A sneak preview of the Performing Arts Center

.
TODAY, after class, I decided to check out the interior of the new Performing Arts Center at Irvine Valley College. Last time I saw the PAC's innards, a gentle breeze was blowin' through 'em (see pic).

No longer! The college is nearly ready to roll out the PAC welcome mat!

YOU MIGHT wonder how I got in there. Simple. I flat walked in. Said "hey" to the construction boys.

I only had time to take some snaps of the theater area. Looks good to me! But waddoo I know?

Tonight's board meeting in pictures

WELL, this'll have to be quick, cuz I've got stuff to do.

It was an oddly unpleasant night at the old SOCCCD board room. Weirdness and tension filled the air.

THE OPEN SESSION started over two hours late! That means that the trustees were in the back room, fighting over something.

Judging by Mathur's pallor—it was dreadful!—I'd say that, if there was a fight, he lost it. Bigtime.

WE GET JUSTICE

Trustee Fuentes announced three closed session actions, including approval of Dr. Craig Justice of Chaffey College as the new Irvine Valley College Vice President of Instruction. Every indication is that Justice is a good hire. (See Craig Justice.)

The only public comment came from Cal Nelson, who is stepping down after 8 months on the job as temp IVC VPI. As usual, he was gracious, warm. Everybody loves Cal.

I bet Raghu hates 'im.

SPASMODIC & GHASTLY & GOD-FEARING

Before he took on the job at IVC, Cal was told that things were pretty bad at the college, but that's not what he found, he said. Nope, people were pretty terrific, working hard, cooperating. Cal went out of his way to praise IVC's Academic Senate President, Wendy Gabriella, for her work and for her assistance to him.

Trustee Fuentes and Chancellor Mathur seemed to snicker at that. Well, Mathur didn't so much snicker as make that rat-faced scrunch of his. You know the one. It's spasmodic and ghastly, a rat's tic.

Trustee Wagner gave the invocation, and he laid it on pretty thick this time.

"Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord," he said.

JAY, MILCHIKER, PADBERG, WAGNER v. FUENTES, LANG, WILLIAMS

After the consent calendar, item 5.12—Academic Personnel Actions—was moved to the front, in "deference" to Bill Jay, evidently. Judging by the tension in the air, this item was the likely cause of trouble during the earlier closed session.

Three elements were isolated from 5.12 for seperate discussion and approval. The central element, it seems, was h1, which, judging by factoids gleanable from trustee remarks, concerned the "transfer" of a "chemistry instructor" (an IVC chem instructor was on the closed session agenda). Based on an exchange involving Rich McCullough, the transfer was at or to his college (Saddleback).

In the end, trustees Jay, Padberg, Milchiker, and Wagner prevailed: the "reassignment indicated in h1" was not approved.

One wonders what that's all about.

PRESENTATIONS

Gary Poertner and the Bean Counters, a local rock band, gave a presentation about the tentative budget. Andreea Serban of Transylvania gave a presentation about "Grant opportunities and strategies for grant development."

"Good evenink," she said.

She's been very successful in getting super-duper grants for the district.

Both presentations were well-received.

Well, I've gotta feed the cat. Maybe I'll have more tomorrow. Maybe not.

See Tracy's BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

“This is not a good idea”

.
OK, clearly, the state of NEVADA has gone friggin' nuts.

In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: Professor’s Got a Gun:

Next time, if an unhinged student chooses a campus in Las Vegas or Reno instead of Blacksburg, Va., Stavros Anthony wants Nevada’s colleges and universities to be prepared. After April’s shootings at Virginia Tech, the Las Vegas police captain and member of the Nevada Board of Regents proposed that the Nevada System of Higher Education protect itself against a similar attack, in part, by enabling faculty and staff members to become reserve police officers.

“Virginia Tech hit home with me, and I thought, ‘What can we do here in Nevada to deal with an issue if, God forbid, if ever happens here?’ The answer, to me, was have more individuals trained to shoot back and kill somebody who’s committing a mass shooting.”

