IVC in weird yet fine weather

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Tonight's board meeting: "setting the record straight"

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TONIGHT'S MEETING of the South Orange County Community College District board of trustees was short and largely uneventful. Well, Trustee Don Wagner said something interesting, I guess.

Trustee Fuentes prayed to the Lord; Craig Grossman got a nice resolution; the Irvine Valley College Foundation presented a slick commercial that urged audience members to become “Performing Arts Patrons”; Tracy Daly showed us the new district website; three or four faculty spoke about approved curricula and the upcoming contract negotiations; others carped about the board’s prayers; Fuentes fretted about potential drops in home prices and the corresponding threat to our Basic Aid gravy train; the new ATEP dean was approved; etc.


A big chunk of time was devoted to a presentation about DISTANCE EDUCATION, especially the online variety. Vice Chancellor Andreea Serban plus June Millovich and Bob Urell handled that. They did a good job, and the board seemed to think that this whole DE thing is just swell.

Turns out most of our growth in recent years has been from DE, not from traditional “brick and mortar” instruction, which is slowly eroding. Not that there’s anything wrong with the old brick and mortar. And it isn’t gonna disappear neither, cuz distance ed isn’t for everybody, or so everybody kept saying. It was a night of truisms and reassuring slogans.


Students are “partners,” said June. “Frankly, we do this better” than other districts, said Bob. We're “growink," said Andreea. She threw in a couple of "downloadinks," too. Then she said that she was gonna adopt the moniker "Natasha." She's funny, boy.

Fuentes seemed to want to make some kinda trouble about the caps for online courses, but it turns out that, in our district, the caps are the same no matter whether a course is the “traditional” kind or the online kind, though some districts lower the cap for online courses, what with the intensive interaction that’s involved. (The union really oughta get on that. Or so opined Ken W during the break.)

Fuentes asked a clueless question about how off-campus sites—High Schools and the like—figure into all this. Everybody looked confused. Bob U finally said something like, “well, internet courses are done over the internet.”

Bill Jay figured it was his cue to yammer about off-campus sites again, so he did that, though not unpleasantly.

Williams took the opportunity to pat himself and his colleagues on the back about the big "COPS" expenditure of ten years ago, which paid for fancy fiber optics and other digital whizbangery. That COPS debt will be paid off in a year, he declared.


“Motivation is the key,” said everybody re what kind of student can handle online instruction. “Yeah, but that’s true for traditional face-to-face instruction, too,” said someone. "Yeah," said everybody. People were pretty goddam agreeable, although Nancy did roll her eyes a few times, especially at Tom and John.

Mathur talked about students learning in pajamas; Cosgrove announced that we do DE “deeper and wider”; Padberg reminded us that phone ed is distance ed, too; Raghu said that this online thing is goin’ “big and wide"—plus he wrote his dissertation about it; I kept staring at the monitor, what with its bright lights and perty colors.

Padberg worried about the high cost of the Performing Arts Center at IVC. Nobody seemed to want to join her. She did a lot of solitary carping tonight.

She fretted, too, about apparent “nepotism” among classified mother-daughter team organizers, whatever they are. People started yawning.


The board discussed the upcoming special meeting (April 23, 3-5 p.m.) re the ACCREDITATION midterm reports (due in October). Let’s trot out those 94 goofy ideas that we scraped up last Spring, said Raghu. “Yeah,” said Bill Jay. “What for?” said Don Wagner.

That’s when Wagner said the only interesting thing that was said all night. He said he “remains unconvinced” that debating those daffy old ideas from a year ago will help. Then he said that the meeting would be a good opportunity to “set the record straight,” since the Accreds’ reports “contain some errors.” He was talking about how they said that he, the Don, had engaged in micromanagement most foul.

Yeah, the Accreds will just love hearing about how we all got together to discuss how they gave Don a D when he shoulda got a C+. Absolutely.

IVC Senate Prez Wendy G responded to Lang’s suggestion that he should facilitate the April meeting. Hey, said Wendy, during Chancellor’s Cabinet, we discussed the possibility of getting a celebrated person from outside to facilitate. Whatever happened to that?

Well, Lang just shot that down fast. He wasn’t “inclined” to do that, he said. Then he announced that the discussion was over. Raghu said nothing.


Wendy looked like she’d just been hit by a truck.

Padberg fussed again about Williams’ habit of going to Florida for conventions, when he could just as well stay here in the Golden State, wasting taxpayer money closer to home, but that went nowhere. Bob Cosgrove had his hand up for a long time, and Williams even tried to get Lang to notice that, but it was a no go.

And, “boom,” just like that, the meeting was over pretty much on time.

Yup, that Lang. Reminds me of what they used to say about Mussolini: "he's a fascist asshole for sure, but at least the trains run on time." —Somethin' like that.

