A little about Monday's board meeting: Mathur as village idiot

JUST A QUICK NOTE about my absence and about Monday's board meeting. I seem to have come down with food poisoning, or so the doctor thinks. It started late Monday, when I tried to do the ol' treadmill, but, after 15 minutes, it was no use. I thought about going to the board meeting, but there was no way.

Last night, I finally started improving, but I haven't even read my emails until just now, so I'm way out of the loop.

Friends have given me reports of Monday's meeting, however. One friend wrote that, oddly, the Faculty Hiring Priority List for both colleges had been pulled from the agenda, and no explanation had been given.

This meant that the matter could not even be discussed by the board.

But senate presidents can ask questions, can't they? At the part of the meeting (at the end) when the various governance groups give reports, IVC Senate President Wendy G asked why the priority lists had been pulled. Despite the late hour, Wendy's question sparked a great amount of debate and discussion.

Evidently, the unilateral pulling of the Faculty Hiring Priority Lists from the BOT agenda violates board policy 4011.1, which states that the Faculty Hiring Lists are to be submitted to the Board in October. (See board policies. And see excerpt below.)

According to my source, in the course of the discussion, it was revealed that Mathur had unilaterally pulled the item. Why? Because there were some "questions" from "some trustees." That's so typical. Mathur and his trustee partners—Fuentes, et al.—run the show by themselves and they freeze out the likes of Padberg. They're corrupt bastards, they are.

Padberg wanted specifics: who raised questions?

Controversy continued as different reports were given by the different groups. But faculty remained united. Mathur looked like the "village idiot," I'm told.

Naturally, this Mathur-caused delay will make it difficult getting things together by the time of the January job announcements.

Gotta go.

For October BOT meeting highlights, go to Board Meeting Highlights.

The relevant part of BP 4011.1 is section 11:

...By October of each academic year, following approval by the Chancellor, each College President will submit to the Board of Trustees a ranked list of recommended full-time faculty positions for the subsequent year, classified according to Item 2 above, and compiled by an internal process developed by the Academic Senate and the President, and approved by the President....

Video for the Oct. 27 meeting will eventually become available on the district website.

Six Days

In the new issue of The New York Review of Books, the editors gathered together the usual suspects to sound off about the imminent election.

Joan Didion is at her best. Here's the conclusion:

"We could argue over whether "intelligent design" should be taught in our schools as an alternative to evolution, and overlook the fact that the rankings of American schools have already dropped to twenty-first in the world in the teaching of science and twenty-fifth in the world in the teaching of math. We could argue over whether or not the McCain campaign had sufficiently vetted its candidate for vice-president, but take at face value the campaign's description of that vetting as "an exhaustive process" including a "seventy-question survey." Most people in those countries where they still teach math and science would not consider seventy questions a particularly taxing assignment, but we could forget this. Amnesia was our preferred state. In what had become our national coma we could forget about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and AIG and Washington Mutual and the 81,000 jobs a month and the fact that the national debt had been approaching $10.6 trillion even before Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke mentioned the imperative need to spend, which is to say to borrow, $700 billion for securities backed by bad mortgages, a maneuver likely to raise the debt another trillion dollars. ("We need this to be clean and quick," Paulson told ABC.)

We could forget the 70 percent of American eighth graders who do not now and never will read at eighth-grade levels, meaning they will never qualify to hold one of those jobs we no longer have. We could forget that we ourselves induced the coma, by indulging the government in its fantasy of absolute power, wielded absolutely. So general is this fantasy by now that we approach this election with no clear idea where bottom is: what damage has been done, what alliances have been formed and broken, what concealed reefs lie ahead. Whoever we elect president is about to find some of that out."

To read the rest (you really should), click here.

Sucker

It's Red Ribbon Week here in public education land. This means collecting pennies (pennies!) for in-class drug awareness education, wearing red ribbons (or, in the case of our son's school, a red, white and blue rubber bracelets) and, these red suckers, three of which made it home yesterday. Our first-grader confessed that had already eaten two at school. Two!

If you look carefully, you can see that the red sucker is imprinted with the phrase: RESPECT YOURSELF - DON'T DO DRUGS.