On Thursday, the Nevada Board of Regents gave the go-ahead to four public colleges in the state to develop policies — which would still require board approval in September — to allow faculty and staff members to become reserve police officers authorized to carry guns. Anthony is confident that the regents will ultimately approve the plan to allow armed employees on Nevada’s two- and four-year campuses. But administrators and faculty leaders are raising a bevy of practical and philosophical objections to the idea, which they vow to fight.

“This is just not a good idea,” said Bryan Spangelo, professor of biochemistry and chair of the Faculty Senate at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. “It seems like a knee-jerk response to a very terrible situation that will result in more guns on campus, more accidents, and more problematic situations that are unintended.”

Under Anthony’s proposal, which was considered Thursday by the Board of Regents’s Cultural Diversity and Security Committee, which Anthony leads, faculty or staff members who sought to become reserve police officers would, if approved by administrators on their campuses, go on paid professional leave to attend a 21-week police academy and go through post-academy training. The colleges and universities would pick up the cost of the training.

The result, Anthony said, would be that campuses would have more people trained to step in if and when a horrific incident like the one at Virginia Tech unfolds on a Nevada campus. “The common denominator” in such incidents is that “you have one person with a gun killing massive amounts of people until police show up, and there’s always going to be a lag time,” Anthony said. Having more people on a campus capable of stepping in effectively in such a situation would reduce that lag time, he said….

Anthony rejected complaints that his plan would make colleges less safe by injecting more guns onto campuses. “If we were just handing people guns, that would definitely be a concern, but we’re going to make them reserve police officers so they have all the training and background,” he said. “This is not going to just be some guy with a gun.”

...Citing Robert Pirsig’s concept of the university as the “church of reason,” Spangelo said he feared that having faculty members with guns tucked into desk drawers would create an “immediate cultural change” on campuses where openness is a fundamental principle.

“I’d hate to think we’d have people walking around who are armed because of one terrible incident on one campus,” said Spangelo, who said Nevada-Las Vegas faculty and staff had responded overwhelmingly negatively to a query he put out asking for feedback on Anthony’s idea. “It’s a flawed idea to consider bringing something onto the campus that is potentially dangerous as a way to prevent a tragedy that has a very, very small chance of happening to begin with.”

Trailer park clout

.
THE IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE COMMUNITY will want to read an article in this morning’s OC Register: Train tracks to be moved above Jeffrey Road.

Near as I can tell, the $45 million project was inspired by complaints from denizens of a nearby trailer park (Geezer Meadows).

Why don’t they just give the 45 mil to the trailer park people? They'll go away, and the rest of us won’t have to put up with construction for 2 and a half years.

BOOM!

1. WENDY G’S BIG NIGHT

I recently received the following account of IVC Academic Senate Prez Wendy G’s BIG NIGHT with the State Academic Senate (the ASCCC). As you know, Wendy was recently selected to be the first recipient of the Freedom Fighter Award, an award the creation of which she inspired as an attorney and Academic Senate President.

A few years ago, when Chancellor Mathur set about to change the faculty hiring policy without consulting faculty—despite a statute clearly requiring mutual agreement between the district and the Academic Senates—our two senates united and took the district to court. Wendy served as attorney. (See How rude are you?)

It’s a long story, but, in the end, faculty won, and it is widely believed that the victory shall have huge implications for governance in the state’s community colleges.

BIG NIGHT:

I just returned from the State Senate Leadership Institute and it was wonderful. The State Senate Executive Committee went all out. Wendy was treated like a celebrity from being shuttled from the airport, to a nice bottle of chilled white wine waiting for her in her room, to a wonderful dinner and amazing tribute.

Pictures were posted everywhere with the theme, “Everyone Knows It’s Wendy.” For those of you under 50, that’s an allusion to a forty-year-old hit by the pop band the Association.

People actually sang a modified version of the Association tune at dinner!

The State Senate Resolution was effusive in its praise. The actual physical award is a 10 pound falcon, inscribed with an enconium.

Wendy gave an inspirational acceptance speech. She explained the importance of knowing when to confront and when to collaborate, which was the evening's theme. She explained that, when one senate is under attack, all senates are under attack. It is the role, she said, of the State Senate to ensure the local senates’ well-being.