"Intelligent Design" at SMU

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IN THIS MORNING'S Inside Higher Ed we learn that

The departments of anthropology, biology and geology have asked Southern Methodist University to block the Christian Legal Society from holding a conference to promote “intelligent design” as a legitimate scientific theory, The Dallas Morning News reported. The departments say that the event is designed to give a false impression that these views actually have significant academic support. SMU officials aren’t blocking the event, but have stated that allowing it to take place does not signal endorsement.

This will remind long-time denizens of the South Orange County Community College District of trustee Steven Frogue’s plan to hold a seminar on the Warren Commission back in 1997. The fellow had invited four “experts”—conspiracy theorists, some of whom were connected to Liberty Lobby, the country’s chief anti-Semitic organization. Frogue himself had weathered controversy regarding whether he routinely denied the Holocaust while teaching his High School history classes (at Foothill High).

Despite warnings regarding the nature of the speakers from a local ADL official, the board approved the seminar, unleashing a wave of controversy across the country (and even internationally). In response, he pulled the plug on it.

Also in this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: Fooling the College Board:

To demonstrate flaws of SAT writing test, MIT professor coached student on how to get a good score on a lousy essay — and pulled it off.

What in HELL is going on at that South Orange County Community College District? —A pictorial introduction, Part 1: Republicans

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EVER WONDER just what in hell is going on down in south Orange County? I provide the following pictorial introduction to the SOCCCD—for your Sunday reading pleasure!













OK, this last guy isn't a Republican, but, a few years ago, he started supporting some doozies. See, his program had no students, and so he cozied up to Mathur and the corrupt union Old Guard (no longer in power). Mathur has protected him all these years.

Potatoes that glow in the dark

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● THE "O.C.": F*CKED UP FROM DAY ONE. Anyone who’s interested in local history knows the name Jim Sleeper. Sleeper has been Orange County’s unofficial “official historian” since the 50s. I’ve run into him once or twice, and he’s a nice guy.

On Thursday, the OC Reg did a little story on the 79-year-old Sleepster: O.C. historian receives lifetime achievement award. In an interview, Sleeper is asked whether there’s anything that people don’t know about the county:

It didn't take its name from oranges, that's for sure, because there wasn't a producing orange tree at the time the name was acquired. The name "Orange County" was kind of a hand-me-down chosen for the specific purposes of tourism and because it has a Mediterranean flavor….”

Tourism? Mediterranean flavor? Sheesh, OC has been f*cked up by the Money Men from nearly the beginning, I guess. Well, at least we did actually have oranges for a while. I remember ‘em. They’re round and they smell good. I recommend them highly.


● GOOD VIBRATIONS. Many denizens of Irvine Valley College are familiar with Jeffrey Road, and, in particular, with the railroad crossing between IVC and the 5. It’s kinda charming having to stop there for the train once in a while.

Well, according to the Irvine World News, owing to complaints about noisy train horns, the city will be routing Jeffrey under the tracks: Jeffrey under the tracks:

Residents in the Meadows Mobile Home Park on Jeffrey Road … have repeatedly asked the city to explain what is being done to quiet the horns of passing trains…The city is working to lower Jeffrey Road below the train tracks … $24 million in state funding has come through for the project…Seven contractors submitted bids for the project and SEMA Construction Inc. was the apparent low bidder with a bid of $27,564,698.


…[C]onstruction is expected to begin in June. The project is scheduled to be completed in December 2009…To minimize potential delays for motorists during construction, a lighted, four-lane detour road will be placed along Jeffrey Road throughout the construction phase…The project includes lowering Jeffrey Road under the railroad tracks, building a bicycle and pedestrian bridge adjacent to the new railroad bridge, widening Jeffrey Road to six lanes (three in each direction) and landscaping the median islands on Jeffrey between Irvine Center Drive and Walnut Avenue.

Sounds great, I guess, but I will miss the funky old railroad track and the retro feel of waiting for a train to go by. Plus, this kind of renovation is yet another typically Irvinean blinder to the reality that most folks don’t drive Mercedes and Lexuses. That’s kinda creepy, if you ask me.

There’s one peculiarity to this story. It ends with: “During construction, the tracks will be moved even closer to the mobile homes. The city will adjust any mobile homes that shift because of vibrations from passing trains.”

OK, so, thanks to 24 million state dollars, these mobile home people will gain horn-elimination at the price of vibrations strong enough to move their trailers.

Something ain’t right.


● GLOWING POTATOES. Yesterday, in my morning “Intro to Philosophy” course, a student assured me that genetic modification of foods is a genuine threat, that, in fact, the nefarious GM people have developed a potato that glows in the dark.

I expressed polite skepticism. Still, I urged the young man to bring the potato to class.

I’ll let you know what he comes up with.

(I’m rootin’ for the kid and his special spud.)

Eat pizza, then squawk

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● THE FACULTY UNION wants faculty's presence felt at next Monday’s board meeting. The Faculty Association website informs us that

The [union] is delivering its initial contract proposal to the Board on Monday, March 26th, to begin the negotiations process. To encourage faculty participation, the FA is hosting a pre-board meeting pizza party at Boosters on Marguerite Parkway … at 5 p.m. After the pizza, attend the public comments portion of the Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. We need to send a message to the Board that the faculty [are] united, and supports ou[r] negotiating team in securing a new contract.

