Mathur bloviates (Q&A at IVC)

CHANCELLOR RAGHU P. MATHUR’s “Q & A” at Irvine Valley College this afternoon was a bust. Aside from administrators, only a handful of classified employees attended.

Except for me, no faculty attended.

Mathur was in “bloviation” mode. There weren't many questions, so he held forth.

Fearful employees nodded subtly. The sound of his voice reverberated in the empty room with its high ceiling and odd blackness.

After a few minutes, I just got outa there.

Later, I asked someone how it went after I left. They said, “His mask slipped.” For a moment, the real Raghu was in full ghastly view.

REMEMBER that email two days ago? The one from Mathur that “encouraged” the colleges to “add any comments about the inclusion of the District...Response...as deemed appropriate, particularly if such additions would enable the accreditation chairs to appropriately include their signatures on the reports”?

The team at IVC did just that. IVC's chief Accred writer added two brief paragraphs that explained the facts concerning the district's inclusion of the “response.” That, of course, is just what it would take to get those signatures.

That's all.

Guess what?

Mathur rejected them.


BUT I SEE THE FUTURE. I see a dark time ahead for Raghu and his patrons. Angry commissioners. Peevish goblins. Foul incubi. Wakeful, sweaty Mathurian nights.

Spooky, ain't it?

Meanwhile, Back at the Copy Machine...

Reporters in the field noted that the copy machines in the A-100 and A-200 buildings were once again empty yesterday afternoon. No reports were recieved from the B-200 building though some faculty and staff were seen trudging off in that general direction.

This reporter reminds all readers that love and appreciation for the "copy guy" has been duly registered on this blog and that this post does not in any way signal a lack of love and appreciation for the "copy guy."

Get your copies done early folks!

On one page?

The Sturm und Drang over the Accreditation reports continues. It’s beginning to look like nobody’s in charge at the district level. Mathur and Co. seem unable to stay on one page.

As you know, yesterday, Mathur and board president Dave Lang wrote faculty, saying that “the colleges are encouraged to add any comments about the inclusion of the District/Board of Trustees Response and make other minor changes in their reports, as deemed appropriate, particularly if such additions would enable the accreditation chairs to appropriately include their signatures on the reports.”

Gosh, that’s some encouragement. Did they mean it? Is this some kinda rope-a-dope? We'll see.

The Chancellor will be at Irvine Valley College today, at 2:30, for a “Q & A.” He’ll hold another tomorrow at 10:00. (Both are in Lib 213.)

MEANWHILE, yesterday, the OC Register reported on Saddleback College student Jamal Malone, who remains in a coma:

More than a week after the altercation that led to his hospitalization, Jamal Malone, 20, remains in a medically induced coma at Mission Hospital, his family members said, in critical but stable condition.

Meanwhile, police are still investigating the Sept. 30 fight at Promenade Apartments on Marguerite Parkway.

Chad Duran, Wallace Rodrigues, and Nigel Kawai, all 18, and an unidentified minor were arrested in connection to the incident and District Attorney officials say they will decide what, if any, charges to file against them by their arraignment in late October. (See Saddleback College football player remains in coma)

GRADE LAWSUIT. Inside Higher Ed reports that students are now suing colleges over grades:

Tired of students complaining about grades they don’t like? It could be worse — you could be sued. The Boston Globe reported that a student unhappy with his C grade at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst did just that, with a 15-count lawsuit in federal court. A federal judge dismissed the case, but an appeal is possible.

160 roses, in Irvine

THE ENTREPENEURIAL SPIRIT lives in Irvine. Or it once did. In this morning’s OC Register: Three women arrested in Irvine prostitution ring:

The three women who were arrested Tuesday for allegedly setting up a prostitution ring via Craigslist.org advertised sex for $160 on the Web site, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

…One of the two ads related to the charges includes nude and erotic photos, a phone number and the words “Hottie Asian Girls waiting for you” who will give a “good time” for one hour between 11 a.m. and 2 a.m. for 160 roses. Police have said that “roses” is commonly used in online ads to refer to dollars.

