributors in the pages of the old Elephant Ear as well as in the pages of the still thriving UCI, CSUF and OCC lit journals.
The anthology, when it is published next year, will be used as a textbook at UCI, Chapman and other teaching institutions in the county. More importantly, the book will be a document of the county. She think Curley might be interested in its promotion. She hopes so.

OCC's lit journal

UC Irvine's lit journal

CSU Fullerton's lit journal

Rebel Girl has some students who, despite the dearth of writing and publishing opportunities at IVC, have found their way to her classroom and the classes of her colleagues. She thinks some of them would be fine candidates for internships. She hopes so.

All in all, a good day. It was good to be in the company of other teachers and hear about their programs. It was good to be reminded of our membership in the academic community and the county. It was good to get some ideas. It was good, after all these years, to see the offices of the Register and to hug that former student, now deep into his midlife and expecting his third child. And now, onward.

IVC's now defunct community literary journal

The IVC Voice: no more

*

Still more on Bill Jay (Bill Jay and the union "Old Guard")

     (See our recent More on Bill Jay.)
     In the bad old days when a crew of unprincipled knaves (Sherry “the end justifies any means” Miller-White, Raghu Mathur, Mike Runyan, and pals) controlled the Faculty Association and its coffers, included among them was one Bill Jay.
     So, to the long-suffering union reformers, who, starting in 1996 (and until about 2001), struggled to replace that leadership and establish a decent union, Jay was among the enemy, a persistent pal to those notorious louts who sunk the district and its colleges into stunning controversy and incompetence, something from which it has only recently emerged.
     This is fully born out by my recent search for mentionings of Bill Jay in the old Dissent archives:

Dissent 2

March 9, 1998

MARCH 2 “RATIFICATION” MEETING

Ken Woodward

     I went to the union’s “contract ratification meeting” on the 2nd, and was surprised to find a great many faculty there. At about 3:00, ninety or so had gathered, and more arrived over the next half hour. With the exception of five or so IVC faculty, it was a Saddleback crowd.
. . .
     At one point, Sherry made her favorite point, that each percentage point (of raise) that the negotiating team failed to secure—owing to the unfavorable negotiating climate produced by those dastardly press-controlling, money-hating, anti-American  renegades [namely, faculty who fought to reform the union]—cost each faculty member $6,000! She said this, I think, after Bill Jay had waddled into the room in an apparent stupor.
      Sensing the need for support, Sherry  turned to Bill [Jay] and said, “Tell ‘em, Bill, about how much each unsecured percentage point is gonna cost each of us. You know, the calculations we made....?” Jay obviously had no clue what Sherry was talking about. He handily recovered by answering some other question--one not asked—for which he had a spiffy answer. I think Sherry was pissed.
. . .
     Jay was asked whether he thought the contract was “good.” “Yes,” he answered. (He did not discuss the peculiar fact that, in the end, only two members of the district’s negotiating team were involved in the contract negotiations—namely, Jay and trustee John Williams. What happened to the other three?)
     A person from counseling requested a breakdown of the cost of various elements of the contract—e.g., part-time benefits. Discussion revealed that only a tiny handful of part-time faculty were likely to avail themselves of the benefit. (Few are eligible.) Few noticed that this sort of answer contradicts the claim that such elements of the contract are significant union achievements.

Dissent

August 17, 1998

DISTRICT NEWS

Welcome Back! [from summer]

“Did you know…”
. . .
THAT, despite board president John Williams’ claims of wide representation on the chancellor search committee, the group included no students or community members?
 THAT board president John Williams rejected the search committee’s recommendation that two of the candidates (including the union’s man, Bill Jay) not be interviewed?
 THAT, on the 6th of August, on the third floor of the Saddleback Library, Bill Jay and John Williams had an argument in which Jay complained about Williams’ failure to keep his promise to appoint Jay chancellor?
     Jay resigned his Vice Chancellorship on the spot. He will now return to the classroom.
 THAT, at one point, the board had decided on Jay (4-3), but those who felt that the appointment should be unanimous prevailed, opening the way to Sampson’s appointment?....

Dissent 30,

September 20, 1999

TRUSTEE BILL JAY?

     The battle over control of the faculty union is far from over. Owing to preposterous provisions of the Faculty Association’s bylaws/standing rules, the Old Guard continues to control the PAC. (According to the rules, the PAC is made up of “former presidents” of the union. At present, there are no checks and balances on the PAC.)
     Insiders tell me that the geniuses of the “PAC committee” have already decided to dump Dot Fortune and support former Vice Chancellor and Old Guard crony Bill Jay for Trustee in 2000. (You’ll recall that Jay had an unseemly altercation with Trustee Williams on the “3rd floor” [District Offices] immediately after the announcement of [Cedric] Sampson’s selection as Chancellor. Evidently, Jay felt betrayed.)
     Unless changes are made in the union’s standing rules, Jay will get the full financial support of the faculty union in the upcoming election and will likely land a seat on the board. Good Lord!