The award is important, she explained, because it underscores how local issues can impact all academic senates.

Naturally, she thanked those who were particularly important contributors to the “hiring policy” initiative.

One again, congratulations, Wendy!

Here's the statute we appealled to when Mathur and the board unilaterially developed and imposed a new faculty hiring policy:

No later than July 1, 1990, hiring criteria, policies, and procedures for new faculty members shall be developed and agreed upon jointly by representatives of the governing board, and the academic senate, and approved by the governing board.

—California Ed Code Section 87360(b)

2. TRADEMARK DOUBLE SONIC BOOM

Did you hear that double sonic boom yesterday?

I was at my parents’ house, visiting with my sister. Then, all of a sudden, “boom!” But I didn’t so much hear it as feel it. My first thought was that something very big had banged or crashed into the house! So I ran outside, but I found nothing.

Then I remembered about the space shuttle. I checked the internet and, sure enough, that was the culprit.

According to this morning’s New York Times,

...The spacecraft, containing a crew of seven, passed over San Diego and Los Angeles, emitted its trademark double sonic boom after it reentered the atmosphere, and glided onto the runway under nearly cloudless skies.

MY PARENTS' PLACE up in the mountains has been the scene of a fair number of weird events. About twenty years ago, I was on their patio one night with my then-wife, my brother Ray, and his buddy, a self-described "dark-green Marine." All of a sudden, we saw a huge craft slowly and silently pass over the house. It seemed to be flying (hovering?) very low. It made no sound at all.

We still have no idea what that was.

3. BOARD MEETING MONDAY

There’s a SOCCCD board meeting Monday night. To download the agenda, go to June 25 board agenda.

We keep hearing that big things are brewing, and so the meeting might offer surprises. The agenda doesn’t tell us much.

The (sub)agenda for the board’s closed session includes:

A. Public Employee Appointment, Employment, Evaluation of Performance, Discipline, Dismissal, Release (GC 54957): (1) Public Employee Appointment/Employment -- a. IVC Vice President of Instruction, b. IVC Chemistry Professor

Item (a): Cal Nelson is retiring from his VPI duties and the word is that, recently, his replacement has been hired (pending board approval). We also hear that it was a good selection. SURE HOPE SO.

What’s item (b)?

Among the CONSENT CALENDAR items are rejection of seperate claims made against the district by Suzanne Dobbs and Suzanne Hammel.

Mathur loses motion

Concerning the discrimination suit brought by former IVC instructor Cely Mora against former IVC President Raghu P. Mathur: reliable sources tell us that Mathur moved for fees against Aracely and the judge denied his motion.

You'll recall that Mora lost the case in Federal Court not long ago. (See Mora's testimony.) Nevertheless, in the course of the trial, Mathur's remarkable unprofessionalism and incompetence were fully revealed by witness testimony and documents, and not only with regard to the hire of the unstable and dangerous Mr. Rod Poindexter. (See Reference checks.)

During the trial, it became plain that Mathur is in the habit of messing with hires and imposing his will against all reason.

Mathur's explanation for hiring Poindexter, a man who appeared to have none of the background necessary for the dean position for which he had applied, came down to alleged information provided during a mysterious reference check, the documentation of which has been lost. Or so said Mathur.

The judge's decision means that the district had to pay over $250,000 to defend Mathur.

Mathur once sued the district to cover expenses incurred when he unsuccessfully sued an instructor and former administrator for revealing (in Dissent) his violation of a student's privacy rights. The district coughed up about $40,000 for the notoriously parsimonious fellow.

As Chancellor, Mathur makes about $300,000 a year, a salary without equal among college districts of the size of the SOCCCD.

Addendum:

Re the unsuccessful lawsuit, I dug this up from an old Dissent:

September 1, 2000: it’s 12:45, and I get a cell-phone call from Wendy P, who’s been teaching all morning. She tells me that she has just served Raghu Mathur with papers regarding his “Judgment Debtor’s Exam.”

I should explain. You see, back in January of 2000, Mr. [Ra]Goo filed a suit against Terry Burgess—and me—regarding my reports, in three issues of Dissent, regarding Mathur’s violation of a student’s right to privacy as delineated by a federal law (FERPA).