I’ve been to some of these union pizza parties, and they’re pretty good. I’m not a member—I quit when the FA endorsed John “Junket” Williams for Public Administrator—but I do like to see faculty from the two colleges get together, laugh, eat pizza, drink beer, and then march boisterously up the hill with torches to set fire to an enormous Tom Fuentes effigy out in front of BGS.

You don’t wanna miss that.


● Recently, Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur and his board enablers adopted changes to the monthly board meetings—supposedly, for the sake of “streamlining.” These innovations don’t seem to be working thus far: the last meeting went on for days.

But you can still make comments at the head of the meeting, and they end up on local cable TV, too. Now, I know that you don’t care about that audience, but the trustees do.

If you speak, do try to sound like a Republican. Wear one of those little flags. Mention that you love freedom and you hate people who aren't willing to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people just for a chance to thrust it on their society.

● I checked out the meeting’s agenda (available here), and there isn’t much there’ ceptin’ for one or two things.

Trustee TOM FUENTES will do the invocation. You never want to miss that. It’s like time travel to listen to the fellow invoke the Lord. Or maybe it’s like gagging on a maggot. One time, the Reb heard him thank the Deity for "the taxpayers." He never thanks God for faculty. He hates ‘em. I think he wants 'em all to burn in hell. He's very pious.


She's a kind hearted woman,
she studies evil all the time.
She's a kind hearted woman,
she studies evil all the time.
You're best to quit me baby
as just to have it on your mind. —Rob't Johnson

● Near as I can tell, the only interesting agenda item is “discussion item” 6.2:

Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College: Outcome of November 2006 Accreditation Progress Visits and Implications for October 2007 Accreditation Midterm Reports
Recommendation that Board of Trustees discuss and identify strategies to conduct a Special Board meeting on April 5 2007 with focus on addressing the accreditation recommendations.

OK, it’s like this. The “outcome” of the visits was that, according to the Accreds, there’s still a plague of “despair” at the colleges, and the trustees are still micromanaging. (So is the Chancellor.)

Naturally, trustee Don Wagner, a notoriously prickly and peevish fellow, recently proclaimed that the notion that HE micromanages (as the Accreds had in fact charged) is absurd. He even seemed to say that, whatever he was doing that counted as micromanaging to the Accreds—well, gosh darn it, he’ll do it again, if he feels moved to.

At least in the past, his pal Tom Fuentes, too, has made it pretty clear that, in his fevered mind, the whole Accreditation process is rigged by, or at the behest of, faculty. The fellow seems to embrace conspiracy theories—you know, as did Steve "What Holocaust?" Frogue, whom Fuentes replaced nearly seven years ago. I think nutty people shouldn't be entrusted with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, don't you?

Plus, according to Tom, the Accreds won't pull our ticket, and only a fool would think they might. So he explained to the student trustee last year.

That sort of talk makes Chancellor Mathur nervous. Mathur obviously wants the trustees to just give the Accreds what they want. You know, just jump through those goddam hoops, make this thing go away.

Hence this agenda item. At least there's a paper trail. "See, we fretted about it in March, then again in April!" he'll tell 'em.

So it will be interesting to see what comes out of these people's mouths. I think. They're not all on the same page, and they're mostly mean and plug-ugly. Maybe somebody's head will pop.

See you all Monday afternoon.

What's with these community college trustees?

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Not so long ago, Chancellor Raghu Mathur of the SOCCCD was caught trying to sneak a raise into an oddly labeled board agenda item. (See Raghu's stealth agenda item.) Luckily, faculty were on the ball that time.

It was almost a classic Mathurian moment.

I figured only Raghu would try something like that. And I figured only our benighted board would let it pass.

I figured wrong.

Yesterday’s San Diego Union-Tribune reported that

Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor OMERO SUAREZ will not be disciplined for changing his contract without board approval. The district's Governing Board made that clear Tuesday night when it voted 4-1 in closed session against a proposal by trustee Timothy Caruthers to discipline Suarez.

The board was criticized last month for not revealing whether it was considering any action against Suarez. Board President Rick Alexander, who announced the vote in open session, said the board wanted the public to know the issue had been discussed.

Suarez admitted deleting the buyout clause from his contract without board approval last year, but he denied doing it so he could negotiate a more lucrative deal, as Caruthers has contended. Suarez said he did it to bring his contract in line with those of other high-ranking administrators who don't have buyout clauses.

Mathur survived his sneaky prehensile episode too. What’s with these boards?

In the past, when a raise for the Chancellor has been openly contemplated, Mathur has argued that a raise would bring his salary "in line" with salaries of other chancellors in the state.

Mathur makes about $300,000 a year! Some community college chancellors make that kind of money, but their districts comprise many colleges. SOCCCD comprises only two.

If you have any queries about Mathur's salary, you might contact trustees Tom Fuentes, Dave Lang, John Williams, and Don Wagner. They love the guy.