* * *

     Back in 1999, Dissent featured a popular column, written by Red Emma, called “Ask Miss Fortune,” an advice column putatively written by, well, Miss “Dot” Fortune.
     The column below, from the December 13, 1999 edition of Dissent, reveals how Bill was regarded by Dissent and the reformers:

 

Sharon Macmillan

Hey Kids! Someone asked MISS FORTUNE for her Guide to Holiday Giving! And here it is! 
[Dissent 39 - December 13, 1999]  

     If you’re anything like me (and you are if you’re a confused, opportunistic, reactionary, gay-baiting Reagan Democrat in Republican South County), you’re wondering just what to get for those special little elves who’ve done their darndest to make every day a holiday at IVC and Saddleback.
     Yes, it’s the giving season. Here, then, are Miss Fortune’s modest gift-giving suggestions:

Give Sharon [Macmillan, Old Guardster] a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order.
Give Cedric [Sampson, then Chancellor] a goddam clue.

Sherry Miller-White

Give Lee Walker [Saddleback’s spectacularly stupid writing instructor] a pick, a lantern, and those cute little shorts, hi ho!
Give Curt [McLendon, Old Guardster] a colonic.
Give Caroline [Old Guardster] seat restraints.
Give Raghu the clap.
Give [Holocaust denying trustee and pal-o-Mathur Steve] Frogue Poland and the Sudetenlands.
Give Sherry a job with Cal Trans (as a traffic cone).
Give Mas [Hayashi, astonishingly incorrect IVC math instructor and friend-o-Mathur] a No-Doz.
Give Bob [Kopfstein, “Baños Bob” of the Old Guard] an orphanage.
Give El Rey [the Old Guard’s Ray Chandos] jail time. 

Curt McLendon

Give Dean [Howard] Gensler another B.A. (and a coupla No-Doz).
Give the CTA a spine.
Give Howard…Walter. [Mathur pals Howard Dachschlager and Walter Flosser: you can’t imagine]
Give Glenn a muscle relaxant.
Give Armando [Ruiz, Old Guardster and corruption poster child] a copy of the First Amendment.
Give Walter…Howard. [Mathur pals Howard Dachschlager and Walter Flosser: you still can’t imagine]

     And, while you’re at it (and you know who you are), don’t forget to…
     Give Bobbie [Raghu’s long-suffering administrative assistant] a new boss. Give Roni [Lebauer of the reform unionists, given the task of making sense of the Old Guard’s financial records] the Box of Financial Records. Give Adjunct Faculty a paid office hour and proportional representation on the Rep Council. Give Miss Fortune a challenger in the next election (who isn’t Bill Jay). And give us each and every one Shared Governance and a democratic, progressive, just local that makes us proud to be educators at a public, non-corporate community college.

     Happy Holidays!

• The infamous "SAME-SEX" flier & how we got to this sorry state
• Sherry Miller-White: the end justifies the means, evidently
• 1998: Ken Woodward defends Frogue and our corrupt union on KPFK
• Contract ratification: "What a pr*ck," I thought
• Board's Unlikely Secret Allies
• 1999: a plague of “hostility, mistrust, cynicism, and despair”

See also Tammanyite Board and Union

More on Bill Jay

     Some background on trustee Bill Jay, who died this week:
     Bill joined the SOCCCD board in April of 2004, after a special election necessitated by the resignation of Dorothy Fortune. Jay had been both an instructor and an administrator at the district; he retired in 1999. (From 1996 until 1999, Jay served as Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services and Human Resources for the District.)

The Faculty Association's own
Steven J. Frogue

     Fortune had resigned from the board in September of 2003 amid allegations that she had moved out of the district area seven months earlier. She had been one of the original "board majority" (Frogue, Fortune, Lorch, Williams) who ushered in an era of corruption, incompetence, and anti-intellectualism, starting in December of 1996. Their ruthless and notorious 1996 political campaign was conducted by rogue leadership of the Faculty Association, including Sherry Miller-White, Sharon MacMillan, Ray Chandos, Ken Woodward, and many others. (See The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999.)
     Jay, as trustee, was always sympathetic to the faculty union and its concerns; the (newly reformed) union had worked to ensure his appointment in 2004, out-maneuvering the conservative board majority (led by the likes of Tom Fuentes and Don Wagner) at the time. As we've reported previously,

Woodward

The controversy concerning the Board’s political gamesmanship drove away the Majority’s choice, and thus it was that Bill Jay, the union’s candidate, became Fortune’s trustee replacement.

     In May of '04, our pal Marla Jo at the OC Register reported the relevent events as follows:

   The envelope flap is the latest wrinkle in controversy over who will be the new trustee for the [SOCCCD], which operates Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges. The election is to replace former Trustee Dorothy Fortune, who moved.
   Trustees appointed Eric Norby, chief of staff to his brother, [Republican] Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, to fill the position, but faculty and students complained that the process smacked of cronyism.
   They gathered signatures on petitions to trigger a special election—a move that caused Eric Norby to resign, saying he didn't want the stress of running for office. (OC Register, 5/27/04) 

—Enter Bill Jay, one-time member of the SOCCCD Faculty Association.