That Mathur had violated that law was, at any rate, the conclusion of the district’s lawyer, Spencer Covert (yes, Covert—I’m not makin’ this stuff up!), who had been asked, by then-IVC president Dan Larios, to provide an opinion on the matter. Ironically, Mathur, a man who can neither detect nor pronounce irony, believes that the Dissent stories amounted to a violation of his privacy rights, and so he sued us for $50,000. According to Mathur, the only way I could have secured the documents I reported on was through the help of Terry Burgess, formerly the VP of Instruction. (That’s nonsense. The documents had been readily available on campus for years.) Thus Burgess was included in the suit.

Unfortunately for Raghu, the great state of California has a law (the anti-SLAPP statute) designed to protect citizens from lawsuits that are filed by powerful interests—developers, politicians, et al.—merely in order to silence legitimate criticism. SLAPP suits are burdensome annoyances, or worse, for defendants, but they produce a chilling effect on potential criticism by others as well. They thwart free speech.

To make a long story short, we responded to Mathur’s suit by appealing to the anti-SLAPP statute, which yielded a quick dismissal. In court, Judge Brenner noted that my Dissent reports were both true and newsworthy and that, further, there was no evidence whatsoever that Burgess provided the information regarding Mathur that I had reported. In fact, he hadn’t.

As per the law, Brenner ordered Mathur to pay Burgess and me costs and attorneys fees. That amounted to $34,000 and change. Ouch!

This was months ago.

But, as of this day (Sept. 1), Mathur hasn’t paid. In such situations, the prevailing side files for a “Judgment Debtor Exam.” Once it is granted, the “judgment debtor” is served papers that inform him that he must appear in court on a certain date. “If you fail to appear…you may be subject to arrest and punishment,” say the documents.

On August 29th, Carol Sobel, my attorney, filed for a debtor’s exam for Mathur. The order was granted on that day. So, on this day—the 1st of September—Wendy serves Raghu with the papers:

“Hi Raghu. I’ve got something for you!” chirps Wendy.

He stares but doesn’t move. She hands him the papers, smiling broadly.

Eventually, he takes them, glumly thanks her, and then disappears behind the door of his office.

Later, someone tells me that she thinks she heard Mathur crying and banging his head against a chair. But she isn’t sure.

Could be, though. The document orders Mathur to bring 27 kinds of document, including

All checkbooks, registers, and canceled checks for all savings, checking, credit union, bank, mutual fund accounts and/or all other accounts owned by you and/or you and your spouse for the past three years…All payroll check stubs for you and/or your spouse for the past three years…All passbooks for savings, checking, credit union, bank, mutual fund accounts, and/or all other accounts owned by you and/or your spouse for the past three years…All financial statements listing your assets…during the past three years…All stock registers or other records of stocks presently owned by you…All documents evidencing any partnership interest in property owned by you…All credit card applications…Ownership documents…Your state and federal income tax returns for the past thee years…

—and so on. Jeez, I’d cry too. The exam is set for September 19th.

Above: in the end, Raghu writes the check. There were tears.

Parade update: flurry power

.
ACCORDING TO this morning’s LA Times,

The "Magical History Tour" bus may roll back into Huntington Beach's Fourth of July parade. ¶ Parade organizers had snubbed the 1967 Volkswagen bus, which honors the Orange County lawsuit that desegregated California schools, because it lacked "entertainment value," although the U.S. Postal Service has deemed the lawsuit worthy of a commemorative stamp. ¶ But after a flurry of media attention, organizers on Tuesday told filmmaker Sandra Robbie, who proposed the entry, that they wanted to steer her bus back into the Independence Day parade, billed as the largest in the western United States, with 250,000 people expected to watch. ¶ …Pat Stier, who chairs the board that oversees the parade, said organizers also wanted the bus to mesh with the 300 or so other entries. ¶ "I said, 'Can you make it more patriotic and put some music on it and make it more fun?' " ¶ … "She's got a great cause," Stier said. "We just have to make it a fun great cause."

Yeah, can you make it more patriotic and ... more fun?