Our son's name (misspelled) is written on a label that is attached to the lollipop stick.

Rebel Girl is all for responsible age-appropriate education about drug use, addiction, etc. After all, she can count the addicts in her own immediate family on two hands - two!

But this ain't it. And don't get Rebel Girl started on the sugar-junk food angle. Health education? Suck on this, kid.

What started in 1988 with Nancy's Reagan's Just Say No campaign has mushroomed in an industry where our children are not taught as much as they are bought and sold - yes, just google "red ribbon week products" and see what you can buy to celebrate this week: plush toys! frisbees! tattoos! yo-yos! cell phone charms! Lip service is paid but the real causes and the real solutions, well. Our children deserve more, better.

Meanwhile, in nearby Tijuana, children go to school only to find the real cost of the drug war bleeding in the street. Over 150 people have been killed in the last month. 150! Students arrive at school walking past decapitated bodies. The Los Angeles Times covered this recently in For Tijuana children, drug war gore is part of their school day. Click on the title and read it and weep - or better yet, get angry. These children deserve better, more.

Yes, Rebel Girl is a bit all over the place today. Forgive her. It's the sugar and platitudes on one side of the border, the blood on the other, children in the middle. Something has to give somewhere.

She sure asks for a lot, doesn't she?

But as the line in the Leonard Cohen song goes, "Why not ask for more?"

Indeed.

Tom Fuentes' racist brilliance, etc.

I’ve been busy, so I’ve missed some nasty little stories. Here are three from Friday:

• TOM FUENTES' "RACIST BRILLIANCE." I came across this posting by OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano (OC GOP GOES BACK TO ITS MEXICAN-BASHING ROOTS IN FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL RACE):

In my latest book, I devote a chapter to the many sins of the Orange County Republican Party but also hinted that they were finally evolving from the slimeball campaigns of the past when it came to scoring easy points off of demonizing Mexicans. Specifically, I pointed to the 2006 Tan Nguyen affair, where GOP chair Scott Baugh fully repudiated Nguyen and only the farthest extremes of party activists (i.e., the CCIR [California Coalition for Immigration Reform] crowd) stood by their Tan.

So much for that goodwill. As noted by OC Blog, the OC GOP recently mailed out a hit piece on Fullerton City Council hopeful Karen Haluza, whose day job is planning manager for SanTana. Over pictures of apartment slums and the proposed One Broadway Plaza Freudian tower are these ominous words: "Stop Urban Planner Karen Haluza from Turning Fullerton Into Another Santa Ana!" (underlined in the original). If you still don't get it, the flier retells the same point on the other side: Will Karen Haluza Turn Fullerton into Another Santa Ana?"

The OC GOP plays its hand against Haluza with a racist brilliance not seen since the days of Tom Fuentes and his poll guards….

—An' don't forget: Tom was Tan Nguyen's chief advisor!

• SCAMMING TIPS. I may as well mention Jubal’s recent post on Red County/OC Blog (Greed And Sloth At Orange Coast College) about Orange Coast College political science instructor Patrick Coaty and the Coast Community College District trustee Armando Ruiz:

…[T]he student newspaper at Orange Coast College uncovered a real case of [greed] in the august halls of academia (H/T to R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly).

The scam was perpetrated by OCC Associate Political Science Professor Patrick Coaty. Here's how it worked:

Coaty required the 500-some he has each semester to buy the textbooks he wrote, which together cost $162.59.

Then, he required his students to rip out the homework pages in the books, which rendered them worthless for re-sale to the college bookstore, and forced Coaty's next crop of students to shell out for Coaty's books.

Nice. Sort of a robber-baron-as-college-professor.

A student raised a ruckus, and now that attention was drawn to his scam, Coaty "revised" his book policy.

What ought to be revised is his employment at Orange Coast College—as in, fire him. The again, OCC is part of the Coast Community College District, of which the infamous Armando Ruiz is a Trustee. Ruiz would probably rather get some scamming tips from Coaty, rather than fire him.

I found this Ratemyprofessors.com site. It's interesting to read the student comments about Coaty. According to his students, Coaty is an easy "A," although they don't like the fact that her never returns their homework, so it's a little tough to know if you are learning the material. Who wants to wager Coaty never actually grades it?