… The charges come one week after Irvine for the third time was ranked as the safest big city in the nation, according to FBI data.

… Craig Newmark, who started craigslist in San Francisco in 1995, has said the site aims to make it easier for people to get everyday chores done….

Incidental factoids

"FACULTY AND STAFF" of the SOCCCD received an email today from Chancellor Raghu Mathur and Board President Dave Lang. The email notes (1) the Trustees’ recent inclusion of the “District/Board of Trustees Response in the Colleges [sic] Mid-term Accreditation Reports” and (2) faculty opposition to the inclusion. (Actually, faculty objected more to the manner of the inclusion than to the inclusion.)

The email then refers to “continuing advice of the Accrediting Commission” that, allegedly, approves of the inclusion, faculty to the contrary notwithstanding.

But here’s the problem, Dissent readers. Mathur and Co. asked ACCJC officials whether the district’s response may be included in the report. Naturally, the answer they received was “yes.”

But, in asking the question, do you suppose that Mathur and crew mentioned such circumstantial factoids as that the inclusion occurred outside approved processes and that among the included elements are false, inflammatory, and undocumented assertions?


Guess!

But it looks like at least some of these circumstances might be communicated to the ACCJC after all. So desperate are Lang and Mathur to entice the faculty senate presidents to sign these reports—the senates have directed them not to—that they have invited the colleges to add “any comments” about the inclusion:

At this point, the colleges are encouraged to add any comments about the inclusion of the District/Board of Trustees Response and make other minor changes in their reports, as deemed appropriate, particularly if such additions would enable the accreditation chairs to appropriately include their signatures on the reports.

My guess is that Mathur will get his signatures. But the price he’ll pay are Accreditation reports that make clear what he has struggled to obscure.

Inarticulate anarchists at Irvine Valley College

THIS MORNING, Rebel Girl told me that she noticed something odd on campus. She took me out to the construction site of Irvine Valley College’s Business Technology Innovation Center, which is near the Library. The site is surrounded by the usual green construction fence (see). On that fence, someone had drawn a big question mark with a circle at the bottom. In the circle was the letter “A.”

“That circle-A—that’s the symbol for anarchism,” said Reb.

I could see at least two other places on the fence where the same graffito had been drawn.

We stared at one of them.

“OK, but what’s it mean?”, I asked.

“Dunno.”

Later, I looked up “Anarchism symbols” on the web. Wikipedia asserts that, “While anarchists have historically largely denied the importance of symbols to political movement, [they] have embraced certain symbols for their cause, including most prominently the circle-A and the black flag.”

Well, we haven’t spotted any black flags yet.

What do you suppose these anarchists, if that’s who they are, are trying to say?

I’ve got some ideas:

WHAT ARE THESE INARTICULATE ANARCHISTS TRYING TO SAY?

Interpretation #1:

Is this the new O.C. Chomsky Building we keep hearing about?

Interpretation #2:

I think I’m an anarchist, but I’m not entirely sure.

Interpretation #3:

Fellow anarchists: check out this fabulous green plastic camo!

—Let us know if you've got better ideas. No doubt you do.

Sunny says "hey." —CW

The problem with kids today is that they're too succinct

From this morning’s New York Times: College Daily’s Vulgarity Is Now Free-Speech Issue

On the campus of Colorado State University, opinion is divided over whether a terse editorial that ran in the student newspaper on Sept. 21 was an exercise of free speech or immature judgment.

The four-word message began with “Taser this” and added a four-letter expletive directed at President Bush, in a type size larger than most newspaper headlines. The message was “the view of The Collegian editorial board," the daily newspaper stated....

Greg Luft, chairman of Colorado State’s journalism department, said every college newspaper in the country exhibits “occasional exuberance” on its pages....

—Yeah, and occasional succinctitude, too.

(Sorry. We bowdlerized the original headline with that goddam asterisk. Try an' guess what the original word said. )