—Do you suppose Tom will mention Coaty's scam during tomorrow night's discussion of high textbook costs? I'm bettin' that somebody will.

• OBAMA AIN'T A REAL AMERICAN, SAY STUPID PEOPLE IN OC. On Friday, the OC Reg's Martin Wisckol wrote about another daffy GOP rumor about Barack Obama (O.C. suspicions over Obama's citizenship continue):

Even some supporters of John McCain are dismayed with fellow Orange County Republicans who think Barack Obama was born outside of the U.S. and does not meet the requirements to be president.

An OC Political Pulse poll found that a third of responding Republicans thought Obama was born outside of the 50 United States....

Twenty-six miles across the sea...

And now, for a mid-semester, pre-election break: assorted pics from a weekend on Santa Catalina Island.

Ronnie gets a trustee room; district gets more lawyers; students get cheaper books?

There’s a meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees Monday night. You can download the entire agenda, a pdf file, at the district website. Looks like the board might make some decisions re ATEP in closed session. Hard to say. The “Janez Group” is listed as a participant in negotiations.

As you know, the board has scheduled a special ATEP meeting for Nov. 3. The open session is set to start at 7:00. Up first: board resolutions concerning the “professors of the year.” Scintillatin'! October's discussion item is “strategies” for “enrollment management” for the three campuses. It'll be a total snoozefest. The IVC student government budget is coming back for a second review. Things could get exciting for student government tomorrow, what with this and the trustees’ interest in lowering book prices (student government gets its money from booksales). The Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room

Item 6.3 is approval naming the Health Sciences Building, Room 145, as the Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room.  The “status” of this item is (awkwardly) described as follows: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America, who dedicated Saddleback College forty years ago, and in recognizing that no greater national leader has ever had a role in the history of our community college district, the Chancellor was authorized by the Board of Trustees to send a letter to Mrs. Ronald Reagan, seeking her permission in dedicating the Health Sciences and District Services Building, Room 145, Saddleback College to the memory of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, and naming the room the Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room. Mrs. Reagan responded to the letter graciously giving her permission to allow Room 145 to carry President Ronald Reagan's name. Yeah. Ronald Reagan is the hero who gave us deregulation. That's turned out swell. It might be too soon to tell how great a role Ronnie has had in our history. Oddly enough, the next item is revision of various board policies, including BP-1500, Naming of College Facilities. Near as I can tell, the only changes to this policy being proposed are the addition of ATEP as among the district’s campuses and the addition of this line: “The District reserves the right to change the name of college facilities at any time.”

LAWYERING UP RE INVOCATIONS:

Item 6.9 is curious: “Approve retainer agreement for legal counsel to assist in matters involving invocation at Board meetings and College/District functions.” The full item is the following: 

 BACKGROUND

Our District was founded in 1967. For every year except one in the ensuing more than 40 years, the Board has opened its meetings with invocations. Trustees have offered these invocations and used the opportunity to do so for traditional prayers, moments of silence, and words of inspiration. STATUS

The legal propriety of continued invocations has been challenged by some faculty members. The District has consulted with several legal counsels in this regard and believes that we need to employ a legal counsel to further advise us in this matter on a continuing basis. It is recommended that the Board of Trustees employ John Eastman as our legal counsel for the aforementioned purpose. Mr. Eastman currently serves as the Dean of Law School at Chapman University.

TEXTBOOK COST SHOWDOWN?

Among reports are 7.1, “Information on plans for reducing textbook costs for Saddleback College and lrvine Valley College students.” I predict that some trustees will be displeased by this report. They’ll press for more aggressive action to lower textbook costs to students. And they’d be right. Bramucci, Plano, and Telson will be presenting a report on the colleges’ “strategic plans” for reducing textbook costs. Saddleback College’s “recommendations for the future” are the following: 1. The Saddleback College ASG and Foundation will be asked to consider contributing anually to the "Emergenw Book Loan Program," thus building reserves in the Library and accounting for edition changes.

2. The Saddleback College Bookstore is instituting a Book Rental Program, to be in place no later than the Fall of 2009. If feasible, program expansion should be supported as recommended by the Bookstore Committee.

3. Faculty will commit, whenever possible, to use any edition for as long as pedagogically possible.

4. Reminders of the importance of timely book adoptions will be sent to faculty more often. In addition, department chairs will be encouraged to commit to enforcing departmental early adoption policies.

5. Course readings should be encouraged wherever pedagogically possible.

6. Within five years, a CSU-led effort called the "Digital Marketplace," which will offer online resources such as an open-source digital library, should be available. For some reason, IVC’s report seems to highlight a document from student government.  I doubt that the board will be impressed by these reports. In the past, some trustees have seized upon the circumstance that bookstore textbook prices are artificially raised to fund student government (I think the figure is 10%; I could be wrong).  THE 50% LAW: Item 7.2 is a report regarding 50% Law compliance. It’s “status” is explained as follows: There has been no year when the District has been out of compliance with the 50% Law. The calculation for fiscal vear 2006-2007 was 50.03% and the calculation for this past fiscal year, 2007-2008, is 51.65%. No consultant has ever been hired to assist with compliance for the 50% Law. As required by the State Chancellor's Office the District’s independent auditing firm of Vicenti, Lloyd, and Stutzman examines and verifies the details of the calculation as part of the annual financial audit.

As you know, the Chancellor ignored this law for several years, a fact that was detected about a year ago. It soon became clear that radical steps would be necessary to increase "instructional" spending. Thus the massive and hurried hiring of 38 faculty last Spring.

The battle over Proposition 8

Tiger Ann, a celebrity and a fierce opponent of Proposition 8, has agreed to appear in today's blog as, um, eye candy. I asked her if she is gay and she just gave me the stink eye. Then she stretched.

Prop. 8 opponents take lead in money race

A tsunami of new money has poured into the campaign to defeat Proposition 8, as Hollywood celebrities, deep-pocketed donors and thousands of people from across the country wrote checks to block the proposed ban on same-sex marriage in California….


Proposition 8 proponents and foes raise $60 million—Contributors on both sides are motivated by personal beliefs

Sara Havranek quit working five years ago after the birth of her first child. Since then, she said, she and her husband have had to be frugal. "Every cent we spend is carefully considered." ¶ But the Aliso Viejo couple consider Proposition 8 so important that they have donated $1,100 to support the initiative to ban same-sex marriage. ¶ "Our faith is completely centered around the family. We believe the family is a divine institution," Havranek said to explain the contribution. ¶ Larry Maiman feels just as strongly that Proposition 8 is wrong for California. ¶ "I'm a gay man who has been in a relationship for 19 years who got married [six] weeks ago," he said, "and we'd like to stay married."….


Mormon church pulls plug on pro-Prop. 8 calls from Utah:

The Mormon church, whose members have emerged as the leading backers of a ballot measure to end same-sex marriage in California, is scaling back its Utah campaign operation but will continue to support the initiative. ¶ Church members will no longer be making phone calls from Utah to California voters, Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a prepared statement Friday. ¶ At the request of the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, church members in Utah had been enlisted to make calls on behalf of the measure. ¶ "However, the church has since determined that such phone calls are best handled by those who are registered California voters," Farah said. … ¶ The Courage Campaign, a liberal advocacy group, plans to deliver a petition to a Mormon church in Los Angeles next week demanding the church stop funding the Yes on 8 campaign….

Churches take sides over gay-marriage ban:

The Rev. Rick Mixon, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto, considers himself an evangelical, but opposes a ban on same-sex marriage. Speaking of his fellow evangelicals, Mixon said: "It baffles me that they come down on the wrong side of this issue." ¶ San Jose evangelical lay leader Larry Pegram has a very different take on that "watershed issue." He declares that "pastors all around the valley are preaching on this issue, that the Biblical truth comes down on marriage as being between a man and a woman." ¶ Catholic, Mormon and evangelical leaders such as Pegram have been influential supporters of efforts to ban gay marriage in California. But Mixon is among a smaller group of clergy, including two dozen ministers and rabbis who spoke recently against Proposition 8 for the Council of Churches-Santa Clara County, which publicly supports same-sex unions….

PLUS!

TIGER ANN says, "Vote YES on Proposition 2!"